Reviews tagging 'Animal death'

Four Past Midnight by Stephen King

5 reviews

kerush's review against another edition

dark mysterious medium-paced

4.0

I enjoyed all of these (The Sun Dog the most). I ended up reading most of the book during a power outage, which certainly added to the experience.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape

Moderate: Animal death

acorn192k's review against another edition

dark slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Gore, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal death, Mental illness, Racial slurs, Racism, Violence, Murder, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

Minor: Domestic abuse, Infidelity, Misogyny, and Vomit

bohemian_yogini's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Drug abuse, and Murder

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Cursing, Gore, Rape, and Sexual violence

violetturtledove's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Usually when reading short story collections there are some you love and some you are less enthusiastic about.. but with this collection of four novellas there isn't one that didn't have me hooked and i had to make myself pause between stories just to have a rest. Each is just the right length for the story.
I personally thought 'The Library Policeman' was the creepiest, although 'The Sun Dog' wins for out-right gore. My only criticism would be that in 'The Langoliers' (and to a lesser extent 'Secret Window, Secret Garden') issues of mental health are used more to fit the plot than the characters. Still, with stories like these it's a minor complaint.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, and Blood

Moderate: Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Death, Pedophilia, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

bruinrocks's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

This was a great collection of novellas, albeit a little long in my opinion. But each one had it’s strong points, with the exception of the third one which I found rather long and boring. 
The Langoliers - 4.5/5 A really fun adventure into the unknown and back, strong character development, with a terrifying concept, and I found The Langoliers to be one of Stephen King’s scarier entities, even if the description sometimes came off a little silly. 

Secret Window, Secret Garden - 3.75/5 It was a tense novella with a very predictable plot, still really well written, and a lot of fun, the predictability lowers my ranking for it though. 

The Library Policeman - 3/5 A long and boring story in the middle, and very intense climax followed by a lacklustre ending. 

The Sun Dog - 4.75/5 Not perfect but damn near close. I love taking pictures and this story rocked my socks. The best of the four, it gripped me from start to finish and I believe it’s the shortest of the four novellas and it moves at a great pace with a ending that closes out the collection nicely. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse and Rape

Moderate: Animal death and Racial slurs

Minor: Alcoholism, Stalking, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis