Reviews tagging 'Torture'

White-Clothed Calamity by Mo Xiang Tong Xiu

8 reviews

maheenm's review

dark emotional hopeful sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Suicide attempt, Blood, Murder, Violence, Torture, and Death of parent

pannii's review

challenging dark reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

 "No one was listening."

I really don't think I have the ability to write a coherent review for this book because well. It was a lot. On one hand, there were many things that hit a bit too close to home for me personally, but even setting all that personal stuff aside, it was so difficult reading everything that Xie Lian (and Hua Cheng) goes through, and I just. Sometimes I wish Mo Xiang Tong Xiu were not as good with characterization as she is because it would have been so much easier if the whole thing had not felt as real as it did. (Obviously I don't really wish that but. It was so painful.) The way she describes Xie Lian's emotions and the state he is in is literally chilling, it's scary how real it feels. Everything that happens in this book is basically just one traumatic event after the other, and while it is necessary for Xie Lian's character development and for the reader to understand him, and serves a purpose and is definitely not for shock value, it's still a lot.

"Thus, Xie Lian understood. No one would give him a hand to help pull him up.
He laid there for a good while before he crawled up himself."

I absolutely do recommend reading the list of trigger warnings because this novel gets dark. In that sense, chapters 190 and 191 might be some of the worst, so if you feel like there are things that you might not be able to handle but still want to read the book, those are the chapters you should maybe just skim through or skip altogether and read a summary instead. However, the entire book is a lot, so please do not go in expecting that there is some dark stuff in it but before that it's all good, or that after the "worst" it will quickly get better, because... it really won't. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide attempt, Suicidal thoughts, Gaslighting, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Torture, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Violence, Blood, Physical abuse, and Suicide

Moderate: Alcohol

Minor: Vomit

sisa_moyo's review

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

heartwrenchingly heartbreaking, soul crushing, tear inducing, life altering.
I know people don't  love the 2nd and 4th book of young Xie Lian but those are my absolute weekness.

We see XL suffering with PTSD and find out what happened between him and his 2 besties and why they left. It's depicts how XL's mental health just sinks into the pits and it's absolutely heartbreaking.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Murder, Self harm, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Torture, Violence, Vomit, Blood, Death, Death of parent, and Fire/Fire injury

vialsiu's review

dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Suicide, and Torture

Moderate: Mental illness and Suicidal thoughts

junggi's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Death, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, Self harm, Torture, Suicide, and Suicide attempt

nnguyen73's review

adventurous dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Cursing, Death, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, and Torture

vkodhai's review

adventurous challenging dark sad tense medium-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Chronic illness, Death, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Torture, and Violence

Minor: Abandonment

thewrongalice's review

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad medium-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death of parent, Murder, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Torture, and Violence

Moderate: Grief and Rape

My CWs include ‘rape’ because the torture scene really ressembles it psychologically, even if it isn’t technically