Reviews tagging 'Blood'

The Last House on Needless Street by Catriona Ward

157 reviews

suchsweetsorrow89's review against another edition

dark emotional funny mysterious reflective 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? It's complicated

4.0

wow. just wow. going into this book blind, i was in for a whirlwind. i thought i knew what the twist would be, and to some extent i was correct, but i was proven wrong again and again. ward has an absolutely brilliant way of stringing the story along and tying together all lose ends in ways that are partly scary, partly going to make you feel weird, but are ways that are complex and imaginative. but most of all, ward details this book in a way that is simply there, right before our very eyes from the beginning that makes it incredibly unique while also functioning on one of the most basic aspects of the horror classics that makes it so moving and just downright incredible. the afterward is incredibly powerful and, to some extent, left me very emotional (granted, i get emotional pretty easily, so that might not have been her intention). the twists and turns in the book will challenge everything you know about the story and it's overall message in ways that will forever remain impactful.

the one thing i really want to flag for those who have read the book is that i think ward put so much time into researching the effects of DID in ways that must be praised and celebrated. she took so much care into not making this one of those classic horror stories that come off offensive to actually craft a narrative that everyone can relate to at it's basic level: though we all seemingly strive for the good, sometimes the path of memory, acceptance, and forgiveness does not look linear for all, and that sometimes the very key to forgive ourselves and begin to live life and survive again looks like doing just that again and again and learning to celebrate and be angry at sometimes and just lean in. and that is perhaps the most beautiful message to put in a horror book especially.

as an avid nerd of the classics and dabbles into what defines the monstrous, this book borrows from so much of these classic authors and hallmark texts and really extracts the themes that make them work (i.e. religion, alienation, body horror, gender constructions, growing up, sexuality, the transcendental spaces of the woods and water, even down to the classic 'haunted house' trope, and so much more) while also developing an entirely unique product in the end that makes me happy i decided to pick up this horror book (as someone who doesn't really read horror) and makes me even more excited to see both what ward and other contemporary horror writers will do in the future. highly recommend!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Sexism, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Trafficking, Grief, Stalking, Death of parent, Abandonment, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Body shaming

suicide and suicide attempt

linlinlin's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional inspiring 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

4.0

A classic style, modern American horror/thriller novel that I almost put down in disgust at the first big twist. Keep reading though! (unless you're the kind of person who should probably avoid the horror section altogether) This is so cleverly written and had me flipping back and forth to figure things out; probably deserves to be read at least twice. 

I have a loved one with DID so I was FURIOUS at the plot twist, ra ra I'm so sick of horror writers depicting mentally ill people as serial killers and villains etc when they're subject to so much violence. I'm really glad I stuck with it. My loved one didn't read it so I don't know what the DID perspective on it is, but I was really pleasantly surprised by the happy ending for Ted and the efforts to depict DID reasonably and accurately by Ward. A lot of the contents around DID was stuff I already knew but worth reading if you don't.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Mental illness, and Torture

Moderate: Body shaming, Blood, and Abandonment

Minor: Homophobia and Suicide attempt

The content warnings are gnarly but there's a lot of context for most of the worst of it that ameliorates it

niceonehros's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Stalking, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

While much of the content is troubling, disturbing, and hard, this book was worth the discomfort. I don't want to give anything away, but do make sure you read the Afterword.

forkontheleft's review against another edition

dark hopeful mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Child abuse, Mental illness, Blood, Medical trauma, Death of parent, and Murder

Moderate: Suicide

Minor: Vomit

foldingthepage_kayleigh's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Gore, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Abandonment

kurumipanda's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Child abuse, Confinement, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Blood, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Child death, Suicide, Medical trauma, and Alcohol

Minor: Homophobia and Sexual content

gingerale06's review

dark emotional reflective tense slow-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Self harm, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Death of parent, and Injury/Injury detail

grunbean's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

5.0

A must read. I was a bit puzzled by it at first, but it falls into place and knocks you off your feet. 

It is a dark book for sure. The last chapters made my skin itch. But it is thrilling. I read the second half of this book in hours - I couldn’t put it down! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

kelbel_reads's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad medium-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

This book was f’d up in the best way. Truly original, it kept me guessing right up to the end. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Mental illness, and Death of parent

Moderate: Blood and Suicide attempt

baileyt2424's review against another edition

emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Torture, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail