Reviews tagging 'Eating disorder'

Chicas salvajes by Rory Power

13 reviews

gandalfsleftshoe's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Medical content, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Moderate: Confinement, Gore, Mental illness, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, and Pandemic/Epidemic

fanboyriot's review against another edition

dark fast-paced

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

3.0

I’ve had this book for a while and just got around to reading.  Naturally, I went into it knowing nothing, as one does.  To say it was not what I was expecting was an understatement.  The plot did have a promise, there were some things that seemed all too realistic in a horror-ish paranoid way.  The setting was done nicely at least.

Honestly, most of what I didn’t like was the ending.  We got no answers for anything really, and it left with absolutely no resolution.  It just felt like it was dragged out and then it just ended.  The switching POV I normally really like just didn’t work for me; they just seemed too close to one another and a few pages in I’d forget which character it even was.

(First Person POV)

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Child death, Chronic illness, Confinement, Death, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Suicide, Terminal illness, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Murder, Gaslighting, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Ableism, Animal cruelty, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Cursing, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Vomit, Cannibalism, Death of parent, Toxic friendship, and War

Minor: Eating disorder, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual content, and Fire/Fire injury

jetromeo's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, and Gore

Moderate: Eating disorder, Medical content, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Suicide

wrensreadingroom's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad fast-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Animal death, Body horror, Child death, Chronic illness, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Eating disorder, Gore, Gun violence, Mental illness, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

r__a's review against another edition

dark emotional sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• 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: Animal death, Body horror, Child death, Chronic illness, Cursing, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Mental illness, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Bullying, Eating disorder, Terminal illness, Torture, and Murder

sonoma's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

2.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Suicide, Death of parent, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Child death, Death, Eating disorder, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Self harm, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Kidnapping, and Grief

miabellawymer's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

3.75

I got really roped into this book while reading it. I couldn't put it down, and it kept me up at night.

The ending was very anticlimactic, and the desciptions are quite graphic

. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Cursing, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Self harm, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Death of parent, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Confinement, Eating disorder, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Grief, Toxic friendship, and Abandonment

Very detailed desciptions of injuries.

orcamagicka's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? N/A
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

2.0

When I saw this was a feminist Lord of the Flies meets the film Annihilation I was VERY intrigued. Unfortunately, I could not connect to the characters. They seemed very one-dimensional and Hetty, the main character, was very bland and dislikeable in my opinion. Many of the characters made obviously stupid decisions throughout the story and at times the book was incredibly frustrating to read. Hetty made the most of these decisions and I hated how despite all the mistakes she makes and the intense suffering her actions put the other characters through, she never fully suffers the consequences of her own actions. The plot moved way too slowly for the first portion of the story and honestly didn't get remotely "scary" until maybe the last quarter. I see a lot of people complaining about the ending and that it was "too ambiguous" or "left too many unanswered questions". Personally, I thought the ending was appropriate for the story (in fact WAY better than I was expecting) and as a huge horror fan, endings like this are common for the genre. It ends with the potential for a sequel but either way I think the story is fine as a stand-alone. Overall this book had a lot of promise but fell short for me

 

Also there seemed to be some plot holes in the story. If the Tox is a parasite how on earth did the CDC and Navy not discover this when researching the nine girls? A massive parasitic worm doesn't sound like it would be hard to find in the body, and could be removed with some ease. Also how on earth was Teddy infected just by kissing Byatt? My best guess was they transferred parasitic eggs or microscopic worms but if that's the case, all of the girls would have more than one adult worm in their body

 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Gore, Suicide, Terminal illness, Blood, and Vomit

Moderate: Forced institutionalization, Medical content, and Medical trauma

Minor: Animal death, Eating disorder, and Abandonment

keen's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

3.5

Initially, I felt off about this book. It didn't feel like horror, it felt like a thriller. High-stakes and tense moments, but nothing scary past the graphic body horror. As a body horror fan, that was enough to keep me going, even if I wasn't sure I was reading a horror book.

It took me until halfway through to realize I went into this book with the wrong expectations. Not every horror story involves running away from a murderer or trying to escape the attention of a ghost. This is a story about being trapped in a bleak situation and trying to survive when everything is out to kill you. It's about the strength of love and friendship that powers you through every horror you face.

Once I realized that, the emotional horror of this book hit me. Every paragraph made me question if there was some ounce of hope in the end. I can say I was satisfied with what I received, even if in the end it felt like I had no idea where I was being led until I was punched in the gut.

Additionally, I enjoyed the characters. There were times when I was angry at them, wondering why the girls were behaving so irrationally and why the adults felt so unhelpful. I had to remind myself of what it would be like to be a 14 to 17 year old girl, trapped on an island with a virus twisting your body into a mockery of itself, with little to no hope of surviving. Alternatively, I had to imagine what it would be like to take care of these children and watch as they die off, one by one. There's no way I could react logically in either scenario. The characters did the best they could do in the situation they were forced into and trapped in.

I admire stories that make me read deeper into the thoughts of the characters. To me, a good horror story makes me compare how I would face each situation to how the characters do. In this case, every event made me want to throw up, run away, or cry.

So, yeah, this story gave me the emotional turmoil. I was joyfully horrified.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, and Abandonment

Moderate: Animal death, Eating disorder, Genocide, Gun violence, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, and Kidnapping

Minor: Bullying and Cursing

ppixxie's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.75

I've been putting off reading this for the LONGEST time for no goddamn reason. Then my library hold(s) came in. Oh my GOD was I not disappointed. Going in, I thought there would be a lot more horror/body horror elements/cosmic horror-esque elements, which was probably why I found it hard to get into the first half of the book where it focuses mainly on world-building. (The beginning mainly reads like a dystopian survival horror?) 

But boy does it pick up. I love to read a nasty female character, and this is no exception. I can't talk about a lot of the stuff that happens, because it's spoilers and this book is a nice one to go into with 0 knowledge. It ends on an ambiguous note (almost a sequel hook, and I've heard whispers around that there's going to be a sequel or something??) but I liked how it ended, and I probably would have been satisfied with just this book as a standalone.

Anyways, if you like gay horror, definitely check this one out!!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Mental illness, Self harm, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, and Abandonment

Moderate: Eating disorder and Emotional abuse

Minor: Bullying and Cursing