Reviews tagging 'Violence'

Elegy for the Undead by Matthew Vesely

10 reviews

clemrain's review

dark sad slow-paced

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

3.5

Characters are a little bit flat. The story is short so it would’ve done with less characters to round out the main two more. The pop culture references really take you out the immersion of the story. 

I liked that the love story wasn’t perfect. And these were good points about communication. But the main problem being

around sex and infidelity, just wasn’t it for me.

 

I do enjoy a story that works around with timelines and perspectives. This book does a great job at creating the flow. I never felt lost.

Also it just realllyyy irked me that one of the characters was writer. The whole thing was just so…boring.

It’s sad. And it’s simple. And it is worth the read. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Gun violence, Infidelity, Terminal illness, Violence, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Moderate: Body horror, Cancer, Confinement, Gore, Suicidal thoughts, and Blood

raisinreads's review against another edition

• Loveable characters? No

3.0

two cheating plotlines both based around them not having as much sex as the other wants so its partly justified?? the romance was not strong enough for me to root for them through cheating, especially w the weird reasoning

the writing was fine, not bad, not something to write home about, the characters weren't super loveable (to me), it felt like neither the romance or the characters had much depth. felt very flat even with the obvious drama. also, i'm not one for any pop culture references in a book but that's obviously just a personal preference

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Infidelity, and Terminal illness

Moderate: Violence and Murder

Minor: Homophobia

joy_s's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful sad tense fast-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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Body horror, Chronic illness, Death, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Vomit, Cannibalism, Injury/Injury detail, and Pandemic/Epidemic

mistermeek's review

challenging emotional inspiring reflective sad tense fast-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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Gore, Physical abuse, Suicide, Terminal illness, Violence, Blood, Vomit, and Pandemic/Epidemic

poisoned_icecream's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad tense fast-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

5.0

Lyle and Jude are happily married when a virus breaks out that causes the infected to behave aggresively and violently, so they're basically zombies. Lyle gets bitten, but manages to survive thanks to a vaccine. However, the vaccine only slowed down the virus for Lyle, so Jude has to grieve while having to watch his husband slowly deteriorate. The themes of grief and love are presented in such a beautiful and heartfelt manner. I am very glad I checked this book out despite how much I hate stuff that involves zombies.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Gore, Infidelity, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Grief, and Injury/Injury detail

arlingtonchamberofgay's review

dark emotional sad slow-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Violence, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Moderate: Blood, Vomit, Grief, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Homophobia, Suicidal thoughts, and Medical content

youreawizardjerry's review

emotional sad fast-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? Yes

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Blood, Vomit, and Murder

britt_coin's review

adventurous dark emotional tense slow-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

Incredibly quick and gripping read. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Gun violence, and Violence

Minor: Suicidal thoughts

erica_reads_things's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

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

3.75

A quick, interesting read. Good take on "zombies" and very well written. Sad but good! I would love to read a longer version to feel a bit more connected to the characters for the end to have that big emotional impact. But still a good read.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Infidelity, Violence, Blood, Vomit, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Sexual content, Suicide, Medical content, and Grief

Minor: Child death and Homophobia

marisacarpico's review

dark emotional reflective sad fast-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

4.25

The only other book I picked up at this year's BK Book Fest and, wow, what a find. Glad I ignored the awkwardness of knowing the author was sitting right there and didn't ignore the way this book kept drawing me back.

Beautifully written and felt. Sophisticated in everything from its understanding of the grief that springs from protracted terminal illness to the complexities of maintaining a romantic relationship. There is both beautiful language here and really compelling plotting, allowing one character to start at the beginning of the relationship and the other to track its end.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gun violence, Terminal illness, Violence, Blood, and Murder

Moderate: Infidelity

Minor: Sexual content