Reviews tagging 'Incest'

The Monster of Elendhaven by Jennifer Giesbrecht

25 reviews

spadedigsbutts's review

dark 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? Yes

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Self harm, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Medical trauma, Stalking, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Bullying, Confinement, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Racism, Grief, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Toxic friendship, and Sexual harassment

Minor: Incest, Xenophobia, and Classism

ellington_rist's review

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, Violence, Stalking, Gaslighting, and Sexual harassment

Moderate: Body horror, Child death, Death, Genocide, Rape, Blood, Medical trauma, and Murder

Minor: Child abuse, Chronic illness, Incest, Death of parent, and Injury/Injury detail

blueroo's review

dark medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Death, Self harm, Terminal illness, Violence, Death of parent, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Moderate: Incest

rungemaille'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? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

There are aspects of this I really enjoyed — the coastal horror setting (I was reminded of the videogames Dishonored and Dredge, which I've played recently), the Hallenkind mythos, the Leickenbloom family history (although I wish we had more of it).

Others I was not so enamoured with — the rape scene (which, while it was mercifully brief and undetailed, I don't think brought much to the narrative, and could have done without), and

the detailed, brutal description of Kanya's death (I don't begrudge the author her death, it made sense thematically, but the way it happened left me rather uncomfortable)

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Violence, and Murder

Moderate: Rape and Pandemic/Epidemic

Minor: Incest and Excrement

joonjxne's review

dark emotional reflective fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Self harm, Toxic relationship, Death of parent, and Murder

Moderate: Child death, Drug use, Incest, Violence, Stalking, and Injury/Injury detail

slimygf's review

dark mysterious slow-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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Violence, and Murder

Minor: Incest, Pedophilia, and Rape

jems_'s review

3.5

An interesting concept and atmosphere, though the execution felt just a little off.

I do love dark sceneries and myths which I think this book did perfectly. It had a dark and gritty atmosphere, one you wouldn’t want to be in yourself. A glum industrial town would not be the place I‘d like to spend any amount of time in. Such is Elendhaven. 
I also liked the myths in this book and the tad bit of the supernatural making them real. 

The characters however felt a bit inconsequential at some points. With how I imagined them, some of the things they did and said felt somewhat out of character.

I would’ve also liked for the book to be a bit longer to explore the characters, especially the „monster-ization“ a bit longer and maybe over the course of that the author could’ve slowly introduced this behavior that seemed odd to me now and make it more believable.

Also beware of the trigger warnings if you read this!

One other thing: As a German reading this, it was funny because it uses some German terms. I mean „Elend“ alone is German and roughly translates to „misery“ which makes sense for the town. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Violence, and Murder

Moderate: Death, Rape, Sexual assault, Blood, Stalking, and Sexual harassment

Minor: Drug use, Incest, and Death of parent

tinyjude's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Loveable characters? It's complicated

5.0

From the get go I fell in love with the atmosphere the author transports us into. The gothic vibes, the gorey and unhinged characters, the gruesome and fatally flawed (aka toxic) situations situasionship these two has going on. It reminded me of Bloodborne or Dishonored in some aspects, either by the vibes and monstruousity in it all, or the revenge at all costs plotline. I loved the writing too, hollow and haunting, full of imagery that surely clicks much better on a second read. The descriptions of the characters and the mythical aspect of the city, with us as spectators rooted in the city yet still watching everything unfold from a deep mist that clouds our perceptions in the same way the sorcerer manipulates everyone here. The idea of a master-monster also reminded me a lot of Frankenstein, although both stories differ in a lot of aspects. Nonetheless, I believe it's a gritty novella perfect for when you are in the mood to read dark, gory, stuff like for Halloween, and be left wondering about the world a little bit (a sense of acrid lingering that follows you around like the shadow of Elendhaven.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Genocide, Gore, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Stalking, Murder, Gaslighting, Classism, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Moderate: Drug use, Rape, Self harm, Torture, Grief, and Alcohol

Minor: Incest

cottagecore_librarian's review

challenging dark emotional funny fast-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

Moderate: Death

Minor: Incest

midnightcomets's review

challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

Νοthing but a good death-filled, obsessively-passionate, gutter-filthy and alley-dark novella to mark the end of spooky season and give me one more gothic horror to think about! Not my favourite thing, but I definitely recommend for fans of villain origin stories. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Violence, and Murder

Moderate: Rape

Minor: Incest