Reviews tagging 'Death'

This Delicious Death by Kayla Cottingham

55 reviews

dblue236's review

dark mysterious medium-paced

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

3.0

This was a really creative idea and I was excited to dive into it, but by about halfway through it felt like there was way too much focus on teen angst and not enough on the story that COULD have been wildly entertaining and unique. And while I am never one to have a problem with representation in books, the representation here felt more like it was for the sake of it than anything else and it almost felt like an afterthought a lot of the time. With some editing and a bit of a more mature approach, this would have been a much better read. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Death, Gore, Violence, Blood, Cannibalism, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Sexual content, Vomit, and Alcohol

abicaro17's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious 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

4.0

I adored the storyline of this book! Four best friends, Zoey, Celsete, Valeria, and Jasmine, are what are know as Hollow. The Hollowing was a viral ghoul contagion that turned part of the population into flesh eating monsters. As a solution, scientists developed SynFlesh, synthetic human flesh. As the girls head to a Southern California music festival for the weekend, weird things begin to happen, starting with Val attacking and eating one of the performers. I love that this focused on all four girls and their journeys from normal, to hungry flesh eating ghoul, to reformed and relatively normal Hollow person. I think the fun girls trip turned murder mystery zombie adventure is hilarious and hugely engaging. My issues stem from the chronology. This book would flash forward and backward between each girl pretty frequently. The issue is the different times were not explicitly stated so it became a tad confusing. Also Zoey was the main character but shared the stage (she should either been telling this in first person or had a more equally divided story). 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Biphobia, Body horror, Child abuse, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Misogyny, Racism, Sexism, Toxic relationship, Transphobia, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Vomit, Kidnapping, Grief, Cannibalism, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

rene_reads02's review

emotional funny 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? It's complicated

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Blood, Vomit, Grief, Cannibalism, Murder, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Deadnaming

meg_thebrave's review

adventurous dark funny mysterious 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

3.75

This is SUCH a cute, fun, body horror sapphic zombie story. I loved it! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gore, Cannibalism, and Murder

jay_da_bookworm's review

dark funny mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gore, Blood, and Cannibalism

Moderate: Confinement, Drug use, and Alcohol

lilawsahar's review

adventurous dark emotional mysterious 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

5.0

cute sapphic campy gory read, what more can you ask for? Four best friends go to a music concert in the desert. Oh and they’re all ghouls. Someone is making people ghoul-out, so the characters need to find out who and try to stop it. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Gore, Misogyny, Violence, Grief, Cannibalism, Murder, Toxic friendship, Injury/Injury detail, and Pandemic/Epidemic

mfrisk's review

dark mysterious reflective medium-paced

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

3.5

This book reminded me a lot of the show iZombie but make it more queer. The book follows zombie characters who similarly to that show still feel human and have human interests and desires to fit in and make a life for themselves. The book touches on queer identity through this metaphor and I think relates to the way queerness is othered and made to be something to be feared.

 I think the concept and world building was really well done I just wished I felt more finality with all of our characters and not just Celeste and Zoe. I’d recommend the read but the pacing and details like this that didn’t feel fleshed out to me are what dinged it a bit. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Violence, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Forced institutionalization

perth_is's review

dark funny 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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Confinement, Deadnaming, Death, Drug use, Gore, Gun violence, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, Cannibalism, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, Injury/Injury detail, and Pandemic/Epidemic

9brightshiners's review

adventurous dark emotional hopeful tense medium-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

4.5

Mostly enjoyed this one! The everyday horror of transforming into and living as a 'monster' felt realistic and well thought out. Many elements of the plot and resolution depended upon privileged characters in a way that prevented me from feeling truly immersed or connected with characters at times. There is some aspect of found family in this story, but to me it felt disjointed and ultimately acted as a springboard for romantic relationships. Overall this was a queer teen coming of age story with a solid plot, emotional depth, and a mix of existential horror and gore that kept me engaged and rooting for the main characters. I appreciated the chapters from other characters' POVs and the media quotes and clippings from the fictional pandemic. They added a lot to the world building and helped build empathy and establish motivation for characters that wouldn't be possible if everything was from main character Zoe's perspective.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Gore, Blood, Vomit, Cannibalism, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Mental illness, Religious bigotry, and Medical trauma

Minor: Deadnaming, Drug use, Eating disorder, Forced institutionalization, Fire/Fire injury, and Alcohol

The fictional monsters (ghouls) in this book are humans who underwent mutations during a pandemic and were driven to cannibalism. They are able to live human-like lives because of the creation of lab grown human meat. Trauma from the pandemic, discrimination against ghouls, internalized shame, gore, and body horror are prominent throughout the book. Most main characters are queer, one is trans, some are POC and real world discrimination against these identities also exists in this book. Frequent underage alcohol use. Drug use is nonconsensual (drug is fictional). Hate crime is against fictional identity specific to book.

lovelynovellas's review against another edition

emotional medium-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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Deadnaming, Death, Gore, Hate crime, Blood, Police brutality, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail