Reviews tagging 'Torture'
His Hideous Heart: 13 of Edgar Allan Poe's Most Unsettling Tales Reimagined by Dahlia Adler
6 reviews
guessgreenleaf's review against another edition
- 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
5.0
Graphic: Grief, Death, Torture, Confinement, Murder, and Violence
aqulia's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Moderate: Blood, Death, and Grief
Minor: Kidnapping and Torture
melodyseestrees's review
- 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
Graphic: Torture, Homophobia, and Death
Moderate: Sexual content, Kidnapping, and Animal death
Minor: Domestic abuse, Misogyny, and Ableism
cheye13's review against another edition
3.0
Likewise, I appreciated the diversity that the new stories introduced into those timeless plots. But while I wouldn't say the writing held back at all, I do think being YA is to its detriment. There's torture, terror, and murder, but I ultimately found it lacking a certain impact.
Overall, a pleasant way to pass time and revisit or reintroduce some classic stories, but a little young in tone for me.
★★★★★ | The Oval Filter
★★★★ | She Rode a Horse of Fire, Red, Lygia, Changeling
★★★ | It's Carnival!, Night-Tide, The Glittering Death, A Drop of Stolen Ink, Happy Days Sweetheart, Murders in the Rue Apartelle, Boracay
★★ | The Fall of the Bank of Usher
★ | The Raven (Remix)
Graphic: Ableism, Hate crime, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Lesbophobia, Misogyny, Torture, Murder, Violence, and Homophobia
Moderate: Transphobia, Fire/Fire injury, and Sexual content
Minor: Grief and Stalking
chloemakesbooks's review
- 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
Graphic: Confinement, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Murder, Homophobia, and Torture
booksthatburn's review against another edition
- 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
5.0
I'm going to highlight a few of my favorites. The one pretty straightforward retelling which pulled me in even when I wasn't expecting it to was "It's Carnival!" I like the updated setting, and I especially like how the MC’s motives are understandable just based on how the other person acts during the very short timeframe of the story. It also captures that feeling of overkill from the original, that this event is simultaneously horrific and relatable. "She Rode a Horse of Fire" is the only one I read before reading the original, and I like it a lot! The original felt boring and confusing (at least partly because of how I know I missed a bunch of the social context and implications of what happened), but the retelling is really vibrant and engaging, it captures the intriguing parts of the original while feeling like a new story, which is great. I particularly like how the narrator is a character instead of being a passive observer. Lygia is chilling and perfect, it makes all the words fall out of my head and I love it so. I would read a whole series set in the world of "A Drop of Stolen Ink", I love heists and retellings, and a retelling that turns a kind of boring description of an cool exploit into a sci-fi future story about identity, loss, and yearning is just awesome.
Honorable mentions go to "Night-Tide" for sapphic yearning, "The Glittering Death" for its handling of the MC, "Happy Days, Sweetheart" for its calm and calculating heroine, "The Oval Filter" for coolest technological update, "Red" for sheer baddassery, and "The Fall of the Bank of Usher" for making hacking feel like magic and fungus feel like technology.
Graphic: Torture, Violence, and Death
Moderate: Vomit, Child abuse, Kidnapping, and Animal death
Minor: Misogyny, Homophobia, Transphobia, Ableism, Sexual assault, and Domestic abuse
CW for misogyny, homophobia, transphobia, ableism, sexual assault (backstory), domestic violence (backstory), car accident (backstory), vomit, child abuse, kidnapping, torture, violence, assault, animal death, major character death, death.