Reviews tagging 'Death'

Reprieve by James Han Mattson

16 reviews

bebidocrimes's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• 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

The summary for this book, while not exactly misleading, is a lot flashier than what is presented in text. A murder happens in a full contact haunted escape room, but the real meat of the story is the characters' backgrounds, and what led each of them into this situation. It takes a look at the toxicity of sexism, racial fetishism, and entitlement. I really enjoyed the concept of the Quigley House as a whole, even if I'm too chicken to set foot in a place like that, and I'm imagining how vindicated the characters who condemned the attraction from the beginning must feel. Overall, a good read even if it wasn't quite what I was expecting.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Cursing, Homophobia, Racism, Sexism, Violence, Gore, Hate crime, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Murder, Death, and Grief

Minor: Alcohol, Car accident, Death of parent, and Body horror

snail_'s review against another edition

dark mysterious tense

• 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood and Death

Moderate: Racism, Sexual content, Death of parent, Murder, and Violence

Minor: Bullying and Homophobia

jenmcvay's review against another edition

dark tense fast-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Confinement, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Racism, and Stalking

solanacr's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad medium-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Homophobia, Death of parent, Murder, Blood, Body horror, and Death

mxajlikesbooks's review against another edition

challenging dark reflective tense medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism

Moderate: Homophobia, Violence, Body horror, Car accident, Death, Death of parent, Gore, Grief, Hate crime, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Murder, Racial slurs, Sexism, and Sexual content

Minor: Gore, Infidelity, and Alcohol

apersonfromflorida's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Gore, Blood, Toxic relationship, Homophobia, Toxic friendship, and Racism

Moderate: Alcoholism, Body horror, Body shaming, Injury/Injury detail, Death, and Death of parent

Minor: Medical content

sunsetcity's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense slow-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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cultural appropriation, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Racism, Violence, Stalking, Gaslighting, Gore, Toxic friendship, Vomit, Medical content, Physical abuse, Death of parent, Blood, Body horror, Bullying, Confinement, Cursing, and Death

carolncc_'s review

challenging dark mysterious reflective tense slow-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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Torture

Moderate: Racism, Homophobia, Bullying, Misogyny, and Death of parent

malenhar's review against another edition

dark sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

Talk about character development! This book was a masterclass on how to write characters and flesh out strong character backgrounds. Now this book was nothing like I expected. I thought I was getting a closed room horror, however this is really a literary novel that is mostly social commentary with a bit of horror thrown in. A lot of reviews stated this this was overly gore heavy however I didn't find it that way at all. It is made very clear that the things contestants are experiencing are fake so all the gore was fake. 

I'm not a huge literary fan however I did enjoy this and I can see this becoming a classic in the future. 

Bonus points for the awesome sprayed edges and cover design! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Death of parent, and Blood

unboxedjack's review against another edition

challenging dark tense fast-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Sexual content, Racial slurs, Death, Violence, Sexism, Racism, and Blood