Reviews tagging 'Alcohol'

Rings by Kōji Suzuki

7 reviews

evening_person's review against another edition

challenging dark medium-paced

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

3.0

One of the most achingly ‘90s pieces of media I have ever consumed. I wouldn’t recommend this book to anyone who is familiar with the existence of the film, whether or not they have seen it. I would recommend this book to someone who likes unsolvable mysteries and watching bad things happen to bad people. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Child death, Cursing, Death, Hate crime, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicide, Transphobia, Medical trauma, and Alcohol

pimmles's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic friendship

Moderate: Death, Rape, and Sexual violence

Minor: Alcoholism, Cursing, Drug use, Physical abuse, Transphobia, Violence, Medical content, Murder, and Alcohol

Regarding the "minor" transphobia tag, not 100% accurate, more intersex-phobia details ahead:

During the story it is revealed that Sadako is intersex. I put it as minor because the author, to his credit, never seems to actually treat that as a negative thing in any regard. It is talked about as a medical curiosity but no more, though it is ofcourse on the infamous horror villain and does have some problematic elements to it.

choco_bunbun's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, and Violence

Moderate: Misogyny and Blood

Minor: Cursing, Transphobia, Grief, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

judassilver's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Transphobia, Murder, and Alcohol

Moderate: Alcoholism, Death, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Pandemic/Epidemic

annelisezj's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional tense medium-paced

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

3.75

Overall, good read! 
Kept me on my toes and even though some portions seemed obvious I still enjoyed the twists and turns each chapter took. 

I will be definitely picking up the next one in the series.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Rape, Sexual assault, Suicide, Death of parent, Murder, and Alcohol

akira_outofthegravity's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

I saw the film (Ringu) recently and really enjoyed it, so I decided to finally get around to reading this. 

Much like the film it’s a slow burn that gradually speeds up towards the end. I prefer the book purely because it goes more in depth about Sadako and her reasons for becoming an Onryo, but I prefer the movies version of Asakawa. 

That being said This Asakawa is a really compelling protagonist. Despite everything he really cares about his family. 

There were various elements that made me uncomfy, such as Asakawa’s attitude towards intersexuality, and generally the way women are portrayed, however I wonder if (for the time) it may have been considered progressive? I don’t know, I think it’d be interesting to research and I like how the story has evolved over the time. 

A solid read!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Gore, Rape, Suicide, Transphobia, and Murder

Moderate: Body shaming, Blood, Grief, and Alcohol

Minor: Sexism, Violence, and Vomit

hocuscrocus's review against another edition

I LOVE horror, but horror that relies on shock value immediately turns me off. It's especially bad when sexual assault is used in that way.
I started the book knowing that this would be a plot point, but I didn't realize there would be a POV description of assault and a regular supporting character who is introduced as a proud serial rapist. No thank you.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Rape, Sexual assault, Vomit, and Murder

Moderate: Alcohol