Reviews tagging 'Body horror'

The Library at Mount Char by Scott Hawkins

87 reviews

grunbean's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny 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

4.5

A debut that’s dark, and darkly amusing. If you like ‘weird’ books, this is a must read.

I needed to pick this up at every chance to see where it was going next. The thread isn’t the easiest to follow in all places, which is natural for a debut, but everything that is happening kept me going.

This is heavy in its content. If you don’t have the stomach for harm to every kind of creature, human or animal or deity, I would turn back now.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, Stalking, Suicide attempt, Murder, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, War, and Injury/Injury detail

andrew_matteson's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark funny mysterious sad 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Confinement, Genocide, Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, Terminal illness, Kidnapping, and Cannibalism

ana_vargas's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense 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? Yes

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Blood, Suicide attempt, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and War

syddevo's review

challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

A common review I've seen about this book is that you can't really describe it in a good enough way, you just have to read it. Now that I have finished the book, I understand this statement entirely. I would HIGHLY recommend reviewing content warnings if you have any strong stances on topics you do not wish to read about.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Gore, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Drug use, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Medical content, Grief, Gaslighting, and Alcohol

Minor: Car accident and Abandonment

ahoyitsjoy's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

Such a good book. Very confusing, but everything comes together well in the end. I found the librarians, and especially Carolyn, so fascinating. The book almost never explicitly tells you what's going on with her, but there's so much between what's said and unsaid that makes her one of the most interesting characters I've ever read about. The writing is so good at effortlessly moving between brutal violence and horror, absurd humor, and brief moments of quiet contemplation of what it means to be human. I'll be thinking about this one for a long time.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Violence, Blood, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Body horror, Mental illness, Misogyny, Rape, Suicide, Toxic relationship, and Alcohol

Minor: Genocide, Excrement, Vomit, Car accident, and War

pinkyoshi's review against another edition

challenging 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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Mass/school shootings, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Toxic friendship, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Car accident

katieo156's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious reflective slow-paced

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

4.0

This was baffling. I'm not sure I truly liked a single character- Erwin was someone you liked against your own better judgement, and Steve was so clearly a plot device masquerading as a character

which makes sense!

that he didn't really reach personhood for me. I disliked

Father's characterization after resurrection- even with Carolyn in his place power wise it was too strong of a switch to friendly, humorous Dad, especially after we got to see him as "Mr. Black" where he looks at Carolyn with love exactly one time.

It took me forever to get through for a story I was enjoying, or at least intrigued by, but when I finished it I immediately recommended it to three people with strong stomachs. I do like a book with cold divinity, a horror twist, and foreshadowing that makes you pause in disbelief/anger/amusement once it clicks, so in that sense, this book was right up my alley. I'm glad I went into it blind outside of "it was weird" because I got to feel out every inch of weirdness myself. This is one of those books that feels like it fell into the author's head fully formed because I can't understand how the hell he fit all of it in there in the first place. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Domestic abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Torture, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

tetrootz's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious medium-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Stalking, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, War, and Injury/Injury detail

bookishfabledfiction's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark funny mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

Wow! What a book. I have never read anything like it. 

The Library at Mount Char is original, unique, weird, funny, mysterious, violent, captivating, and just plain smart. I was even more impressed when I found out that the author, Scott Hawkins, is an IT guy who, aside from the Library at Mount Char, only ever published technical books. 

The less you know before you start reading, the better! 

I HIGHLY recommend this book! Scott Hawkins, please write more!!! 

...genuine emotion is the very essence of self. It cannot ever be unfelt, cannot be ignored, cannot even be rechanneled for very long.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Excrement, Kidnapping, Grief, Cannibalism, Suicide attempt, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Toxic friendship, Sexual harassment, War, and Injury/Injury detail

buttercat42's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny mysterious tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Rape, Suicide, Blood, Death of parent, and Fire/Fire injury