Reviews tagging 'Islamophobia'

The Ritual by Adam L.G. Nevill

6 reviews

izypup's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious 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: Cursing, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Homophobia, Suicidal thoughts, Blood, Grief, Toxic friendship, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Alcoholism, Animal death, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Stalking, and Murder

Minor: Body shaming, Fatphobia, Physical abuse, Excrement, Islamophobia, Kidnapping, and Fire/Fire injury

charlieeee's review against another edition

dark tense slow-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? No

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gore, and Blood

Moderate: Body shaming, Confinement, Cursing, Fatphobia, Hate crime, Homophobia, Sexism, Xenophobia, Islamophobia, Religious bigotry, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Panic attacks/disorders, Suicidal thoughts, Vomit, Kidnapping, and Alcohol

The first part was fabulous. Some really good examinations of people growing apart; philosophy of life (for male-socialised people anyway); it was tense and had some great metaphors and other strong writing. And then part two happened where I would have sworn I was reading a completely different book altogether! The metaphors were over the top, made no sense in the context of the scene and the characters were really stereotypical - and the less about ‘Surtr’ and the constant repetition about her breasts, body and ‘smell’ of her genitalia the better. Was so disappointed by part two. So so disappointed.

And the reveal of the big beastie ‘the god’ in the woods at the end was such a let down. Everything was leading up to this point and the pay off was so disappointing - we barely get a paragraph. There’s letting your mind fill in the blanks and then there’s this.

caspian's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Racism, Islamophobia, and Murder

bugsoup's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Gore, Violence, Blood, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Body shaming, Fatphobia, Vomit, and Murder

Minor: Addiction, Homophobia, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Antisemitism, Islamophobia, Religious bigotry, and Toxic friendship

cantfindmybookmark's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

1.0

This is a book  about 4 bros who get lost in the woods. The bros, especially the main bro, is fat phobic and hates women. The best way to survive this horror story? Embrace your primal self and toxic masculinity. . I’m so disappointed my book club picked this. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Fatphobia, Misogyny, and Sexism

Moderate: Confinement, Death, Gore, and Excrement

Minor: Homophobia, Antisemitism, Islamophobia, Religious bigotry, and Murder

maggie_t's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

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

2.25

Disclaimer: I will be discussing surface details without going into the nitty-gritty of the book.

Having watched the movie before reading, I personally think the first half of the book holds up better than the script, but the movie handles the latter half more coherently. Doesn’t necessarily take away from its reading value, just changes how it reads. Instead of a story about something inherent within the character/s or the baggage they carry it becomes more so an arena of uncaring hostiles forcing the characters through the grinder.

The author’s snide disdain for anything feminine or fat stains his writing. It goes beyond one or two character’s personal world view as it permeates the entire book. The main character often remarks on how feminine, or femininely beautiful, other male characters are; sometimes as out of pocket observations, other times with a sneering judgment that’s hard to miss. The fat characters are determined by the story as sweaty, wheezing losers, unpleasant companions that unjustly lash out against the main character due to bitterness of his “freedom”. The wives of the fat guys are then framed almost as ‘befitting’ partners to their unpleasantness: a depressed mother of a sickly child and an unstable gold-digger. And the fat girl doesn’t crop up without the author reminding you how her body looks, which he justifies as relevant because the girl is usually naked. 

To his credits, he writes paranoia and that gut-drop sensation of realizing something is hiding in plain sight very well. Chapters with the monster are compelling and tense, with memorable moments of you catching up to the character as he realizes he’s not as alone as he seems. The conflict near the end (before the climax confrontation) is pretty satisfying to read, unlike other books that put the characters through hell with no vindication. 

Overall I would have rated this higher had the author not imparted so much misogyny and fatphobia into this, but it was an easy fast read with some high points.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Gore, Violence, Blood, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Body shaming, Fatphobia, and Misogyny

Minor: Addiction, Homophobia, Suicidal thoughts, Antisemitism, and Islamophobia