Reviews tagging Blood

Near the Bone, by Christina Henry

37 reviews

jadziad97's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• 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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood

Moderate: Child abuse, Death of parent, Miscarriage, Gaslighting, Grief, Infertility, Violence, Injury/injury detail, Religious bigotry, Sexism, Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Emotional abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Kidnapping, and Misogyny

vivireads99's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional 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

3.75

I loved the first half of the book. It was a very uncomfortable and tough read but it gave the book a sense of direction. I found the second half of the book gave a stall to the momentum it had built up. The ending left me wanting more. There were a lot of questions left abandoned in the end. I also found the way the creature moved and acted to be very cartoonish. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Child abuse, Grief, Miscarriage, Murder, Pedophilia, Violence, Body horror, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, Religious bigotry, Misogyny, Sexual violence, Emotional abuse, Gore, Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, and Confinement

sphinxofblackquartz's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, Sexism, Gaslighting, Gore, Injury/injury detail, Animal death, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Violence, Body horror, Child abuse, Kidnapping, and Misogyny

Moderate: Pedophilia, Miscarriage, Adult/minor relationship, Death of parent, Rape, and Sexual assault

Minor: Drug use and Confinement

chemicalpink's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Death of parent, Physical abuse, Confinement, Blood, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Injury/injury detail, Kidnapping, Gun violence, Infertility, Domestic abuse, and Murder

Moderate: Animal death, Miscarriage, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Adult/minor relationship, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Religious bigotry, and Pregnancy

anamariac_24601's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Chronic illness, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, and Kidnapping

Moderate: Death, Animal death, Blood, and Body horror

typedtruths's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, Injury/injury detail, and Kidnapping

Moderate: Pedophilia, Murder, Gun violence, Adult/minor relationship, Death, Animal death, Sexual violence, Rape, Physical abuse, Blood, and Religious bigotry

Minor: Miscarriage and Death of parent

graveyardreads's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Animal death, Body horror, Kidnapping, Miscarriage, Murder, Torture, Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Injury/injury detail, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Sexual violence, Gaslighting, Gore, Grief, Infertility, Rape, and Sexual assault

anna_hepworth's review against another edition

challenging dark 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? No

5.0

I don't think I've read anything quite this dark recently. I knew going in that Henry tends to write at the darker end of what I am comfortable with, and this was even more so than expected. It does a fabulous job of bringing to the page a particular type of B-grade horror movie.

And while I absolutely loved it, I can't think of a single person, horror fan or no, to whom I could honestly recommend it. Henry has outdone themself in terms of WTAF.

I've seen in some other reviews complaints about the ambiguity, and the fact that there are story threads not resolved. I loved this -- this is not a story of resolution, it is a story of beginning. Almost as if it is a prequel to a very different story. And while I would be fascinated to find out how that story could come from this one, I'm not sure that I want to read it. 

some rather rambling thoughts, all of which are at least some spoilery:

Spoiler

• I had to put the book down about 20 pages from the end, just to take a breath, because I hadn't expected more than one person to make it off the mountain
• the juxtaposition of the human and cryptid monsters, their capriciousness, and the way that both make things worse for our protagonist is so well done
• I get the narrative reason for Mattie to make their own resolution, their own justice, but it frustrated me as a plot point
• the fact that there are no children at the beginning of the story made no sense. The sense that came as the story continued was awful. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Death, Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Murder, Death of parent, and Miscarriage

I will have missed warnings; it is so very dark.

jadatrack's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• 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: Child abuse, Adult/minor relationship, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Gore, Vomit, Domestic abuse, Rape, Blood, Emotional abuse, Kidnapping, and Miscarriage

ladykatka's review against another edition

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? No

4.0

Wow that was dark from start to finish. The abuse that is endured is graphic and quite realistic when describing how she feels and how she is beaten down. This reminded me of a few real-life news stories from years ago. However, that is not what I thought this story was going to be about. I have read several other books by the author so I was expecting it to be more about the cryptid, and the cryptid did not feature as heavily as I was lead to believe. In fact, the cryptid could have been taken out of the story all together and William could have been made to

Spoiler

kill the other characters

and the ending would have been the same. So that is why I am giving it 4 stars instead of 5.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/injury detail, Domestic abuse, Kidnapping, Physical abuse, Violence, Blood, Bullying, Death, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, and Gore

Moderate: Death of parent