Reviews tagging 'Child death'

Through the Woods by E.M. Carroll

10 reviews

darlaslays's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective 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? No

4.0

There are 5 short stories, plus an introduction story and ending story that are even shorter. I enjoyed the spooky atmosphere and the relatable feelings of dread that each story highlighted in relation to these topics. The things that I’m afraid of that I recognized in the stories include the following:

Introduction: Darkness and the monsters that hide within it.

1.

Losing family members

until you are left alone by yourself as a result of uncontrollable external forces. Also, these events could have been avoided if basic instructions were followed.

2. Your husband is hiding something big from you and has skeletons in his closet. It haunts you and keeps you up at night when you’re trying to sleep.

In this story, it’s a literal skeleton— more specifically, fragments of his ex’s corpse all over the house.

It beckons you to

do some digging on his ex and piece together who they were

so it stops bugging you, but it makes everything worse when you find out

all the nice stuff you have now was his ex’s so you just leave his ass instead of dealing with all this baggage

.

3. Jealousy and wanting approval from others can make you do horrible things. You will be haunted by and suffer from the consequences of these actions.

4. Lying to others and deceiving them is an insidious force that causes you to lose yourself as you lose track of what is real. You don’t communicate in a straightforward way and hide things out of fear to your loved ones, so everyone gets hurt and confused in the end when the “truth” comes out.

5. Nobody knows who you really are on the inside, so who would notice if you disappeared or got replaced?

Ending: Your safety means that have to be hyper-aware and on guard at all times. You can avoid unwanted situations over and over again, but it only takes one wrong move from you for things to end badly. Especially if you follow the same routines and take the same routes over a long period of time.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Death, and Murder

Moderate: Child death, Stalking, and Death of parent

Minor: Domestic abuse

abookwormspov's review against another edition

adventurous dark fast-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child death, Confinement, Death, Gore, Mental illness, Torture, Violence, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Gaslighting, and Abandonment

casdelvo's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-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? N/A

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Death, Murder, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

Minor: Ableism, Child death, and Death of parent

breadbummer's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

5.0

SO glad StoryGraph recommended this to me! If you're like me and go bananas for Over the Garden Wall but are also into darker stories, this is the book for you. I could not get enough of any of the stories, and I found it especially compelling that most, if not all, of them were ultimately metaphors for loss or coping with it. TLDR; this is a fantastic book and you should read it!!!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Blood, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Animal death and Murder

Minor: Child death, Medical content, Grief, and Death of parent

annoyedhumanoid's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious medium-paced

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

3.75

to restate what everyone else has already said, the art is beautiful. like it really popped off that hard for the conclusion??? wow. but a few of the stories were too open-ended for my liking

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Death, Death of parent, and Murder

Moderate: Animal death, Domestic abuse, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Grief, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Gore and Alcohol

raynestorm's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

Haunting and Beautiful, an excellent read for anyone that loves the darkest hearts of Fairytales. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Blood, and Abandonment

Moderate: Physical abuse, Violence, and Blood

saldre's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

4.0

Through the Woods is a fast read with 5 creepy short stories that take place in the woods. It's spooky, but not overly scary. The artwork is beautiful! My favorite stories are: A Lady's Hands Are Cold and The Nesting Place. I wish I had this graphic novel as a kid because I would've told theses stories at sleepovers.

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Content Warnings

Minor: Body horror, Child death, Death, Violence, Blood, Death of parent, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

kayfacereads's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? N/A
• Loveable characters? N/A
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

4.75

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Content Warnings

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

Minor: Animal death, Child death, Gun violence, Medical content, Grief, and Death of parent

ladysanctuary's review against another edition

challenging dark tense fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Child death, Confinement, Death, Gore, Violence, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, and Murder

oliviamae's review against another edition

dark mysterious fast-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Violence, Cannibalism, Death of parent, and Murder