Reviews tagging 'Medical content'

Camp Damascus by Chuck Tingle

59 reviews

regaliaofchaos's review against another edition

challenging mysterious tense slow-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? It's complicated

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Gore, Homophobia, Torture, Transphobia, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Religious bigotry, and Gaslighting

binevolentbookworm's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

this was so good!! wild!! a lil triggering, but ultimately, hopeful!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Gore, Homophobia, and Religious bigotry

Moderate: Confinement, Gun violence, Torture, Violence, Medical content, Car accident, Fire/Fire injury, and Gaslighting

steph_weigle's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious sad tense 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Drug use, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Homophobia, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, Religious bigotry, Lesbophobia, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Child death

aformeracceleratedreader's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

3.75

This was pretty good. A little slow at first but picks up nicely. Good amount of horror (especially body horror). Love to see gay conversation camps get dismantled and bigots getting their due.
Look at trigger/content warnings beforehand! Nothing too too graphic but def could be hard to read.
Would def check out more from the author.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Hate crime, Homophobia, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Medical content, Religious bigotry, Lesbophobia, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Confinement, Emotional abuse, Grief, and Car accident

blighted_beak's review against another edition

dark mysterious medium-paced

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

Very fun read that was not what I expected. I like the take on demons and how that played out in the book, even tho some parts had me rolling my eyes or scratching my head. Not enough to detract from my enjoyment though

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Homophobia, Violence, Religious bigotry, Stalking, and Car accident

Moderate: Animal death, Death, Gun violence, Medical content, Fire/Fire injury, and Gaslighting

50shadesofrae's review against another edition

challenging funny hopeful inspiring tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• 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

4.0

The good Dr. Tingle proves love is real yet again. It’s nice to see someone dive into the deep horror of a mega church in an evangelical small town. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Hate crime, Homophobia, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexism, Torture, Violence, Medical content, Religious bigotry, Murder, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

bree_h_reads's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense fast-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

5.0

This book really cemented for me that I need to read more Chuck Tingle books.

I wasn’t super sure what to expect from the book just from the blurb, but I really enjoyed it. I love how it explored sexuality and religious trauma. Rose’s personal journey of realising what her feelings were and that confusion around that was deeply relatable. It made me take to her as a MC quickly. Not just the realisation of her sexuality, but the complex feelings around religion and realising how it hurt her. I liked the variety in how characters felt about religion, each had complex but still valid feelings on it. I especially liked the contrast between Rose and Saul. While both suffered at the camp, Rose turned away from religion while Saul embraced it in a more accepting way. I appreciated that neither was depicted as wrong, it was a level of nuance I hadn’t expected.

The characters as a whole were also so well done. Each felt like a real person with complicated feelings and motivations. They all felt consistent and I understood why they were doing what they did. I was pleasantly surprised by how many characters were given depth and complexity too. It was nice that even the less that stellar characters were still people.

The book’s atmosphere and descriptions were also great. Things were described in delightfully disgusting ways. It just made everything properly creepy. Not to mention how well the book did with atmosphere and tension building. There was a deep underlying sense of dread to the book and most scenes that I really enjoyed.

The only flaw that really bothered me was how heavy handed the book could be at times. However, a lot of topics the book discussed are really complex. I think it can be helpful to clearly state what you mean when talking about such layered topics.

Overall it was an amazing read and I highly recommend it. Even if you usually a horror reader, I think it’s worth checking out.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Cursing, Death, Homophobia, and Religious bigotry

Moderate: Mental illness, Violence, Medical content, Car accident, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Ableism, Gun violence, Misogyny, Sexism, and Grief

r3allybadusername's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional fast-paced

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

4.0

This book was great! My only complaint would be that I wish the ending felt a little unfinished.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Homophobia, Physical abuse, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Car accident, Lesbophobia, Fire/Fire injury, Outing, and Gaslighting

acechemicals's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense fast-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? Yes

5.0

I can't objectively review this book in any meaningful way. It resonated with me in every single way, from

memory loss due to religious abuse

to

finding a family that understands the need to protect others.

It took me four hours to read and I'm sure everyone I love is completely irritated by me reading passages or sending heart-rending quotes in DMs (or setting the book down so I could cry several times during the last quarter or so). 

Entwining religion and horror is not new by any means, but done to great effect here. Everything is scarier through Rose's eyes, because she's sheltered. And we're so used to denial of the protagonist's experiences as a trope of horror that "you didn't see anything weird" seems normal, "I'm sure there's a reasonable explanation for this" isn't out of the ordinary, but it ratchets up seamlessly and quickly for Rose in a way anyone familiar with high-control religion would recognize immediately.

I want everyone to read this. I also want to cry for the next six months. And I couldn't have asked for a better ending. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Cursing, Emotional abuse, Gore, Homophobia, Violence, Religious bigotry, Car accident, Lesbophobia, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Death, Panic attacks/disorders, Medical content, and Car accident

Minor: Deadnaming, Drug use, and Gun violence

judassilver's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny lighthearted mysterious tense 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? It's complicated

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Body horror, Gore, Homophobia, Violence, Religious bigotry, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Confinement, Gun violence, Torture, and Lesbophobia

Minor: Death, Medical content, Car accident, and Alcohol