Reviews tagging 'Abandonment'

Camp Damascus by Chuck Tingle

22 reviews

kshertz's review against another edition

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

4.0

Really Chuck Tingle can do anything and I would follow him anywhere. I’m not much for a horror, but I love the type of horror that he writes. His horror is based on the world around us and the people that make the world horrific. He makes excellent Points and I find myself swept up in the story and committed to the characters. Camp Damascus and the idea of conversion camps as a horror with certain supernatural pieces was really well done. 

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Content Warnings

Minor: Biphobia, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Child death, Death, Gore, Homophobia, Misogyny, Violence, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Lesbophobia, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail

nevergiveup's review against another edition

dark hopeful informative tense medium-paced

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

5.0

I read this in 5 days. It was a quick read. It was a page turner. It kept me on the edge of my seat and I am satisfied with the ending 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror and Vomit

Moderate: Abandonment

Minor: Homophobia

demons don’t hate gay people

fkshg8465's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional inspiring sad tense medium-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? Yes

4.0

I learned earlier today that the Bible only started using the word “homosexual” and its other forms in 1946. Evidently, the same word was previously translated as masturbator and its various forms. So conversion therapy, I would guess, probably only followed suit after homosexuality became demonized by the Church (otherwise, there’d be no church if they had to convert every masturbator to what exactly????).

Gay people have been around since the beginning of time, because more of us are scientifically gayer than “polite” society wants to admit (sexuality is a range spanning heterosexuality to homosexuality with lots of shades in between). So the idea of conversion camps fascinates me. Why are we trying to homogenize the world? What is the deep fear or desire motivating it? Thus, I had to read this book, and it wasn’t exactly what I expected, but that’s partially because I forgot to read the small print saying it was also a horror book. However, I suppose it is a horrible experience for those forced to undergo it. And I imagine a lot of what’s in the book might be true enough (the cost and the brainwashing).

Mostly, I’m glad there’s a book for questioning young people to read that lets them know there’s nothing wrong with them and that they have the power to resist.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Bullying, Child abuse, Confinement, Cursing, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Homophobia, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Torture, Toxic relationship, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Car accident, Lesbophobia, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, and Abandonment

princess_marie's review against another edition

dark tense fast-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Physical abuse, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Murder, and Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Child death, Blood, and Religious bigotry

Minor: Car accident and Abandonment

machewson's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

Wow!  I consider myself to be a fairly slow reader, but I started and finished this book in one day.  It's not particularly long and I could not put it down.  The journey we go on in this book of self acceptance and love is absolutely incredible.  If you only read one book this year or even this decade make it this one.  I don't want to get into any spoilers, but if you are a queer person I can't recommend this book highly enough.  It feels cathartic, loving and incredible from start to finish.  The mystery and suspense absolutely keep you glued to this book until the last sentence.  I know this is rambling but my god this book has me feeling all kinds of ways.  This is very easily going in my top five all time reads.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Biphobia, Body horror, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Hate crime, Homophobia, Torture, Toxic relationship, Transphobia, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Religious bigotry, Car accident, Murder, Lesbophobia, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Murder

quoth_thepaperraven's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful 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? It's complicated

4.5

Loved this book. I would’ve liked the end to be stretched out. It felt too cinematic. And while the audience already understood

that the demons would go after the camp workers

it would’ve been nice to see

rose figure that would slower

in order to build tension. Otherwise it was great. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Gore, Homophobia, Kidnapping, Religious bigotry, and Medical trauma

Moderate: Drug use and Abandonment

vixenreader's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny 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? It's complicated

5.0

A call to love in the face of self-righteousness and wilful ignorance, this book is horrifying, entertaining, and incredibly loving to those who need it. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Homophobia, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexism, Sexual content, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Medical trauma, Stalking, Murder, Lesbophobia, Fire/Fire injury, Outing, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Bullying, Forced institutionalization, Kidnapping, Grief, Religious bigotry, Car accident, and Abandonment

Minor: Drug use, Misogyny, and Alcohol

Be aware of people vomiting bugs out of their mouths, gay conversion therapy, using religion for hate and oppression, and demon imagery.

trashgobby's review against another edition

dark tense fast-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Forced institutionalization, Religious bigotry, and Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Gore, Medical content, Car accident, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Ableism, Confinement, Drug use, Gun violence, Torture, Kidnapping, Gaslighting, Abandonment, and Alcohol

shelfdeprecation's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful inspiring sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• 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, Homophobia, Religious bigotry, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Ableism, Car accident, and Abandonment

Minor: Cursing

snerp_reads's review against another edition

emotional hopeful mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.75

Felt a little slow in the beginning, and a bit cliched, which made me struggle to finish it in a reasonable time. However, once I picked it back up and got to the last bit, I really enjoyed it. The concept and world building is interesting,

and makes me want to know more about the demons and their world, and just how the church obtained them in the first place.

I loved the incorporation of Rose's autism into the narrative of the story, and it was used in a way I've never seen in a novel before. The Rose biblical verses interspersed were also nice and added to the overall themes. 

All in all, I think it's a good YA novel, and if you like the YA genre, give it a read!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Torture, Violence, Religious bigotry, Stalking, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Body horror, Emotional abuse, Blood, Car accident, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, and Abandonment

Minor: Death and Gun violence