Reviews tagging 'Sexual violence'

Let the Right One In: A Novel by John Ajvide Lindqvist, Ebba Segerberg

32 reviews

salalamander's review against another edition

challenging dark tense medium-paced

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

0.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Bullying, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Trafficking, Suicide attempt, and Murder

Moderate: Alcoholism, Domestic abuse, Medical content, Trafficking, Stalking, and Alcohol

fschmidt2001's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense medium-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

5.0

One of the coolest vampire stories I've ever read, also perhaps the most disturbing thing I've ever read.

One thing I found especially interesting is the characterization of Elie - their gender expression was one of the fun surprises halfway through the book, but more importantly I like that theyre still 12, even though theyre a 200 year old vampire -pretty much all other vampire stories have their child vamps possess the mind of an adult, and it was interesting to see another expression.  Also the biology of the vampiric disease was FASCINATING!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Fatphobia, Gore, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Medical content, Cannibalism, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, and Sexual harassment

kiwibird's review against another edition

5.0

One of the best and most disturbing books I've ever read. 

On the surface, it's a vampire novel, but once you look below this, it's really a book about the (perhaps unavoidable) evil of humanity and being an outsider in a society that wasn't made to accept you. It also had a lot of unexpected queer themes—deep down, the narrative of the main character Oskar is just the story of a young boy coming to terms with his sexuality. The character of Eli, the young vampire Oskar falls in love with, is also fascinating. The text refers to Eli intermittently as she and he, and though she insists multiple times that she's "not a girl", she still chooses to present herself femininely. It's very easy to read her as a transfeminine nonbinary character, even though these terms weren't commonplace when the book was written.

I don't want to say that this novel is completely unproblematic, especially when it comes to its queer representation. I won't go into much detail so as to avoid spoilers, but there are several harmful stereotypes employed in the narrative, and Eli's transness can easily be seen as something that was forced upon her rather than a choice she made. 

Despite these criticisms, I thoroughly enjoyed Let the Right One In and the way it grappled with heavy themes. This is definitely not a book for the faint of heart (be sure to check content warnings for this one), but if you're interested a good vampire story where the humans are the real villains, a portrait of 80s Stockholm suburbs, or a horror-genre exploration of growing up queer, you should pick it up. 

{Note: I read the original Swedish version, so I can't comment on how the English translation holds up.}

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Death, Pedophilia, Sexual violence, Blood, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Animal death, Suicide, Medical content, and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Alcoholism and Racism

hauntedpostalworker's review

dark reflective tense slow-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Pedophilia, Sexual violence, Kidnapping, Fire/Fire injury, and Gaslighting

klimtsonian's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful reflective sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

Gory, graphic, and gripping. Perfectly juxtaposes the mundanity and sterility of modern, suburban existence with the pervasiveness of horror in every form — from the systemic to the supernatural. The prose is straightforward and incisive, with some really stomach-turning descriptions that linger on the details just enough to get the point across without reveling in it. Even through it all, there’s a hopeful, tender core to the story: that there is someone out there for everyone, no matter how fucked up.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal death, Bullying, Gore, Pedophilia, Self harm, Sexual violence, Torture, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Cannibalism, Suicide attempt, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship and Body horror

Minor: Addiction

teaandtales1's review against another edition

dark slow-paced

• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.75

This is a really well-written book that I did not care for. There's dark and bleak and then there's this book. As an avid horror reader it takes a lot to make me want to skim certain parts of a book because it's just *too much,* but I felt the need to do that on multiple occasions. There was just so much in this book that didn't really need to be there, and in the process I felt the story dragging me down further and further into its well of darkness. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Bullying, Gore, Pedophilia, Sexual assault, Violence, Blood, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Drug use, Sexual violence, Suicide, Medical trauma, and Fire/Fire injury

kyliesh's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-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? Yes

5.0

A book that I’ll truly think about for years to come and possibly a rare reread one day! I was completely immersed in the story and found that the author wrote several characters in such a way that you understood them through their complications. Very well written, intriguing, and unique.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Death, Gore, Pedophilia, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Violence, Blood, and Murder

bebodotcom's review against another edition

dark tense medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Gore, Pedophilia, Sexual violence, Violence, and Murder

kaanda's review against another edition

dark tense 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? Yes

4.5

Extremely dark in so many ways, but fantastic at holding tension. Truly horrific.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Body horror, Bullying, Child death, Death, Fatphobia, Gore, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Murder, and Fire/Fire injury

rocketsaurus's review against another edition

challenging dark tense medium-paced

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

0.5

Not a bad book per se, but so wildly outside of what I want to read more of I cannot let the Storygraph algorithm think I liked it. Finished our of pure spite. Incredibly fucked up, and if that's your thing you're gunna love this book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Violence, and Blood

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, Excrement, and Vomit