Reviews tagging 'Gore'

Dead Until Dark by Charlaine Harris

11 reviews

sup3r_xn0va_maya's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

Dead Until Dark is the first book in the Sookie Stackhouse series by Charlaine Harris. The Sookie Stackhouse series is also the inspiration for the HBO show, True Blood. Dead Until Dark was a good introduction and first book in the series, I really enjoyed the journey. 

Sookie Stackhouse is a waitress in a small town in Louisiana and she's always wanted to meet a vampire because in this world vampires have been exposed and humans and vampires have been trying to co habituate together.  Sookie meets her first vampire in Bill, a (confederate) civil war era vampire. Bill is quite taken with Sookie and she is equally taken with him.

I don't like that Sookie's grandma was so excited

Spoiler

to have a confederate speak to her descendants club. Ya'll know they were fighting to keep slavery a thing, right?

I think this was one of the only things I really disliked about the novel.  

There's a murder mystery mingled in with some paranormal romance and I really enjoyed this book. It was gory, sexy, mysterious, and entertaining. I'm giving this 4 stars out of 5 because I had a lot of fun with this read. 

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 4/5 Stars

I read this for free on Libbyapp.com

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Death, Death of parent, Fatphobia, Rape, Incest, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Body horror, Gore, Sexual harassment, Animal cruelty, Bullying, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, Alcohol, Kidnapping, Animal death, Blood, Murder, and Violence

khaleesiofthegreatwhitenorth's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious medium-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? Yes

3.75

This is a rating I give with love. I’ve been reading a lot of this genre lately and I’m coming to realize that 3-star-related ratings aren’t ALL bad. Sometimes what you need is something basic, something light and easy to follow. 3.75 means it was good enough to enjoy the ride, enough so that you can see yourself reading more of the series, but not so much you’d ever feel compelled to reread anything. Or talk about your reading experience of it in depth. It’s surface level fun with a splash of blood and murder.

Honestly I probably would have DNFed this had I not listened to the audiobook so take what I say with a grain of salt. The narrator is the one who kept me coming back for more. LOVED her Bill. Frankly more than Stephen Moyer😅

If you want an easy vampire popcorn read/listen, this is your book. Great for turning your brain off to lol 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder

Moderate: Sexual harassment, Blood, Gore, Physical abuse, and Sexual assault

Minor: Death of parent, Hate crime, and Medical content

serenephedra's review against another edition

dark lighthearted mysterious 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? Yes

3.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Incest, Racial slurs, Body horror, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Pedophilia, Death, Blood, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Physical abuse, Body shaming, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Gore, Grief, Rape, Sexual violence, Cancer, and Child abuse

leazzz's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny mysterious medium-paced

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

3.5

Surprising how closely they followed this for the show 
Both Sookie and Bill are mildly infuriating 
I hate Jason 🫶🏻
For a vampire romance from 2001, insanely progressive 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Animal death, Blood, Body horror, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Torture, Violence, Vomit, Homophobia, Sexual content, Child abuse, Incest, Pedophilia, and Sexual assault

avie_j's review against another edition

dark funny mysterious sad tense 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? No

2.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Sexual content, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Cursing, Fire/Fire injury, Hate crime, Alcohol, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Gore, Blood, Sexual harassment, and Grief

Moderate: Racism, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Sexual violence, Sexism, Injury/Injury detail, Car accident, Classism, and Alcoholism

Minor: Child abuse

jmeyers888's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious 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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual harassment, Torture, Animal death, Body horror, Gaslighting, Grief, Pedophilia, Incest, Murder, Physical abuse, Trafficking, Death, Sexual content, Violence, Blood, Gore, Child abuse, Xenophobia, Stalking, Hate crime, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Toxic friendship, and Misogyny

Moderate: Classism, Death of parent, and Sexism

Minor: Car accident

ittybittyninja12's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-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? No

3.0

This one took me a second to finish,I think I was a tad bored because I've watched some of the show already. And honestly this is one of the times I like the show/movie better than the book. Not saying the book is bad but I feel like the show kept a lot from the book but added so much more on top of it. There's characters in the show that aren't in the book, and they just make it so much better. They feel much deeper in the show and put together. I did like hearing her thoughts and everything but now I can see how limiting it is, to see things just from her perspective. The romance is basically the same though. Also some of the terminology is a little too outdated. I know the show is as well but the book definitely is. So I was a tad uncomfortable at times. The show definitely updated from the books and I actually would recommend just watching the show. I'm not sure if I'll continue reading the books as it's a long series but maybe if I can't think of anything else to read I'll continue.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Blood, Gore, Animal death, Murder, and Violence

Moderate: Sexism, Grief, Homophobia, Misogyny, and Racial slurs

kam_pearson's review against another edition

dark funny mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Blood, Gore, Murder, and Sexual content

lauraleamariereads's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious medium-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? Yes

2.0

“The death of a pet is naturally not in the same category as the death of a family member, I chided myself, but it didn’t seem to affect my misery.” (230)

Why True Blood (the tv show) is better than the Sookie Stackhouse book series (book one comparison):

• Tara — why the fuck is Tara not in book one??? Her friendship with Sookie is one of the best parts of this whole series. There is no Sookie without Tara.
• Lafayette — he has like 2 or 3 lines in this whole first book? I’m so confused. Again, one of the best side characters in the show and desperately missed in this first book.
• Jason — is so misogynistic and cruel towards Sookie in this book. True Blood Jason loves his sister and actually likes spending time with her.  I don’t know why he’s such an asshole in this book — way better on screen.
• Racism — this book is overtly racist and doesn’t even try to incorporate any inclusivity; True Blood does a much better version of this Deep South confederate story. I did not feel comfortable with the disgusting lack of race equality in this book. Charlaine Harris is a white woman, I understand that — but ANY attempt by her to include Black Americans in this story was completely ignored (other than Lafayette’s quick appearance).

AND — I have been lucky enough to own a dog for many years, and sadly been there for his death. Anyone that tells me I didn’t mourn him like he was a family member is wrong. He stole a piece of my heart and I will always remember him. Smh. *Sookie when her cat dies*

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Sexual violence, Alcoholism, Body horror, Blood, Murder, Racism, Violence, and Gore

Minor: Child abuse, Animal death, Death of parent, and Rape

christinabrunette's review against another edition

mysterious medium-paced

• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? N/A
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

Quick easy read, fun to see how the book differs from the show. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Violence, Gore, Grief, Incest, Toxic relationship, Animal death, Pedophilia, Sexual content, and Sexual violence