Reviews tagging 'Blood'

A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness

16 reviews

matthewmclane's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Cancer, Death, Terminal illness, Grief, and Death of parent

Moderate: Mental illness, Violence, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Blood

wathav's review against another edition

emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad fast-paced

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

5.0

This broke me
I've been shattered and numbed
I feel like I need to stare at the ceiling in absolute silence, cry, and just think

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying and Death of parent

Moderate: Cancer, Terminal illness, and Grief

Minor: Violence, Blood, and Medical content

annieb26's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cancer, Death, Violence, Medical content, Grief, and Death of parent

Moderate: Bullying

Minor: Blood and Vomit

klsreads's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.75

A Monster Calls is beautiful and devastating. This is a short story about truth, grief, and living with conflicting truths. For a kids'/YA book, it's absolutely brutal. The art is a perfect edition to this dark, modern, occasionally funny fairy tale. What can we control when monsters inevitably come knocking? Are they monsters at all?

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Cancer, Chronic illness, Death, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Terminal illness, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Grief, and Death of parent

Moderate: Abandonment and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Suicidal thoughts and Vomit

livreads2much's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Cancer, Vomit, and Death of parent

Moderate: Infidelity, Panic attacks/disorders, and Blood

iane_reads's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Cancer, Death, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Violence, Medical content, Grief, Death of parent, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Murder, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Animal cruelty, Child abuse, Child death, Misogyny, Self harm, Sexual content, Blood, Religious bigotry, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Pandemic/Epidemic

tifftastic87's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional sad 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

4.5

Synopsis
Conor's mom is sick, like really sick, and everyone knows it is the end, except for him. When his mom is admitted to the hospital, a strange thing happens with the yew tree in the backyard. It comes to Conor at night and tells him there will be an exchange of tales, three from the monster and one from Conor. That's when things start to spiral.

Overt Grief
Lately, I have really been about stories with grief. This one really hit the mark. I know this is a middle grade (maybe early YA) book, but damn the imagery - both the words and the art - really expressed how Conor was feeling. It was frustrating, reading this as an adult, and seeing none of the other adults be honest with him about what was happening. We constantly underestimate children's abilities to understand the world around them and expect that they don't feel emotions how we do, when they are usually feeling them much, much stronger.

Story Length
Honestly, I kind of wish this were a longer book. I would have like a little more detail in the monster's stories, a little more back story on some of the characters, and perhaps even a short epilogue. That's my major qualm, is the story felt rushed when it didn't need to be and I felt it should have given space to some of the themes that required a little bit more.

Content Warnings
Detailed descriptions of bullying, grief, loss of a parent, cancer, and medical situations.
Moderate descriptions of violence. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Cancer, Terminal illness, Grief, and Death of parent

Moderate: Violence and Blood

Minor: Murder

blombern's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad slow-paced

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

2.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cancer

Moderate: Bullying, Death of parent, and Abandonment

Minor: Death and Blood

books_and_coffee_vibes's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense fast-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? It's complicated

4.0

This book broke my heart. It really is one it those books that you can only read once. 

I loved the way the book was made especially how the monster was the yew tree and how he came to heal. I love how the monster was Conner in a way how his actions where those of Conors. 

I loved the interpretation of the school life for him. How everyone treated him like glass and hardly spoke to him. Tiptoeing around the fact that his mom had cancer. 

<when the monster said that he did not come to heal her and that he came to heal you, I felt that. I cried during that. I could feel it in my stomach. When he said that I knew there was no hope and I think I knew it all along jusy like Conor did but I wanted to believe that maybe it would be okay. Also the last line of that book “I held her tightly so I could finally let her go” the author didn’t need to do that to me. </spolier>> </spolier> 

This book was heart wrenching from the beginning to the end.  

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Cancer, Death, Terminal illness, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Medical trauma, and Death of parent

chloevienna's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

i’m literally begging everyone who has a spare hour or two to read this - it’s only 201 pages on apple books (for me) and is so meaningful. it really speaks to grief and humanity, and the illustrations accompanying the text are just gorgeous. this made me cry so much in the last 50 pages, and will stay with me for a while.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Cancer, Violence, Medical content, and Grief

Moderate: Blood