Reviews tagging 'Animal death'

The Insatiable Volt Sisters by Rachel Eve Moulton

4 reviews

hauntedantiqueshop's review

dark mysterious sad medium-paced

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

2.0

Started off interesting enough but the back and forth time jumping + 4 pov swaps… not my favorite. The weirdness of the whole story really wasn’t weird and off putting enough for me, I feel like the author could have really dug deep and came back with something darker and more original on that front. The most interesting thing about the majority of the characters were their names, otherwise they just really fell flat (especially BB, oh my goddd). I think it was a cool concept that just ended kind of boring if I’m honest. Which is kinda wild for a mysterious creature feature meets magical realism.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent and Murder

Moderate: Infidelity, Suicide, and Pregnancy

Minor: Animal death, Incest, Panic attacks/disorders, Rape, Abortion, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

incest because there is a jump scare

and it’s the fact that these are teen sisters that kissed square on the lips to the point of TEETH CLACKING against each other and no one even THINKS “huh, these gals are a bit odd” is actually the most insane part of this dry book.

bethanylaurel's review

dark mysterious medium-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Vomit, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Animal death, Miscarriage, Sexual violence, Suicide, Grief, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, and Pregnancy

maimy_santiago99's review

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.5

Dog dies

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death

blacksphinx's review

challenging dark emotional sad medium-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? Yes

2.5

The more I think about it, the less I wind up liking this book. This was one of my most anticipated releases of 2023 and I'm really sad about it. 

"Like" is not something I would use to describe any aspect of this book, "interesting" is. It's interesting how unlikeable most of the PoV characters are. One of the MCs literally describes herself as a bitch and revels in it. The relationship between the sisters was interesting. They love and hate each other in equal measure. Both of them are insecure over their position in the family, and each sister thinks the other one is their father's favorite and resents her for it. It's interesting, but I didn't find it enjoyable or entertaining.

What largely tanked the book for me is when a main character creates and starts executing a plan... and later, when the character fully reveals what the plan is to another character and what they need to happen, absolutely nothing they did in the setup to the plan was necessary. It also bore no relevance to the action and resolution of the plotline. It feels like a bunch of things happened just to give information to the audience, and not something the characters needed to do to further their goals. I actually might come back later and lower the star rating even more. [EDIT: I did.] 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gore, Violence, Pregnancy, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Animal death, Body horror, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Grief, and Suicide attempt

Minor: Infidelity, Sexism, Sexual content, Terminal illness, Abortion, and Abandonment