Reviews tagging 'Blood'

Elegy for the Undead by Matthew Vesely

10 reviews

clemrain's review against another edition

dark sad slow-paced

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

3.5

Characters are a little bit flat. The story is short so it would’ve done with less characters to round out the main two more. The pop culture references really take you out the immersion of the story. 

I liked that the love story wasn’t perfect. And these were good points about communication. But the main problem being

around sex and infidelity, just wasn’t it for me.

 

I do enjoy a story that works around with timelines and perspectives. This book does a great job at creating the flow. I never felt lost.

Also it just realllyyy irked me that one of the characters was writer. The whole thing was just so…boring.

It’s sad. And it’s simple. And it is worth the read. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Gun violence, Infidelity, Terminal illness, Violence, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Moderate: Body horror, Cancer, Confinement, Gore, Suicidal thoughts, and Blood

joy_s's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful 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? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Body horror, Chronic illness, Death, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Vomit, Cannibalism, Injury/Injury detail, and Pandemic/Epidemic

mistermeek's review against another edition

challenging emotional inspiring reflective 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? Yes

4.25

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Gore, Physical abuse, Suicide, Terminal illness, Violence, Blood, Vomit, and Pandemic/Epidemic

poisoned_icecream's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful 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? Yes

5.0

Lyle and Jude are happily married when a virus breaks out that causes the infected to behave aggresively and violently, so they're basically zombies. Lyle gets bitten, but manages to survive thanks to a vaccine. However, the vaccine only slowed down the virus for Lyle, so Jude has to grieve while having to watch his husband slowly deteriorate. The themes of grief and love are presented in such a beautiful and heartfelt manner. I am very glad I checked this book out despite how much I hate stuff that involves zombies.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Gore, Infidelity, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Grief, and Injury/Injury detail

arlingtonchamberofgay's review against another edition

dark emotional sad slow-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Violence, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Moderate: Blood, Vomit, Grief, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Homophobia, Suicidal thoughts, and Medical content

youreawizardjerry's review against another edition

emotional sad fast-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

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Blood, Vomit, and Murder

sirpancakes's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional sad 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? No

5.0

This was an excellent read, though it was heartbreaking. So many intense moments!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Gore, Terminal illness, and Blood

erica_reads_things'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? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.75

A quick, interesting read. Good take on "zombies" and very well written. Sad but good! I would love to read a longer version to feel a bit more connected to the characters for the end to have that big emotional impact. But still a good read.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Infidelity, Violence, Blood, Vomit, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Sexual content, Suicide, Medical content, and Grief

Minor: Child death and Homophobia

marisacarpico's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad 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? Yes

4.25

The only other book I picked up at this year's BK Book Fest and, wow, what a find. Glad I ignored the awkwardness of knowing the author was sitting right there and didn't ignore the way this book kept drawing me back.

Beautifully written and felt. Sophisticated in everything from its understanding of the grief that springs from protracted terminal illness to the complexities of maintaining a romantic relationship. There is both beautiful language here and really compelling plotting, allowing one character to start at the beginning of the relationship and the other to track its end.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gun violence, Terminal illness, Violence, Blood, and Murder

Moderate: Infidelity

Minor: Sexual content

angel_kiiss'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? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

This is so beautiful and yet so sad. I’d recommend this to everyone but yet no one. I want the world to read it and be moved to tears but I want to remain one of the few who ever open its pages. I want to be alone in my sadness and my mourning. I want to keep this as a little piece of myself that no one else ever gets to see. I want everyone to see it. I want to bond over our collective sorrow, over the tears we both have shed for a love we wish we had.

I loved this book and the only spoiler I’ll give is: if you, like my sister, are gay and have made a decision not to consume content where the gay person dies in the end, it’s perfectly okay if you don’t want to read this book. It’s not for everyone but it was for me.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Blood, and Grief

Moderate: Infidelity and Vomit