Reviews tagging 'Torture'

I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream by Harlan Ellison

50 reviews

martyrbat's review against another edition

adventurous dark reflective tense fast-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Torture, and Violence

Moderate: Death, Misogyny, Rape, Slavery, and Kidnapping

Minor: Racism, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, and Grief

florenciangl06's review against another edition

dark tense fast-paced

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

4.0

This was the first audiobook i heard, and i gotta say his was the perfect story to listen to. The desperation, the fear, the anger, everything was palpable. The story is incredibly written and has some quotes that gave me chills and i still think about months after listening. Today more that ever this story is extremely relevant with it's themes, and even feels lika a cautionary tale.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture and Violence

mousmoulo's review against another edition

not rating this bc i have a feeling my edition was not complete

it was good though! the ending was very disturbing even though it was very clearly foreshadowed, and i really liked the concept overall. i can't decide if focusing a little more on the characters' relationships would have made it more impactful or not, but overall i'm glad i finally got around to reading it even if i can't say it was an enjoyable experience LOL

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Cannibalism, and Murder

Moderate: Stalking

Minor: Sexual content and Suicide attempt

thegreatbigben's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense fast-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? It's complicated

4.75

Wow, this short story was amazing. I chose to read it up because I kept seeing people online characterise the main antagonist as one of the most evil characters in fiction, and they were right. The writing perfectly catches the sense of cosmic terror without being classic cosmic horror. The story is so well-written and detailed that I could readily see its frightening nature, which is ideal for someone like me because I love to visualise everything. It's crazy to imagine that this piece was first written in the 1960s. If you like sci-fi and horror, you'll love this story.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Physical abuse, Suicide, and Torture

Moderate: Violence, Cannibalism, and Suicide attempt

Minor: Death, Sexual assault, and War

The story contains explicit and vivid details of terrible physical and psychological torture, including disturbing body horror and a long scene involving a suicide, all perpetrated by the malicious AI, A.M.. The story also includes mild representations of violence and ongoing psychological pain, as well as descriptions of cannibalism that are disturbing but not gory. There are also small instances of sexual assault, references to a global war that precipitated the apocalyptic setting, and small mentions of death and dying, all of which contribute to the story's dark and oppressive tone.

o_romeo's review against another edition

challenging dark tense medium-paced

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

1.25

Hard to read and misogynistic. The eponymous short story 'I have no mouth and I must scream' is good, as expected, but the rest is uncompelling and grating.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Misogyny, Rape, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Suicide attempt, and Murder

Moderate: Mental illness, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, and Toxic friendship

Minor: Homophobia, Self harm, Sexual content, and Injury/Injury detail

deeity's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective sad fast-paced

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

4.0

okay OTHER THAN the misogyny (cuz it really threw me off, wtf man) this is a good story. i love the premise, i love the audio narration, and i love the vibes. the concept reminds me of Roku’s Basilisk. i used to think “pshh i’ll just die if that happens, idc” but apparently someone changed the idea to the basilisk torturing you for eternity instead of just killing you. now, delving into what life could be like being perpetually tortured by a god-like AI, i don’t really take the idea lightly anymore

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, and Torture

Moderate: Misogyny and Sexism

arllo's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Physical abuse, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, and Torture

Minor: Rape, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual harassment, and War

juju_432's review against another edition

dark hopeful mysterious tense fast-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? It's complicated

3.75

I don't need a mouth to Yap

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Genocide, Gore, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Violence, Suicide attempt, Murder, War, and Injury/Injury detail

noosh_pdf's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

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

3.25

Good for a short story, a quick read, quite underwhelming in comparison to all the comments here, I expected something much darker but it's okay. 
However I must credit the author for the plot, the plot itself was unnerving and so are the last two pages, I just assumed it would be more graphic. My bad. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Genocide, Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Blood, and Cannibalism

abicaro17's review against another edition

challenging dark reflective tense fast-paced

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

5.0

This is just as good as everyone says it is. As a group of humans are kept alive by the sentient robot that destroyed the world, they're tortured by endless life, lack of sunlight, and AM themself. It's a horrifying take on technology and human nature but it's necessary and a fun short read. Also Harlan Ellisons voice is worth a listen anyways! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Body shaming, Confinement, Death, Genocide, Gore, Misogyny, Sexism, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Suicide attempt, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Toxic friendship, and Injury/Injury detail