Reviews tagging 'Fire/Fire injury'

Whalefall by Daniel Kraus

9 reviews

loquaciousleon's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional inspiring medium-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

4.75

If you liked 

• 'Life of Pi' and/or 'Dark Life'.
• Are intrigued by the premise/summary.
• Okay with storytelling that closely follows a graphic 3rd person narrative; walking through actions quite a bit.

you will like this story.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Cancer, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Blood, Grief, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail

adrilynn21's review against another edition

emotional informative inspiring sad tense slow-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Gore, Blood, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Cancer, Death of parent, and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Pandemic/Epidemic

crykea's review against another edition

challenging informative tense fast-paced

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

5.0

This is the kind of book I've just finished but is not finished with me. I will be thinking if this for a long time and have already pre-ordered the paperback so that I may one day own a copy for myself

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal death, Confinement, Emotional abuse, Gore, Toxic relationship, Grief, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Suicide and Terminal illness

c_dmckinney's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful sad tense 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

5.0

This book was dark and haunting and harrowing. I am certain it is going to stick to my ribs for a long time. 

This book is about fathers and sons and family and grief. It is about love and loss and guilt and growth. It is about death and the desperate urgency to survive horrifying situations. It is about the ocean and the almost alien life inside it. It is about horrors both natural and man-made in origin and it is about hope.

I like my science fiction best when it is grounded firmly in realistic and believable science and Daniel Kraus met that expectation fantastically. The horror was built in layers of realism I genuinely didn't expect. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Cancer, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Suicide, Terminal illness, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

bootsmom3's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful informative reflective sad tense fast-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Cancer, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Suicide, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Death of parent, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Fire/Fire injury

majestictrilobite's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional tense fast-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Gore, Terminal illness, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, Death of parent, and Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Suicide

tasnim_2000's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional informative 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: Animal death, Body horror, Chronic illness, Death, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Terminal illness, Blood, Grief, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Cancer

Minor: Pandemic/Epidemic

tasnim_2000's review

adventurous emotional 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: Animal death, Body horror, Chronic illness, Cursing, Death, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicide, Terminal illness, Blood, Grief, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Cancer

sarahbythebook's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional tense medium-paced

3.5

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for an e-arc of this book in exchange for an honest review. 

I expected more of a thrilling tale of harrowing escape. I got a psychedelic trip with a sentient whale and a young man capable is withstanding insane amounts of physical pain. 

Whalefall is less about Jay’s struggles inside an aged sperm whale and more about his horrible relationship with his father, now totally lost to him due to suicide. 

Was this the book I was expecting? No. But I did still enjoy it. 

The oceanic science and research into whales is clearly well done. It’s easy to get a bit lost in the technicalities of diving equipment and marine life that sets the backdrop to Jay’s misadventure. Since the ocean freaks me out, I was expecting the thriller aspect to be a bit stronger, but the constant back and forth in time and the self-reflection broke that up in the first half. The second half flew by. 

There were a few things that threw me off totally enjoying this book:
1. At some point, the human mind will shut down from pain and a person will pass out. The amount of injuries Jay sustains makes me think he would have been well past that point, making survival unlikely. 
2. The sentient whale/dad was confusing and seemed like a step away from the careful research that went into whale biology. Not bad, just weird. 
3. This boy needs therapy, and the experience in the whale does not take away from the horrid childhood Jay. I don’t like that the ending makes it seem like all is understood. And shame on his mom and sisters for pressuring and blaming him through the whole thing. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Alcoholism, Animal death, Body shaming, Emotional abuse, Suicide, Terminal illness, Vomit, Grief, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Pandemic/Epidemic