Reviews tagging 'Gun violence'

Black River Orchard by Chuck Wendig

13 reviews

fkshg8465's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional sad tense slow-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? Yes

5.0

Horror was a genre I’d started away from for a very long time, but a couple years ago, I challenged myself to read books I’d normally avoid. So fantasy and horror were now officially on the list of books. I find I’m still picky about fantasy, but I’m a fan of well written horror now, and this one feels very well organized and plotted.

The story was, admittedly, a little hard to get into at first. I reread the first chapter several times, but once I got past it, I was hooked. I also had to wonder if it was a satire about MAGA, but the author’s note at the end said nothing about it, so I’ll try to skip assumptions. But if you’ve read it, you may see some parallels there as I did.

I really liked what my friend would refer to as the unlikely friendships that were written. It was they who saved the works, after all! I liked the epilogue and the seed of doubt planted (yes, I meant that internally and unironically). And in between, I liked that a range of LGBTQ relationships were normalized while still acknowledging transphobia just a bit, although I was sorry that sex shaming was still ever present (pretty sure that’s a leftover disease of Puritan influence, and that was appropriate too, given the discussion of settlers, John’s commitment to the Quakers, and the purity of faith our heroes had in the value of humanity).

I will be seeking out more of this writer’s works.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Animal death, Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Homophobia, Infidelity, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Terminal illness, Torture, Toxic relationship, Transphobia, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Kidnapping, Grief, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Colonisation, War, and Injury/Injury detail

whatzoreads's review against another edition

dark funny mysterious tense slow-paced

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

5.0

Set in small town America, Black River Orchard, is a legacy gone rotten story, as twisted and gnarly as the ancient apple trees that transform the townsfolk with their dark magic. 

Chuck Wendig uses the sinister slow burn playbook to perfection in this terrifying tale about a parasitic Apple cult. 

With a beautifully layered ensemble cast that decomposes before your very eyes, at its rancid core is the creepiest and perhaps most insidious of monsters.

Black River Orchard is like the Ruby Slipper Apple it produces… it quickly becomes your home, your everything, you find yourself slipping between the dust jacket with a sense of relief and contentment. Just one more bite… 

… and at 640 pages it’s a horror masterpiece. I rated this five stars, and it’s fair to say I will never eat another apple again. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Bullying, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Kidnapping, Murder, and Gaslighting

hanyaya's review against another edition

adventurous dark slow-paced

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

3.75

The beginning creepiness is much better than the payoff, but the creepiness is very good. Some moments where it was painfully clear these women were written by a man, but all in all I liked most of it.

Huge trigger warning for cults!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Gun violence, Blood, Death of parent, and Murder

paracosim's review against another edition

dark mysterious 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? Yes

4.75

My only complaint about this book is that it is going to read as very dated, very soon. The Gen Z lingo and references to tiktok will age Black River Orchard beyond comparison within just a few years lol. The last line was also very lackluster, which brought the score down solely because it made me roll my eyes at what was otherwise a flawless book. I already want to reread it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Animal death, Body horror, Domestic abuse, Gun violence, Violence, and Murder

Moderate: Police brutality and Kidnapping

Minor: Racism

araebird's review against another edition

dark mysterious slow-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

4.75

It's been a long time since I read a horror, and I'm glad I got back into it with this one. While it's chunky (at 600+ pages), like a lot of Wendig's books, he spends time building up the characters and the setting before any of the actual plot takes place. There is a sense of unease throughout the book, and really amps up after half way. Most of the characters are absolutely detestable, but that makes the story all the more believable when things go wrong. 
Honestly I would never have thought that a book about an evil apple orchard would be this compelling, but I couldn't put it down. Check trigger warnings (especially for body gore, there's a lot of it).

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Body horror, Gun violence, Torture, Cannibalism, and Murder

Moderate: Biphobia, Mental illness, Suicide, and Police brutality

atamano's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-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? Yes

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Body horror, Death, Domestic abuse, Gun violence, Homophobia, Misogyny, Self harm, Toxic relationship, Blood, Kidnapping, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Animal death, Cursing, Violence, Medical content, Grief, Cannibalism, Car accident, and Classism

ladykatka's review

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.5

Every child eventually learns that their parent isn't perfect, but this book taught Calla one hell of a lesson.

I love a good Faustian bargain and I'm pretty sure this one counts. I haven't read a 600 page book and I really long time and I read this one in 3 days so clearly I enjoyed it. However, it turned from creepy and atmospheric for 75% of the book to instant body horror in the last 25%. So that took me by surprise. I also had to rate this down half a star because Emily was annoying and I didn't like that

John had the perfect death and then they brought him back just so that there could be a happy ending for the main characters.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Body horror, Child abuse, Confinement, Cursing, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Sexism, Torture, Violence, Blood, Grief, Stalking, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Gaslighting

voilajean's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful informative mysterious reflective 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? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Body horror, Confinement, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Toxic relationship, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Gun violence, Homophobia, Sexual assault, Sexual content, and Religious bigotry

Minor: Transphobia

cavernism's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-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

4.5

If I hear the word "frisson" one more time...

Okay, nitpicking aside, this was an epic horror novel. The terrifying devolution of the apple-eaters into inconsiderate assholes and then further into actual monsters kept ratcheting up to a truly horrific, body-horror-cult-weirdness-extravaganza. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Domestic abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Homophobia, Misogyny, Police brutality, Grief, and Murder

maryellen's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Confinement, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Suicide, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Infidelity