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jessamcelwain's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Graphic: Child death, Gore, Gun violence, Sexual content, Violence, Blood, Grief, and Injury/Injury detail
ssummar's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.75
Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gore, Homophobia, Infidelity, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexism, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Police brutality, Stalking, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail
opossumble's review against another edition
- 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
4.0
Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Confinement, Death, Gore, Sexual content, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail
renicula's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75
Graphic: Animal death, Child death, Death, Gore, Physical abuse, Self harm, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Violence, Cannibalism, Murder, and Toxic friendship
Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Bullying, Child abuse, Racism, Sexism, Suicide, Forced institutionalization, and Stalking
Minor: Alcoholism and Religious bigotry
curtiswastaken's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.25
1 Rawhead Rex
2 In the Hills, the Cities
3 Jacqueline Ess: Her Will and Testament
4 The Midnight Meat Train
5 Dread
6 Confessions of a (Pornographer's) Shroud
7 The Yattering and Jack
8 Hell's Event
9 Pig Blood Blues
10 Scape-Goats
11 Human Remains
12 The Skins of the Fathers
13 Sons of Celluloid
14 Sex, Death and Starshine
15 New Murders in the Rue Morgue
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child death, Eating disorder, Gore, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Murder, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail
wyabook234's review against another edition
- 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? It's complicated
5.0
Graphic: Body horror, Gore, Violence, Blood, and Murder
Moderate: Animal death, Child abuse, Child death, Excrement, and Suicide attempt
emudds's review against another edition
4.0
Graphic: Gore, Torture, Violence, Blood, and Murder
ai_novel_ty's review against another edition
Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Animal death, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Gore, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual content, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Grief, Stalking, Murder, Toxic friendship, and Injury/Injury detail
bookswithjk's review against another edition
4.0
First off, Clive Barker’s prose is amazing. In such a short space, he’s able to establish his characters and deliver a coherent story, although the endings are sometimes confusing.
Volume One has six stories. Book of Blood, Pig Blood Blues, and In the Hills, the Cities turned out to be complete head scratchers as you wonder what the heck just happened, though the last story presented a kind of monster I would never have thought of. My favorite of this volume was the Yattering and Jack - a dark comedy, it’s the story of a demon who’s desperately trying to get his “victim” to go mad.
Volume Two has five more stories that are easier to grasp and very straight forward. Although they are very imaginative and evocative in the images they conjure, only two stood out. Arguably, the most forgettable story of this volume is Hell's Event - the plot is rather simple, and there's hardly any interesting twists to keep you interested.
Now, my favorite two are Dread and Jacqueline Ess. The former delves into the mind of a man who wants to understand fear - what people fear, why they fear it, and more importantly, how they react. It is the only story without a supernatural element. The monster here is not a fantastical demon but rather an ordinary human, a welcome change from the other short stories in these volumes. Second, Jacqueline Ess is a story about a woman who recovers from a botched suicide with an extraordinary but terrifying power over the flesh. It's an erotic, romantic story with a tragic ending.
Volume Three sees the gore and the sex ramped up even more in some stories, especially in Rawhead Rex. That one just had a bit too much for me to stomach. On the other side, Confessions of a (Pornographer’s) Shroud was much lighter in gory imagery, and I am convinced that Barker took the phrase “white as a sheet” and wrote that story. Human Remains was an instant favorite, dealing with the idea of identity when a doppelgänger steals a man’s appearance and in the end becomes much better at being human than the original.
Overall, this book is alive with creativity and gory imagery. Most stories are a hit while others are either forgettable or too much in their visceral details.
Graphic: Gore and Violence