Reviews tagging 'Kidnapping'

The Black Farm by Elias Witherow

10 reviews

jaid02's review against another edition

I was looking for a book that would scare me this year. I don't know if I would say this scared me, but it was so unsettling. I felt sick and it didn't let up on the disturbing scenes at all. Probably would be a good book if I could stomach it, but I didn't think I could make it through another 200+ plus without getting sick.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Death, Gore, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Murder, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

skyed88's review

dark tense fast-paced

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

2.0

Not worth the hype. Was gross for the sake of being gross with no point. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Gore, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicide, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Cannibalism, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

narakuos's review

dark sad tense medium-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? It's complicated

5.0

World very well built. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Kidnapping, Religious bigotry, Murder, Pregnancy, and Injury/Injury detail

brutallybookish's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.5

All I can say is wow. The world building in this story is amazing, shocking, and so creative! My heart ached for Nick as he went through all of his suffering in the different corners of The Black Farm, and I really empathized with him even when he had to make hard choices that required gruesome action to be taken. I found myself on the edge of my seat many times longing for happy endings only to be met with more challenges along the way. I can't wait to pick up the sequel to this book!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Gore, Sexual assault, Torture, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Kidnapping, Grief, Cannibalism, Suicide attempt, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

jake_windish's review against another edition

challenging dark sad tense fast-paced

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Grief, Cannibalism, Suicide attempt, Murder, Sexual harassment, War, and Injury/Injury detail

novellearts's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• 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 is definitely not for the faint of heart. I found this to be a really intriguing concept. The descriptions were intense and everything was well done but you definitely should go into this book expecting most horrors that you can imagine.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Kidnapping, Grief, Cannibalism, Suicide attempt, Murder, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Child death

allthingseryn's review

dark tense fast-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Cursing, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Kidnapping, Cannibalism, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

uniquely_bookly's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gore, Rape, Sexual assault, Blood, Vomit, Kidnapping, Cannibalism, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Confinement, Death, Drug use, Miscarriage, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Grief, Suicide attempt, and Pregnancy

kit666's review

dark mysterious 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? It's complicated

3.75

Not going to lie, this book did make me gasp and cringe at times. Towards the end it felt a bit rushed but all in all it was a decent book!

I found the beginning quite intense and Muck's torture was especially horrific. I will have the image of Nick squirming around like a worm with screws for teeth for a long while... I liked how fast paced the book was, but thought that the Eyes of the World were introduced too quickly and ended too quickly at the same time. Everything happened so quickly at the end, it felt too rushed. I would've been content with them never trying to get past the Keepers or no Temple being there. In hindsight the entire existence of the Hooves of the Pig seems a bit pointless in relation to the plot. Other than showing the lengths that Nick would go for? There were a lot of elements introduced that it just started to overwhelm the horror of the farm. By the end it felt more like a gory fantasy. 
Though I would find a sequ l from Danny's perspective interesting. 

That being said: this book was an absolute sausage fest. It frustrated me that so much time was wasted on male characters that barely mattered rather than actually have Jess be part of the plot (at least). Let her talk about what happened in the temple! Show her POV. 
I also hated that she was the one that was expected to comfort Kevin on the raft.
There are so many unanswered questions. When Nick went up the mountain, I thought we'd get answers for everything. Instead it just felt like a half arsed device to show more cannibalism. Same thing with Pudge. And Kevin and Trent. And the Keepers. And the Temple. Even Muck and the Needle Fields. So many elements over so little pages. Make it a series or focus on a few horror devices. Or at least make them all tie together at the end again. Once Nick escaped a place it was like it seized to exist. But the combination of all of that on top of the new goal would've been such a great looming presence.
Towards the end it just felt like the author was trying to trigger as many phobias as possible. Which I'm sure would've worked well if it wasn't so rushed.

It is definitely a decent horror book. Many flaws, but it definitely had an effect on me!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Death, Gore, Torture, Violence, Blood, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Confinement, Fatphobia, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicide, Violence, Kidnapping, and Grief

Minor: Panic attacks/disorders and Pregnancy

postmortem's review

dark tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gore, Gun violence, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Cannibalism, Suicide attempt, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Grief and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Miscarriage and Pregnancy