Reviews tagging 'Blood'

Flowers for the Sea by Zin E. Rocklyn

16 reviews

discarded_dust_jacket's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

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

2.0

My rating of this book is based entirely on personal preference and not necessarily a reflection on how good or bad it is. I could see someone with different tastes than me absolutely loving this, and that’s totally cool.

This is one of those books that is purposefully unclear for the first, like, 75%, until you’re granted some grand revelation that’s supposed to make it all make sense. Except I still had more questions than answers at the end of this story, and feeling lost the entire time didn’t make for a very enjoyable reading experience for me.

The writing was beautiful and descriptive yet very cryptic in nature, which made it hard to connect with the protagonist and the story. I think I’d need to re-read this two or three times before having a clearer understanding of what’s going on. There’s definitely some allegorical meaning at play here, and if I had to guess, something to do with generational trauma.

Huge trigger warning for pregnancy and childbirth which is depicted in probably the gnarliest way I’ve ever encountered.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fire/Fire injury, Death of parent, Body horror, Grief, Pregnancy, Blood, Death, Gore, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Confinement and Infertility

Minor: Excrement

vanesst's review against another edition

dark tense fast-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pregnancy and Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Blood, Suicidal thoughts, Death, and Sexual content

Minor: Vomit

rmphyllis's review

dark emotional tense fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Classism, Emotional abuse, Pregnancy, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Sexual content, Death of parent, Medical content, and Fire/Fire injury

vigil's review

challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-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

1.5

this book honestly reads as extremely uninspired and derivative. i think it is unfair to compare books and authors to each other, but once i read that rivers solomon was an inspiration to the author, it was extremely clear to me why. 

if you entered this book for the sea creature element, and you enjoyed the commentary on trauma, and all the other shit that fucked up baby started spouting towards the end, read the deep by rivers solomon, which a better take on the subjects by a mile. 

this book tried to posit itself and its character work as something it wasn’t, and this is at it’s clearest in the ending, that is meant to be a kind of reclamation of oneself and autonomy, but to the reader, evidently less concerned with symbolism than the author, it comes across as a new kind of chain. really, the prose is lovely, and the atmosphere is strong, rocklyn conveys very visceral horror and emotions through the protagonist’s experience, but there’s really nothing in this book that justifies reading it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Death of parent, Gore, Blood, Body horror, Genocide, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Pregnancy, Cursing, Grief, Infidelity, Murder, Toxic relationship, and Violence

bluebrooks's review

challenging dark emotional sad medium-paced

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

5.0

female rage, beautiful beautiful beautiful writing.... we love to see it. i will be thinking about this for a while and will probably return to write an actual review but for now i'm just gonna drop the 5 stars this little book deserves. 

(if u like this u will probably also enjoy here, the world entire !!) 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical trauma, Injury/Injury detail, Excrement, Body horror, Vomit, Toxic relationship, Slavery, Sexual content, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Violence, Physical abuse, Infidelity, Grief, Abandonment, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Death of parent, Blood, and Emotional abuse

Moderate: Abortion and Suicidal thoughts

rosesofthespring's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional tense fast-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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Hate crime, Infidelity, Pregnancy, Racial slurs, Blood, Classism, Cursing, Genocide, Gore, Grief, Medical content, Murder, Religious bigotry, Suicidal thoughts, Fire/Fire injury, Vomit, and Death of parent

Moderate: Child abuse, Infertility, Child death, Miscarriage, and Sexual content

Minor: Alcohol, Miscarriage, and Abortion

This story largely revolves around a pregnancy and traumatic birth. The main character is a member of a persecuted racial and religious minority, who faces bigotry throughout.

shannananahey's review against another edition

adventurous challenging mysterious 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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Fire/Fire injury, Vomit, and Pregnancy

Moderate: Body horror, Child death, Death, Gore, Suicide attempt, Miscarriage, Suicide, and Suicidal thoughts

Minor: Infertility

cheye13's review

dark fast-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Child death, Blood, Body horror, Death, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Pregnancy, and Sexual content

Moderate: Confinement, Infidelity, Medical content, Grief, and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Infertility, Miscarriage, and Excrement

An unwanted pregnancy carried through to birth is the majority of the narrative

edunbar87's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional lighthearted sad 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? It's complicated

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror and Blood

rorikae's review against another edition

dark emotional 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? Yes

3.5

'Flowers for the Sea' by Zin E. Rocklyn is an interesting horror novella that I wished had taken more time to explore its themes and characters.
On a boat far from her home, Iraxi is pregnant with a child that she thinks may be less human than one would hope. Still dealing with the trauma of losing her family and her home, Iraxi is coming to terms with her situation and what her child may be. 
Rocklyn creates an intriguing scenario and interesting characters but I don't think enough time was given to each to fully tell the story that is promised. Iraxi is dealing with severe depression after the loss of her family and home and this causes her to weave in and out of the past and the present. This sets up some of her backstory but I found that we weren't given quite enough time in either her memories or the present to fully cement the story and allow for character growth. 
Rocklyn does a great job of writing body horror as Iraxi questions her pregnancy and the child that she is going to give birth to. The prose is lyrical and evocative, which I really enjoyed. 
At 112 pages, this is a short novella and it feels like it could have used expansion. I was left at the end confused over what was going on and why. Despite this, I would read more of Rocklyn's books in the future as I really enjoyed their writing and the premise is intriguing. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Pregnancy, and Suicidal thoughts