Reviews tagging 'Slavery'

Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke by Eric LaRocca

52 reviews

onthelam's review against another edition

dark emotional tense fast-paced

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

3.0

this book left me feeling uneasy and unfulfilled. this was a very good concept that should have been explored properly..the actual story was creepy but it was the unnecessary tangents that seem to give it the reputation, which it just didn't live up to.  It very much felt like the 5-day fervent dream it says it was. But you know what, it was pretty good for a quick blast of creativity. Just not my thing. In the end, though it did make me want to read more books that explore a toxic relationship better.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Self harm, Sexual content, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Suicide attempt, Pregnancy, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Suicide and Medical content

Minor: Confinement, Cursing, Panic attacks/disorders, and Abandonment

harley_sage's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional tense fast-paced

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

3.75

beautifully written gore, not really my cup of tea tho

i hate the open ending and it kind of ruins it a little bit for  me, i wish we could've gotten a more concrete ending and knew maybe what happened with zoey as well

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Medical content, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Mental illness, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Grief, and Medical trauma

Minor: Misogyny, Sexism, Slavery, and Vomit

mneex05's review against another edition

dark tense fast-paced

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

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Miscarriage, Self harm, Sexual content, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Vomit, and Suicide attempt

emilykayvsthelibrary's review against another edition

dark tense fast-paced

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

3.5

i couldn’t get past the tape worm, especially when agnes passed it and treated it like a human child, like i can handle gross shit but that really put me over the edge

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Slavery, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Suicidal thoughts and Vomit

all i can say to avoid giving any spoilers but still giving a warning is that there is a tapeworm, and one of the characters had one and she was no exception to the violent illness that tapeworms can cause.

himangi's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

2.0

fuck this book. i hated this. 2022 is off to a great start. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Domestic abuse, Mental illness, Self harm, Sexual content, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Vomit, Suicide attempt, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail

northamerica's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious sad 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

3.0

made me wanna throw up. things have gotten worse since i read this book. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Emotional abuse, Self harm, Slavery, Torture, Toxic relationship, Blood, and Medical trauma

shonavtj's review against another edition

dark emotional 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? It's complicated

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, and Child death

Moderate: Mental illness, Slavery, Torture, Toxic relationship, Vomit, and Medical content

Minor: Homophobia and Sexual content

angrboda's review against another edition

dark fast-paced

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

3.75

this was horrid. but i cant stop thinking about it and that’s why i’m rating it so high (compared to most reviews). i love psychological horror, but this was unnecessarily gruesome. i also wished it was less fast paced, the personality switch for both characters was very sudden and i wish it was more slowly done. something about this book stands out to me. maybe it’s how rancid the plot is. maybe it’s the ending. maybe it’s how shocked i felt the entire half hour it took to read. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Homophobia, Infertility, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual content, Slavery, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Medical trauma, Pregnancy, Lesbophobia, Gaslighting, and Abandonment

emilybold's review against another edition

dark fast-paced

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

3.25

I went into the book knowing what the premise was, however it ended up being very different in tone compared to how I have heard it been described by others. At times I found the writing a bit hesitant to indulge in the weirdness of the novella, especially as it is so short, it needed to pack a punch. I was really rooting for this book throughout, and still would absolutely recommend it as an absurd, surreal psychological horror, it is still an exciting and unnerving premise, even if the writing shies away from that at times. Overall I thought it was an imaginative cautionary tale for the age of the internet, but could have benefitted from more risks from the author. 

spoiler review time! Firstly I am undecided about the format of the book. I feel this format served both as a help and a hinderance to the story in many ways. In terms of how it helped, I think it was a good attempt at immersive fiction, and I also really enjoyed how it read like a play script. Everything felt very immediate, which I thought was in-keeping with the idea of everything being instant on the internet. It also drew me in as a reader, at first, as there is no emotional context for anything these characters are saying, and leaves it to you to imagine how they are sitting at their computers and what type of people they are. But equally, this lack of emotional context makes it difficult to ground yourself in the story. It reads like a play with no stage directions. As much as stage directions aren't often that exciting, it usually gives you some context to play with or against. Ways I think the format could have been utilised better would be if we could see conversations between the characters and other people, just so we had some emotional context, but also some context of idiolect; do the characters change their language depending on who they're talking to? Having that base might have given the book some more contrast in terms of how Agnes becomes so isolated in her relationship with Zoe. Perhaps, if we had seen some emails from her boss, or we saw how Zoe contacted the bank the novella would have felt more rounded. At the beginning of the novella, the narrator pops in to explain where the text was taken from, and I think this technique could have almost served as some sort of stage direction, which would have grounded the dialogue more I think. I felt the authors note at the beginning should have been used more throughout the novella, or completely cut, so we are only working with the text the characters are seeing. I feel the format of the book will be the real make or break for people. Even though not every horror needs a sense of catharsis to be seen as complete, I felt that this book was a little shaky within that. But it was a bold attempt nonetheless, and for that this book and the author do earn my respect.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Emotional abuse, Gore, Sexual content, Sexual violence, and Violence

Moderate: Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Suicide attempt, and Gaslighting

Minor: Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Medical content, Pregnancy, Lesbophobia, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail

lleebee's review against another edition

dark emotional tense fast-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Child death, Death, Gore, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Slavery, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Vomit