Reviews tagging 'Miscarriage'

Leech by Hiron Ennes

77 reviews

ghost_of_a_car's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad tense slow-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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Miscarriage, Pedophilia, and Rape

whatthesquids's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional inspiring tense medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Sexual violence, Medical content, and Medical trauma

50shadesofrae's review against another edition

dark hopeful mysterious 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

4.25

Gothic and weird (complimentary). The first 2/3 feels like a different book from the last 1/3? Somehow both hard science and haunted house logic. It’s a trip.  

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Incest, Self harm, Sexual violence, Medical content, and Pregnancy

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Miscarriage, and Injury/Injury detail

athenian_frog's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious reflective tense slow-paced

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

3.25

The book can get very slow but when the horror kicks in it’s usually pretty engaging. My main issue is with the lulls in between, especially in the first half of the book.

BUT think there’s some really interesting reflection from the perspective of such a complex organism that Hiron Ennes includes! That and the character of Émile in general were highlights. The story went in a direction I was really not expecting—in a good way—and the ending was pretty rewarding.

Some of the ideas that strengthen the conclusion that I found in the book—like the value of one’s bodily autonomy—could have been better weaved throughout the book but I enjoyed it nonetheless.

PLEASE READ the content warnings below. Thanks! <3

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Body horror, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Self harm, Sexual assault, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, and Pandemic/Epidemic

-the baron’s family (whose mansion is where the majority of the book takes place) generally holds pretty misogynistic beliefs of a woman’s role in the family, specifically that they are “responsible” for having children/a son in particular -a female character has a history of miscarrying, makes one or two dark jokes about it -descriptions of medical procedures that might upset readers including: several instances of needle insertion in various places, sedated/paralyzed patients during a procedure, often without consent, the removal of a parasite fragment from the optic nerve post mortem, descriptions of childbirth - suicide is examined as a possible and very plausible reason that a character dies (via scalpel to the throat) -In the latter half of the book it is implied that a character ends up in an emotionally abusive relationship with a member of the barony. The sex they have (very vague) reads very much as coercive/non consensual because of the power the barony holds over the rest of the people living in the chateau. There are moments of physical abuse as well. - at least two characters vomit, and a couple more have something crawl out of their mouth

cadence99's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious sad medium-paced

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

3.25

A twisty turny fever dream like read. Liked this overall, though the ending felt a bit lackluster and not in keeping with the rest of the book

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Infertility, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, and Pandemic/Epidemic

awainwright's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Miscarriage, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Medical content, Medical trauma, Pregnancy, and Injury/Injury detail

ribbenkast's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated

3.75

This book really impressed me with the way it is wirtten, Hiron Ennes really manages to write from the perspective of a super intelegent hivemind and sell it. The world building is amazing and is probably the best part of the book. It's got to be one of the most creative uses of the ghotic genre I've seen so far.

However the books suffers a bit from the gothic pitfall where in the first half it's just vibes and nothing much really happens. The pace really picks up near the ending though! Admittedly I do think the book ends on a bit of a weak note. I think there's space for a sequel I'll gladly pick up if it ever gets published. 

All in all, this was a great debut. I'll be certainly be on the lookout for any books that Hiron Ennes writes in the future. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Alcoholism, Body horror, Chronic illness, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Hate crime, Infidelity, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Torture, Forced institutionalization, Xenophobia, Medical content, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Pregnancy, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

hmstaab's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense slow-paced

• Loveable characters? No

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Gore, Blood, Medical content, Medical trauma, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Emotional abuse, Miscarriage, Sexual violence, Suicide, Violence, Murder, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Minor: Death, Infertility, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Rape, Excrement, and Colonisation

fionamclary's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful mysterious sad tense slow-paced

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

4.75

This book has one of the most fascinating concepts I've ever encountered. I spent the first chapter so confused about what was going on, and then the next chapter cleared it all up and I was floored, and so excited to see how the premise would develop. It did not disappoint. Leech is a clever, fierce, and disturbing exploration of the ways in which people have their bodily autonomy taken from them and they ways in which they take it back. It also raises the question of to what degree our bodies are truly our own.

I often struggle with stand-alone SFF because I find that there is not enough room for the requisite world-building, but Hiron Ennes populated this book with numerous small lines that fit seamlessly into the narrative and yet did wonders to flesh out the world.

I did find that the pacing changed rather suddenly about 2/3 of the way through, from a contemplative dread punctuated by brief bursts of action, to suddenly everything kicking off, with revelations and major plot developments happening left and right. This sharp change is my only real quibble with the book.

Bonus: This book has a nonspeaking major character who is never portrayed as needing to be "fixed." There's also just casually a trans old man side character.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Sexual violence, Medical content, Pregnancy, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Moderate: Ableism, Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Cursing, Rape, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Gore, Miscarriage, and Suicide

eilif_has_no_gender's review against another edition

dark informative medium-paced

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

5.0

This book is one of those books where you either love it or you hate it. I loved it personally. 

If you are considering this book LOOK AT CONTENT WARNINGS FOR THE BOOK! I personally had to add a lot. 

This story follows a genderless doctor from a strange organization named The Institution. It does't have a name and later in the book are called The Institution. The reason I referred to it with It/It's/Its is because it is a parasite in control of humans. The story follows a woman who was controlled by The Institution. She eventually escapes a long with her nonhuman friend, Emilè (There is a high chance I misspelled that).

The story has characters who are terrible people (Which I personally love. It shows nonantagonists can be terrible people has well) so if you don't like this this book is for sure not for you.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Gore, Terminal illness, Blood, Medical content, Medical trauma, and Pregnancy

Moderate: Miscarriage, Alcohol, and War

Minor: Ableism and Death of parent