Reviews tagging 'Gore'

Delicate Condition by Danielle Valentine

6 reviews

onemamareads's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

3.5

Read my full review here: https://onemamassummer.weebly.com/book-reviews/delicate-condition

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Violence, Toxic relationship, Stalking, Sexism, Pregnancy, Medical trauma, Medical content, Injury/Injury detail, Infidelity, Infertility, Grief, Gore, Emotional abuse, Car accident, Bullying, Body shaming, Body horror, Blood, and Animal death

petit_lecteur's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Car accident, Child death, Blood, Body shaming, Medical content, Animal cruelty, Body horror, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gaslighting, Medical trauma, Pregnancy, Violence, Grief, Infertility, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Miscarriage, and Vomit

mimholte's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

• Loveable characters? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Stalking, Death, Blood, Gore, Infertility, Medical content, Cancer, Child death, Gaslighting, Pregnancy, Car accident, Grief, Medical trauma, Miscarriage, and Body horror

browneyesblue84's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.5

This story is what the newest season of American Horror Story is based on. I hope that the series does the book justice. I’ve read one of Danielle Valentine’s books a few years ago so I’m familiar with the author. Despite not being on a fertility journey myself it was easy to empathize with Anna and become annoyed with her husband and a few other characters. There are a series of plot twists that felt familiar. However, the final twist was my favorite.

Spoiler

Just when it seemed like this whole situation was apart of some dark twisted ritual, the truth was even more heartbreaking. It showed the power of friendship and a definition of love that is not romantic but is even more powerful .

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Infertility, Gaslighting, Gore, Grief, Blood, Miscarriage, Body horror, and Pregnancy

Moderate: Grief

Minor: Animal death

bookishwondergoth's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.5

 This book was utterly horrific and has left me feeling so so angry. Cathartic and reassuringly familiar in many ways, traumatising and extremely triggering in others. Truly being a woman suffering in a medically misogynistic world is a horrifying, dehumanising experience. It's been a while since I've thought so highly of something that was just so unpleasant to read.

Rating and full review to come as I read this one for Grimdark Magazine. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Stalking, Car accident, Gaslighting, Infertility, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Miscarriage, Pregnancy, Misogyny, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Gore, Grief, Body horror, Medical trauma, Violence, Blood, and Sexism

Moderate: Animal death, Terminal illness, and Cancer

Minor: Body shaming, Trafficking, and Confinement

vapidtroll's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

2.0

Delicate Condition features absolutely zero nuance to its message and every aspect of the novel is underdeveloped. I was really pulled in during the first half and there’s some pretty good body horror but overall, I found Danielle Valentine’s writing to be very “millennial cringe”. I don’t know how else to describe it without writing a novel myself.

A blurb on the cover describes this as a feminist update of Rosemary’s Baby, however my issue with that statement is that I don’t believe Rosemary’s Baby was ever not feminist. Valentine’s approach reads as ham-fisted at best. She leaves no room for the reader to interpret anything themselves. Instead everything feels dumbed down and stated explicitly and repeatedly for you.

I think AHS has a better chance at expanding the ideas here if the writers and actors strikes don’t affect the production too much. The story has good bones… thanks to Rosemary’s Baby, so I think a very loose adaption could be good.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Infertility, Miscarriage, and Pregnancy

Moderate: Gore