Reviews tagging 'Violence'

Smaller and Smaller Circles by F.H. Batacan

8 reviews

gellyreads's review against another edition

mysterious 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? It's complicated

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Gore, and Violence

Moderate: Pedophilia and Rape

atr1975's review against another edition

dark emotional tense fast-paced

• Loveable characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Murder, Classism, and Violence

Moderate: Blood, Grief, Body horror, and Gore

Minor: Cursing, Drug abuse, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Vomit, Child abuse, Adult/minor relationship, Drug use, Gun violence, Medical content, and Alcoholism

bookishxintrovert's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad tense 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? No

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Child death, Grief, Religious bigotry, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Gore, and Sexual assault

asti_64's review

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad fast-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Murder, Violence, and Kidnapping

Moderate: Rape, Child abuse, Pedophilia, and Physical abuse

Minor: Police brutality and Adult/minor relationship

itskayleighlove's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Child abuse, Violence, Sexual assault, Blood, Child death, Classism, Death, Fatphobia, Grief, Gore, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts

imperialarchive's review

dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.25

To kickstart my goal of reading more books written by Filipino authors, I finally finished F.H. Batacan's Smaller and Smaller Circles. After stumbling upon the movie adaptation on Netflix, I immediately got a copy and began reading right away without knowing what to expect aside from the movie's short synopsis. I fell into a reading slump in the middle of reading it, mostly because I've been busy with my oathtaking and getting my license, until I managed to flip through the last pages after a little over a month.

All I needed were "priests", "solve murders", and "serial killer" to get me on board with this book. I love how Batacan writes in detail, especially with the laboratory and dump site settings, making the scene alive and easy to visualize. Each character, major and minor, was well-introduced, even including a short background on them. For the most part, I genuinely love her writing style.

However, even if the build up was good, I feel like the second half of it was rushed. Batacan took her time setting everything up for the big reveal but there was this one part where I felt like all the necessary information was just suddenly dumped for the backstory to make sense.

Still, it was a great attempt on tackling social issues and mental health. The dynamics between the Church and the law enforcement was something to look forward to. The reality of how the government and the Church work was well-executed. Being able to relate to the topic and the overall setting makes it much more interesting.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Self harm, Murder, Violence, Mental illness, Death, and Child death

Moderate: Sexual harassment

dgrachel's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad

3.0

A good mystery and I appreciated that it was set in a country I usually don't read about. It is a sad tale, though, and graphic, so pay attention to the trigger warnings. I do wish I'd read it in print instead of listening to the audio, because while the audio narrator was good, I think the story would have been more immersive in print and I'm sure there are details I missed that would have made the experience richer.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Sexual assault, Death, Child death, Murder, Pedophilia, and Violence

ssconsequat's review against another edition

dark emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Violence, Sexual violence, Police brutality, Physical abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Medical content, Kidnapping, Gun violence, Gore, Emotional abuse, Death, Addiction, Child death, and Child abuse

Moderate: Alcoholism, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Medical content, Sexual content, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, and Addiction