Reviews tagging 'Child death'

Lost Souls by Poppy Z. Brite

9 reviews

joonjxne's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Drug abuse, Drug use, Incest, Rape, Sexual violence, Violence, Vomit, Abortion, Murder, and Pregnancy

Moderate: Child death, Pedophilia, Racial slurs, Racism, Toxic relationship, and Kidnapping

Minor: Child abuse, Homophobia, Infidelity, and Terminal illness

chersonese's review against another edition

challenging dark sad tense medium-paced

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

3.25

  I'm conflicted about this book, I enjoyed the characters they're all well written and fleshed out. With the exception of Jesse and Ann, who are really only used as a means to an end, or to elicit character development from those around them. Ann, especially, I feel deserved better, It's almost as if her personality was swept under the rug as soon as she collided with Zillah, which was the point and was explained in the book but it made her feel like an after-thought or a loose end that needed wrapping up. 
  There are themes in this book that are dark and while I don't agree with them and don't like reading about specific topics the book features, most were handled well, the depictions making you uncomfortable without feeling too gratuitous. The book has an interesting take on the vampire mythos that I commend it for and honestly wish there had been a sequel. 
  But would I recommend this book? I'm not sure, I don't know if the good outweighs the bad.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Child death, Death, Gore, Incest, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Cannibalism, and Murder

Moderate: Body horror, Drug use, Miscarriage, Rape, Abortion, and Alcohol

Minor: Cancer, Racial slurs, and Vomit

lap1n's review against another edition

challenging dark funny mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Gore, Rape, Sexual assault, and Violence

fuathling's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

Oozes 80’s neon with vapors of acid punk and New Orleans goth. A twisted film on paper. Gritty read, and well told.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Alcoholism, Child death, Death, Drug abuse, Homophobia, Incest, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Violence, Death of parent, and Murder

kalira's review against another edition

dark slow-paced

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

1.75

This is very deeply grungy '90s horror, which despite the lavishly (lovingly, one might say) described . . . everything - horror, blood, injury, drugs (so, so many drugs), abuse, rape, nightmares, murder, and so on - within its pages . . . nothing of that feels terribly present. At least for me, most of it was at most disturbing of the cringe and blegh stripe if anything, not the kind of horror that makes an impression or lingers.

I've seen a number of people say they might have liked this book if they'd read it as a teenager, or similar; someone else commented that 30 is too old to start reading Poppy Brite. I'm in my 30s and I can fairly confidently say that I wouldn't have enjoyed this as a teenager either . . . and the heavy content might have been enough to screw with my head more than it did reading it now.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Incest, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Grief, Cannibalism, Stalking, Abortion, Death of parent, Murder, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Gun violence, Suicide, and Terminal illness

loz_ange's review against another edition

challenging dark reflective sad slow-paced

• Loveable characters? It's complicated

2.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Cancer, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Incest, Infidelity, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Cannibalism, Religious bigotry, Car accident, Abortion, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Abandonment, and Alcohol

Moderate: Animal cruelty and Animal death

laluquev's review against another edition

I’m usually someone who can handle a lot in books, but the amount of incest, pedophilia and rape made me have to stop as it felt like every page was worse just because it could be.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Child death, Gore, Incest, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Cannibalism, Murder, and Toxic friendship

highkingmargo's review against another edition

dark emotional tense medium-paced

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

2.5

great if you like grimdark, atmospheric punkgoth navelgazing horror but it's seriously not for everyone. the content warnings will contain spoilers, but better safe than sorry.

if you like darkfic and nasty grungy bisexual disaster vampires though, give this a try.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Child death, Death, Incest, Miscarriage, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Blood, Vomit, Cannibalism, Stalking, Abortion, and Murder

stormywolf's review against another edition

challenging dark sad medium-paced

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

2.0

 I picked this one up as my first participation in Maven of the Eventide's (aka Elisa Hansen's) Vampire Book Club, wherein she offers her extensive library of as yet unread vampire literature as choices for a monthly vote and subsequent livestreamed discussion. After seeing her book club's discussion of The Southern Book Club's Guide to Slaying Vampiresfrom a couple months back, I decided a monthly dip into vampire fiction sounded like fun, so requested the upcoming book from the library. Despite my best efforts, the ebook didn't become available to download until the morning of the livestream, so I only managed to read about 45% before the stream started. Looking back, perhaps the universe was trying to warn me...

Read my full review at The Wolf's Den

Overall, this slice-of-life horror story followed some of the most unlikable characters and produced some of the most disturbing content I've ever had the misfortune of reading. I regret reading this book. In fact I think the consensus of the discussion was that most people shouldn't read it. I'd only really recommend it if: you are really into vampires, particularly of The Lost Boys variety; are really into vampires and want to research more into their historical progression as a genre; like mature horror and aren't triggered by any of the warnings I listed above; or have read it before and are wondering what it reads like 30 years later. It's not completely devoid of value, obviously, but there is a lot of context and problematic content that should be addressed before attempting a readthrough. Then again, I'm not very well versed in horror, let alone vampire horror (this literally being my 2nd foray ever), so take my squicky feelings as they are. Just don't say I didn't warn you. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Death, Drug use, Gore, Incest, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, Blood, Abortion, and Murder

Moderate: Child death, Gun violence, Self harm, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, Vomit, Car accident, and Death of parent

Minor: Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Cancer, and Infidelity