Reviews tagging 'Suicidal thoughts'

The Call by Peadar Ó Guilín

7 reviews

ilaxaria's review

adventurous dark emotional tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Body horror, Ableism, Blood, Murder, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Child death, Fire/Fire injury, and Torture

Moderate: Self harm, Misogyny, and Vomit

Minor: Islamophobia

ribbenkast's review

adventurous dark emotional informative tense fast-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? Yes

4.0

Immediately, I was very interested by the premise of this book. Right from the start, although the subject matter is quite dark I was having so much fun reading it. However the book took a little while to convince me it was not only fun but also clever and good. The ending was worth it though.

The premise: 25 years ago Ireland got cut off from the rest of the world and now every teenager at one point in their live gets "called" and transported to the Grey Land/the fae realm where they have to survive being hunted for sport by vengeful sadistic Sìdhe/fae is amazing. This premise has also major implications for how society will shape itself around this conundrum. A good example is that we follow a physically disabled main character who got polio as a young child because there weren't any vaccines. That's good world building and I'm so happy to read some good disability rep.

This is also where the book gets a little bit frustrating sometimes. You can tell O'Guilan is a good world builder. I'm willing to bet they've written up a Lore Bible and a many page document about the history of the Sìdhe and how the Irish society and its politics as it's currently functioning within the book. However all this clever world building is mostly hidden within throwaway lines from random characters in favor of showing of the teen drama. 

The book has some of the most creative body horror I've seen in a while. However, in a lot cases the scene fades to black to soon. Afterwards the body horror is only described as "terrible" by the other characters without further details. I understand that the author was probably going for "nothing's worse than your own imagination" trope, but I do think O'Guilan missed and excellent opportunity to show just how sadistic and twisted the Sìdhe are. 

Both of these issues could've been resolved by making the book 30-50 pages longer. And I would've gladly read it. I'm picking up part 2 soon. 7.8/10 - 4/5⭐

P.S. It's horror, please check the trigger warnings and take care of yourself! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Murder, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Ableism, Body horror, Violence, Torture, Kidnapping, Death, Confinement, Blood, Alcohol, Addiction, Chronic illness, Grief, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, and Physical abuse

Moderate: Child death, Abandonment, Colonisation, Genocide, Violence, Mass/school shootings, War, Suicidal thoughts, Stalking, Alcoholism, Alcohol, Animal death, Confinement, Pregnancy, Pandemic/Epidemic, Medical content, Gun violence, Forced institutionalization, Child abuse, and Fire/Fire injury

breedawnwriter's review

challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious sad fast-paced

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

4.75

Wow. This book was INCREDIBLE. I read it in two sittings because I literally couldn’t put it down.

This book is not for the faint of heart, since the content is both disturbing and mature, but I’d still recommend for older YA audiences.

If you like The Hunger Games, disturbing fae, boarding school stories, forbidden romance, and otherworldly cat-and-mouse games, you’ll love The Call. 

Just make sure you read the trigger warnings first!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Physical abuse, Suicide attempt, Violence, Body horror, Bullying, Child death, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Torture, Murder, Ableism, Suicidal thoughts, Child abuse, Injury/Injury detail, and Medical trauma

Moderate: Gun violence, Grief, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Vomit, Cannibalism, Confinement, Cursing, and Self harm

Minor: Excrement, Pregnancy, Suicide, Alcohol, and Abortion

There are a ton of body horror/injury/deformation descriptions in this book. If you are sensitive to that, please don’t read this book. A male character attempts to rape a female character. It is a traumatic scene, but not overly graphic. It is mentioned that the male character forcibly kisses her and pushes himself against her. He also touches her boobs. There are LGBT relationships in this book. They are not a focal point, but there are references to homosexual dating, kissing, and desires.

mermaidsherbet's review

adventurous dark emotional tense fast-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Child abuse, Bullying, Child death, Gore, Kidnapping, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Stalking, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Violence, Blood, Body horror, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, and Murder

Moderate: Gun violence, Hate crime, Cannibalism, Confinement, Colonisation, Sexual harassment, Excrement, Genocide, Grief, Self harm, Sexual assault, Suicide, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, and Vomit

Minor: Abandonment, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Animal death, Animal cruelty, Body shaming, Fatphobia, Homophobia, Infidelity, Islamophobia, Lesbophobia, Medical content, Panic attacks/disorders, Pregnancy, and Sexual content

epsyphus's review

adventurous dark emotional medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes

5.0

One of those books that I felt like the author just reached into my brain and plucked out exactly what I wanted in a book and then wrote it. Read it twice.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Violence, Ableism, Body horror, Death, and Suicidal thoughts

Moderate: Cannibalism

noveltay's review

adventurous challenging dark fast-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? It's complicated

4.0

I am 25 years old and read a teen book, and it was good!! I thought it held my attention pretty strongly through out the book. I do think it was a little predictable who would survive and who would not, but the storyline was still captivating. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Physical abuse, Animal death, Body horror, Bullying, Confinement, Blood, Fire/Fire injury, Death, and Suicidal thoughts

jenny_librarian's review

adventurous challenging dark tense fast-paced

• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated

3.75

This is about as dark as it comes when you talk about faes.

I expected horror, but I didn’t expect that kind of body horror and gore. Some of it is stomach-turning, not for the faint of heart.

The Irish folklore is interesting and very well integrated. It makes you want to learn more about the Sídhe. However, I would have appreciated a glossary or a guide at the end for readers less familiar with the folklore.

One of the unfortunate downsides (and the reason I didn’t round it up to 4 stars) is the amount of misogyny, slut-shaming, ableism and bullying. The incel behaviour of Conor is part of the themes explored (and that ending was delightful), but I’m not sure if those things expressed by other characters was necessary. In any case, it’s something you need to be aware of if you want to read this book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Body horror, Bullying, Cannibalism, Child abuse, Death, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Slavery, and Violence

Moderate: Colonisation, Torture, and Misogyny

Minor: Animal death, Fatphobia, Islamophobia, Vomit, Transphobia, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide