Reviews tagging 'Violence'

Penpal by Dathan Auerbach

19 reviews

lugosi147's review

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

This book is deeply deeply scary and tense at times and so deeply deeply tragic in others.  The author has a knack for crafting horror and pathos into an incredibly paced narrative.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Gore, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Dementia, Kidnapping, Grief, Stalking, Car accident, Murder, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail

one boy’s friendship damns his friend’s entire family

darkdahlia9's review

challenging dark emotional sad 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? No

5.0

YALL. This book was a goddamn doozy. 

I knew sort of the themes in this book, and how this was originally short stories published on an online forum so I was concerned that the timelines/narration would be really choppy and it kind of was- but it WORKED for this. 

This book is the type of horror where it’s scary because it’s so real. There’s no supernatural creature, there’s no ghost or demon, there’s none of that. There’s just pure childhood purity turned to terror that the MC doesn’t realize until he talks to his mom as an adult. 

The way this book is set up is in non-linear events that take place during his childhood, and he navigates them with an adult mindset and which new knowledge that he obtains later, and the way the chapters/stories are laid out, you get to puzzle it together along with the MC which I feel like really helped create the really disturbing and unsettling revelations. 

The way the author adapted the short stories had me GLUED to the pages and my jaw dropped a few times. I’d absolutely recommend this to anyone who wants horror that will genuinely unsettle you, and have you looking behind yourself while walking alone in the woods.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Pedophilia, and Stalking

Moderate: Animal death and Violence

madfromonline's review

dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Gore, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Violence, Dementia, Kidnapping, Grief, Stalking, Car accident, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

star_charter152's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Confinement, Death, Pedophilia, Violence, Grief, Stalking, and Car accident

Moderate: Animal death, Gore, Dementia, and Kidnapping

amandalove2bme's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Bullying, Child death, Confinement, Death, Torture, Violence, Blood, Dementia, Kidnapping, Stalking, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

rat_leoo's review

dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Death, Emotional abuse, Violence, Blood, Grief, and Stalking

hailey_horror's review

dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Body horror, Bullying, Child death, Death, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Stalking, Car accident, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

boujieloochie's review

dark mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child death, Death, Violence, Grief, Stalking, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

courtneymiranda's review

dark mysterious tense 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? No

1.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Kidnapping, Stalking, and Murder

nagisasigh's review

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

4.5

this book broke my heart, but it was also gripping and well written.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Child death, Death, Gore, Violence, Blood, Stalking, Car accident, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Pedophilia, Medical content, Dementia, Kidnapping, and Grief

Minor: Adult/minor relationship