Reviews tagging 'Gore'

Relic by Douglas Preston

14 reviews

neighbor_reads's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious tense medium-paced

5.0

This was a reread for me, but enough time had passed that I realized I forgot a lot of the plot and details.

This is a fast-paced thriller with horror elements and a wild plot: there is a monster hunting the staff and visitors of the NY Museum of Natural History. This is a creature feature through and through, so it comes with a heavy dose of gore and description of said gore (check your content warnings).

The plot is at risk of being slow while it spends time with our main characters as they slowly piece the truth together, but Preston and Child avoid that pitfall with tense action scenes throughout the novel, ultimately leading to a tense and exciting 3rd act climax that I couldn't put down.

This is the first in a now 22 book series featuring FBI special agent Pendergast, and while I can't say how good the rest of the series is, this is a fun and fascinating series opener.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Gore, Violence, Blood, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Child death

runeonilyn's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gore, Violence, and Blood

Minor: Child death and Racism

bethancy's review

dark 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? It's complicated

4.0

Would have been a 5 star, because it achieved what it set out to do. I never would have picked this up if not for my book club, but I enjoyed it. Good storytelling, interesting plot, well executed. However, ignorance of a foreign, native culture is a central theme, and I'm not sure the book would have been published today, e.g
stereotypes of dark magic. Also I had to suspend all belief for the scientific explanations, but that's fiction! My favourite thing about the book was the museum setting, and the writing was very atmospheric. Warning, its also very gory from the start!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Gore, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Xenophobia and Colonisation

Minor: Animal death

sappypatheticm's review against another edition

adventurous dark 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Violence, and Murder

donnanoble's review

mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gore, and Murder

Moderate: Blood

pajamadog's review

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death and Gore

bev3203's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No

4.25

First 100 pages were slow and then really gory, but after that I couldn't put it down.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child death, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Blood, Medical trauma, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

andmingmingtoo's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.75

I love that it's a mystery rooted in science (or "science"). As a biologist, it's fun to read a mystery book with terms you saw in your genetics classes used as integral clues. 
I also love a good ensemble cast, and this book got me attached to several main characters with the narrative switches and different mystery-solving niches.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Gore, Violence, Blood, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Xenophobia and Alcohol

ashes456's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Body horror, Death, Gore, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Medical trauma, Stalking, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Drug use

kitkat_reads93's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• 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, Death, Gore, Blood, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Ableism, Fatphobia, Racism, and Sexism

Minor: Mental illness and Death of parent