Reviews tagging 'Animal cruelty'

Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke by Eric LaRocca

728 reviews

sinaprst's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.5

this story made me almost throw up several times

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Gore, Toxic relationship, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Child death, Mental illness, Sexual content, Vomit, and Medical content

Minor: Suicide and Lesbophobia

maggie_49's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Death, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Gore, Miscarriage, Toxic relationship, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, and Suicide attempt

Minor: Child death, Racism, Self harm, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, and Suicide attempt

exhumedprince's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Gore, Mental illness, Self harm, Sexual content, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Vomit, Pregnancy, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Homophobia

maybbrenna's review against another edition

dark tense medium-paced

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

5.0

gay people, complex characters, complex situations, tense as heck, oh my goodness. the afterword is a MUST read - it explains the collection of seemingly extremely different stories. every time i thought i figured out what the twist would be, the twist got twisted. read the first story on my 35 min break at work, had to extend my break another ten minutes to finish it. i read through the rest of the book in one sitting. will be getting the rest of the author’s books tomorrow. wow. 

edit: was reading some of the other reviews and while i definitely understand the criticisms, the stuff the author goes into can be pretty upsetting to people who may be sensitive to the topics, but i enjoyed it because 1) i’m a horror fan in all forms and i want horror that makes feel horrified and 2) reading the afterword explained the theme and relevance of the events super well, in my personal experience. the theme is definitely more central to the book than the characters and their development. i can agree with the criticisms towards the lesbian relationship in the first story - i also thought it moved pretty fast when i was reading it, but the afterword (which i don’t usually read in books but VERY glad i did) made it make a lot more sense. i’m a big theme slut and this book gave me lots to think about.  if you find yourself particularly effected by certain topics i would definitely recommend taking into consideration the content warnings with the highest amounts of votes before reading the book - i don’t get super affected by things usually but i was definitely feeling a little wonky after the first story. overall, i think the book is great and i definitely recommend it to people that a) like a horror meant to horrify b) don’t have any particular sensitivity to predominantly gore and c) are open to a book that focuses on theme rather than characters. PLZ READ THE AFTERWORD in all honesty i liked the book perfectly fine before reading it but the afterword did help me appreciate the book a lot more!!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic relationship and Grief

Moderate: Animal cruelty and Gore

Minor: Suicide and Xenophobia

pryingblackbird's review against another edition

dark fast-paced

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

1.0

There were some interesting idea in here, but the execution was horrible. Also a book isn't automatically diverse or LGBT just because some of the characters are in same sex relationships, when all of the characters are just blank, flat stand-ins to progress whatever little plot there is. Yes there's two same sex couples in the book, but they might as well be hetero or completely devoid of a gender identity, it would not influence the stories even the slightest. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, and Miscarriage

Moderate: Mental illness and Self harm

aquaphobia's review against another edition

dark tense fast-paced

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

1.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty and Child death

Moderate: Animal death

Minor: Body horror

carch3r's review against another edition

dark fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Body horror, Gore, Toxic relationship, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Child death, Suicide, and Vomit

rosaelia's review against another edition

dark fast-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Gore, Mental illness, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Suicidal thoughts, Excrement, Vomit, and Murder

tinyjude's review against another edition

challenging dark tense fast-paced

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

1.0

Never read this after having a meal!!!

I had read some vague stuff about how disturbing this book could be, but I was definitely not prepared for whatever the fck this was. I am beyond disgusted. I can enjoy horrible fictional stories but this seems to be out of my taste completely. I just felt so sick and ready to throw up while reading it.

I can understand how someone in such a vulnerable state can go down that route and spiral so fast but the stories (like the baby jesus christ I'M PRAYING THIS NEVER HAPPENED IN REAL LIFE WTF WTF WTF) where way too much for me and too fast. The relationship barely develops, suddenly the convo turns "sexy" but feels more like 50 shades of grey bad ff (eugh) and then THAT. I won't spoil but, just, NO.

The ending was confusing but reading some theories about the cover, I got my horrifying answer 😳 100% not for me. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Medical content, Pregnancy, Lesbophobia, and Abandonment

misunfortunate's review against another edition

dark reflective tense fast-paced

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

2.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty and Animal death