Reviews tagging 'Blood'

And Then I Woke Up by Malcolm Devlin

17 reviews

dev921's review

dark emotional mysterious sad 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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Pandemic/Epidemic, Abandonment, Blood, Child death, Alcohol, Death, and Death of parent

michaelanormand's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious medium-paced

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

3.75

would definitely recommend! very well written with some unique takes and evolutions on the traditional fourth wall break. interesting concept and overall great read. just left a little more to be desired in terms of the horror aspect but i know the avoidance of traditional horror scenes were a stylistic choice based on the style it was written in. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Injury/Injury detail, Pandemic/Epidemic, Cannibalism, Murder, Violence, War, Blood, Child death, and Death

Moderate: Gaslighting

ilaxaria's review against another edition

adventurous dark medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix

2.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pandemic/Epidemic, Gun violence, Murder, Blood, Death, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Self harm

kermit_the_wrong's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense fast-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cannibalism, Gore, Confinement, Grief, Pandemic/Epidemic, Forced institutionalization, Death, Mental illness, Abandonment, Blood, Body horror, Child death, and Murder

cheye13's review against another edition

mysterious reflective medium-paced

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

5.0

I was already so intrigued by the premise of this, but it surpassed my expectations. I don't think I was ready for how meta the story would get with discussions of "the narrative." Quickly rocketed to one of my favorite books. It's one of those that I think I'll get more out of with each reread.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Violence, Xenophobia, Child death, and Death

Moderate: Blood, Body horror, Gore, Grief, Mental illness, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Minor: Suicidal thoughts, Gaslighting, Gun violence, Toxic friendship, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

body horror and gore typical of zombie media; moderate description of implied postpartum depression; repeated reference to instance of mass murder, not in detail; the pandemic/epidemic takes the form of mass hallucination which may be reminiscent of forms of schizophrenia and/or psychosis, but are not literally intended to be depictions of such

killmoore_'s review against another edition

challenging dark sad medium-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? Yes

5.0

Go into this one as blind as possible. It's worth it.

A spin on the "infected" trope that left my jaw on the floor. Beautifully written in a way that makes you question your own narrative, a book that builds in suspense through thinly veiled social commentary and doubt. 

164 pages of brilliance. I can't recommend this book enough.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Gun violence, Violence, Child death, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Pandemic/Epidemic, Pregnancy, Grief, Blood, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Gore, Murder, and Body horror

annamorgan27's review against another edition

dark emotional sad medium-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Child death, Gore, Grief, Vomit, Alcohol, Suicide, Murder, Cannibalism, and Death

fleen's review

challenging dark medium-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Pandemic/Epidemic, Gore, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Gun violence, and Death

Moderate: Child death

Minor: Confinement

halfass_reviewer's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious tense slow-paced

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

4.0

This book reminded me of the movie The Happening. Which is to say I enjoyed it immensely. The plot was interesting. In short, it's about a plague. It's about people who see monsters and people who are monsters. It's about surviving not just the monsters, but the narrative that people create and spread. It's about getting better, or not. What I really loved about this story is that it was told as if the reader was actually a member of the group. This is to say, the narrator talked directly to the reader, which really draws me into the story. It was also a short read so that was a plus as well. I think all in all this was a nice little, horror-adjacent story.

<spolier> My only gripe about the story, besides some of the dialogue tag and placement was Lelila's one chapter where she provided her side of the story. I felt the chapter was unnecessary and although it was good background as to how the infection affected her, it wasn't relevant. I was thinking maybe it would somehow relate to the Val guy she and Spence are chasing or maybe the last few chapters would focus on her, but neither of those things happens. We just get a story about how she breaks promises to her younger self, gets married, has a child whom she may not love, and then murders them. No relevance to anything that's going on before or after the story. Unless I missed the point.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Violence, Blood, and Dysphoria

Moderate: Child death, Body horror, and Cannibalism

racl's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful reflective fast-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? Yes

4.0

Very fresh and interesting take on a zombie apocalypse!

Spoiler

The idea of all of us being trapped in our own perspectives, our own narratives, really struck a chord with me at this point in my life.

Spoiler

It's hopeful and hopeless, kind and cruel, a delicate balance of opposites I found compelling and touching. Great read.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Gore, and Blood

Moderate: Gaslighting, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Violence