Reviews tagging 'Islamophobia'

Everything the Darkness Eats by Eric LaRocca

21 reviews

matty_joe319's review against another edition

dark sad tense fast-paced

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

1.5

I was really excited about this book upon seeing the cover, reading the description, even reading the prologue. I had heard great things about LaRocca’s short stories, so thought the book would be good. Unfortunately, it was a lot of edge with not much substance. I loved the idea of a queer religious-critique small town horror story, but this did not have much depth of commentary or much of a clear point of view. Characters often act without motive or - at best - without intelligence, and LaRocca seems to think that suffering is the same as plot. There is a lot of suffering and there is not much plot - or at least not much that is particularly engaging. LaRocca’s prose itself is full of metaphors that feel too literal and formal narration that ends up feeling more pretentious than creepy. The opening prologue and chapters had so much tension and promise and it was a shame to see the rest of the book felt unbaked in comparison. LaRocca has a great imagination - I just hope he can find a better editor or more restraint in future works.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Hate crime, Homophobia, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Blood, Religious bigotry, and Murder

Moderate: Child abuse and Trafficking

Minor: Biphobia and Islamophobia

Graphic depiction of

a group rape of a kidnapped gay man

emlen's review against another edition

adventurous 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? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Chronic illness, Confinement, Death, Hate crime, Homophobia, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexual violence, Terminal illness, Torture, Violence, Blood, Islamophobia, Kidnapping, Grief, Stalking, Murder, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

sjbryson's review against another edition

dark emotional tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? N/A

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Death, Hate crime, Homophobia, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Blood, Islamophobia, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Car accident, and Injury/Injury detail

schuster_s's review against another edition

challenging dark sad tense 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? No

3.5

 "Just because you create something doesn't mean you have to take care of it."

This book has been clawing at me for a while now. I have read a few of Eric LaRocca's works and have been impressed by what he can do with ghastly body horror in a way that is still enticing but not weak. Although this book still made me uncomfortable, it wasn't pointless. The dread I felt every time the perspective shifted to Heart Crowley made my stomach churn. The heartbreak for Malik and Brett.

This book takes place in New England, in a quiet town when lonely people have started to go missing. A widower named Ghost mourns the recent death of his wife and is fighting back debt collectors. A gay couple move into a house, only to be met with hostility by the neighborhood. This horrific novel brings to light the nastiness of the world and the desires of the heart.

I burned through this book partially because of its length, partially because I bought it on vacation and have other books to get through. But also, I really wanted to get to the end. In a way, the ending felt weird, like LaRocca did a quick wrap up after a messy third quarter. Overall, I think there were a lot of literary devices used, and the metaphors and similes were /almost/ a bit too much. I liked the disturbing tale and am always happy to find someone who can make me feel the dread and horror without being too disgusting.

I will be reading more LaRocca in the future. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Hate crime, Homophobia, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Rape, Torture, Excrement, and Islamophobia

Malik and his husband survive and leave town. Malik has no memories of the abuse he receives while kidnapped. This book is written by a queer person and describes horrible hate crime and torture of a gay man, who in the end survives and is okay, but it is still jarring.

aftersuns_'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? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.25

I had a lot of hope for this book but it was incredibly disappointing, not to mention overly graphic.

His writing style is incredibly disjointed and there are plot holes everywhere. I had to go back and read certain parts because one scene would be completely different than how it was supposedly set up with no explanation of how things moved along.

Mostly, I truly hated how unnecessarily graphic it was with specific scenes. ***Trigger Warning*** but there was absolutely no need for a rape scene to be thrown in and then completely disregarded by basically retconning it in the last 10 pages.

The MC's are just... pathetic and make the most ridiculous, poorly thought out choices. There is no good plot development whatsoever. It's two storylines running parallel that seem to crash into one another with no rhyme or reason.

Overall, it feels cheap, poorly thoughtout, poorly executed, rushed, and an excuse to live out the experience of being hate crimed.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Hate crime, Homophobia, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual assault, Violence, Blood, Islamophobia, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Biphobia, Drug use, and Excrement

whatwasmissing's review against another edition

dark mysterious medium-paced

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

was not expecting this to run the full gamut of content warnings but there you go.

i quite liked the slow build of the mystery in the first half, particularly the missing townsfolk and the charming devil.
the last 30% or so was so incredibly graphic that it was hard to get through. the resolution after that did feel  pretty rushed.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Hate crime, Homophobia, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Body horror, Confinement, Death, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Racism, Islamophobia, Medical content, Religious bigotry, and Murder

Minor: Excrement

There is an extended and extremely graphic homophobia-motivated gang rape scene that lasts through multiple chapters. This is revealed to be partly motivated by

one of the perpetrators' childhood trauma from child sexual abuse by an unknown man

weirdly_reading's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

Eric LaRocca is quickly becoming one of my favorite authors.
From page one, I find myself deeply invested in the world, the characters, and the mystery. It's difficult to put the book down again, and before you know it, you have devoured 100pg in one setting!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Hate crime, Homophobia, Sexual violence, and Grief

Moderate: Ableism, Miscarriage, Rape, Sexual assault, and Kidnapping

Minor: Suicidal thoughts, Islamophobia, and Abortion

librarymouse's review against another edition

dark slow-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

2.0

This book didn't make much sense. So much of it was left unexplained and there was a lot of deeply confused religious piety paired with the desire to kill God. Poor execution in the storytelling conflated queerness and disability with monstrosity. At least I'm hoping it's poor execution of content and not intentional. Giving the bad guy AIDS was ... a choice.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Confinement, Gore, Hate crime, Homophobia, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Murder, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Ableism and Kidnapping

Minor: Excrement, Police brutality, and Islamophobia

bibliograflieg's review against another edition

dark tense fast-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Hate crime, Homophobia, Rape, Violence, Excrement, and Grief

Moderate: Pedophilia and Car accident

Minor: Islamophobia

illtakethenightshiftx's review against another edition

dark medium-paced

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

2.0

Eric LaRocca is a great short story author and this novel felt like it should’ve been 3-4 separate short stories in the same anthology. Nothing felt cohesive and when the two main narratives came together it was so quick and didn’t make a lot of sense. Also, considering this audiobook was only about 5.5 hours long, it was so wordy! 

Honestly, it felt like a draft that needed more work, between the use of language and extremely heavy-handed themes. The story as a whole was underwhelming and I didn’t find myself attached to any of the characters (which is a bad sign!). I’ve only been blown away/completely impressed by one of LaRocca’s short stories and found their other works underwhelming, so I honestly don’t know what I was expecting from this novel. 

If you really like LaRocca’s work, you might enjoy this.

I also cannot stress enough, check the content warnings and read other reviews.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Rape, Sexual assault, and Torture

Moderate: Islamophobia

Minor: Biphobia