Reviews tagging 'Gore'

Tender Is the Flesh by Agustina Bazterrica

1671 reviews

palicereads's review against another edition

challenging dark reflective sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• 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

Truly terrifying, left me with nightmares. A valuable read to consider the impact of language on our perception of the world. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Death, Gore, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Trafficking, Cannibalism, and Murder

Moderate: Rape, Sexual violence, Terminal illness, Pregnancy, and Alcohol

Minor: Child death

patriciamadariaga's review against another edition

dark tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated

4.0

A provocative premise, generally well executed. The narrator sometimes belabors the point, though, instead of allowing the reader to do their own thinking.

As for the audio version, what a joy it is to listen to a translation when the narrator is bilingual! To be able to stay immersed in the flow of the story without the distraction of out-of-context pronunciations (I'm looking at you, producers of the Bad Girls audio version) is almost as good as having access to the original.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Death, Gore, Physical abuse, Blood, Grief, Cannibalism, Murder, Pregnancy, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Child death and Rape

haley313's review against another edition

challenging dark sad tense slow-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? Yes

3.0

The premise of Tender is the Flesh really caught my attention, and the fast pace made it super hard to put down. The concept is so unique and different, and the writing was strong enough to pull me into this dark, unsettling world.

That said, it ended up being way more grotesque than I expected. I was hoping for something to get me in the “spooky season” mood, but this wasn’t spooky—it was just plain depressing. The story felt like it needed a lot more depth.

I really wanted more details about the Scavengers. Why are they living on the outskirts of society? And there were so many hints about the whole legalized cannibalism being part of some bigger government plot—why didn’t we get more exploration of that?

Every character was repulsive; there was no redemption, no glimmer of hope. Not that every book needs that, but I found myself searching for some deeper meaning beyond the sheer brutality. I get that it can be interpreted as a metaphor for the horrors we inflict on animals, but overall, it felt hollow in its execution.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Cannibalism, and Murder

Moderate: Rape

sevvv23's review against another edition

dark informative reflective tense fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Body horror, Gore, Blood, and Cannibalism

drawmejay5233's review against another edition

dark emotional sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, and Gore

Moderate: Child death and Death of parent

soph_e_c's review against another edition

challenging dark tense 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? Yes

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Death, Gore, Rape, Blood, Dementia, Cannibalism, and Death of parent

Moderate: Gore, Infertility, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Slavery, Torture, Grief, Alcohol, and Pandemic/Epidemic

pagemaxxer's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

3.5

the first section really grossed me out (this is a good thing). it made you reflect. and then to me it fell flat afterwards. the ending was not bad too, it did drive the initial point in. but i generally do not find things that are “improbable” such as ghosts, very dystopian settings etc very scary, plus this is the english translation so i will not say it is a bad book. i just personally did not feel as impacted as most did. still very much worth reading! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child death, Confinement, Death, Gore, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Cannibalism, Murder, Pregnancy, Classism, and Pandemic/Epidemic

roobeer's review against another edition

challenging dark reflective sad tense

4.0

the concept was interesting and really pulled you in, made you think, but it was a hard read

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Rape, and Murder

kendallreadsitall's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

5.0

This was quite the read. An incredibly bleak, visceral, thought provoking book that takes place in a dystopian nightmare universe that I never want to be part of. Bazterrica was able to write in such a morose way that was so matter of fact that it made this book even more spine chilling. This is truly a literary horror masterpiece, and even with the rather nasty subject matter, I loved every second. It goes to show that a talented writer can make anything readable, and that was absolutely achieved in this novel.

Additionally, with how incredible this was written, I can only imagine experiencing this in Spanish, as it was intended. The translation by Sarah Moses was flawlessly done.

I’m going to skip the synopsis here and recommend that you take a look at this book for yourself. With trigger warnings for animal abuse/death, gore, and rape, this book is not for everyone. Proceed with caution!

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Gore, and Rape

stephliljazz's review against another edition

dark reflective sad 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? It's complicated

4.0

When all the animals are dead and cannibalism takes over slaughterhouses. With a story of love in the middle leaving you feeling like WTF did I just read. Yeah it was a good book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Gore, Infertility, Infidelity, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Torture, Blood, Excrement, Medical content, Dementia, Grief, Cannibalism, Medical trauma, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, and Pandemic/Epidemic