Reviews tagging 'Drug use'

The Forgotten Island by David Sodergren

11 reviews

readerfromtheblacklagoon's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

2.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Cancer, Chronic illness, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Gore, Gun violence, Infidelity, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicide, Terminal illness, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Grief, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Excrement, Medical content, and Stalking

frankieatthedisco's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious 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? It's complicated

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Drug use, Gore, Mental illness, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Vomit, Suicide attempt, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Death of parent

chickelope's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Torture, Violence, Vomit, Suicide attempt, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Animal death

Minor: Drug use, Gun violence, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Terminal illness, and Alcohol

racheltheripper's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.5

Interesting premise that is mostly well executed, but falls short in making me care about any of the characters. Maybe that was the point? Some actions and thoughts from characters seemed outlandish, though. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Drug use, Gore, Misogyny, Sexism, Torture, Blood, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Cursing, Grief, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, and Murder

Arachbophobes beware!

kyra_joy's review against another edition

dark slow-paced

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

2.0

Honestly I haven’t been this excited to finish a book in a while, probably should have dnf’d it but I struggle to do that, and so struggled through this book. 

First it could have been much shorter, it being so long allowed for it to get weirdly convoluted, this thing had way to much going on, the cosmic horror angle was way too much and I felt my eyes rolling into the back of my head by the 70% mark. 

The characters are all the worst and not even  in a fun way, and one of them it comes out of nowhere and was a terrible surprise. Even the main character is unlikable and annoying which is ironic considering how much she judges other people. I wish we had some people to root for even one, in the end I didn’t care about who died giving their death little impact outside of the gore. 

The gore was there but the atmosphere wasn’t, and the stakes were none existent until maybe the very last page but I was so over it by then that I just didn’t care. 

Giving it a 2 because even though I didn’t like it for the most part the beginning wasn’t the worst and only one of the characters truly made me hate them at that point, it had promise then they got to the island. And I liked the way it was written even if what was written I didn’t enjoy as much. 

I think I’ll give this author another shot and hope his other books make a bit more sense.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Drug use, Gore, Rape, Blood, and Suicide attempt

ghostams's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense fast-paced

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

4.0

The prologue draws you in to the horror elements and then you’re immediately thrust into a party scene. That is to say, the prologue /keeps/ you wanting to know what will happen to the party’s characters. Too many TW’s to list. The details of the book were so grotesque and fantastic it was truly horrifying. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Cancer, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Fatphobia, Gore, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Terminal illness, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Grief, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

connie29's review against another edition

adventurous 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? No

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Gore, Sexual content, Blood, Excrement, Cannibalism, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Vomit, Grief, Alcohol, and Sexual harassment

jillannms's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Drug use, Rape, Self harm, Sexual violence, Blood, and Suicide attempt

stephanieluxton's review against another edition

adventurous 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

3.5

There were some genuinely scary parts to this book and I found the setting and creatures to be quite interesting. It was a bit more complex than I imagined it would be. I wish I had felt more connected to the characters - I didn't find any of them to be particularly likeable. All the men were incredibly misogynistic, which was disappointing. All the women had a lot of baggage - none of the characters were happy people, which isn't a bad thing by default but I didn't feel empowered by them. They all had solid potential for good characters arcs but the book was too short to give it to them. There were some pretty horrific injuries in the book and the characters seemed like they just shook it off to easily, which is a pet peeve of mine. Sometimes I stub my toe and feel like I can't walk - these characters are getting a severe burn or a deep bite and they just carry on like it's nothing. The setting itself could have been more of a challenge for the characters than it was. I didn't feel the isolation and wildness. I think I'm mad because it was so close to greatness and it lost me in the nitty gritty details. The antagonists were fun. It's still worth a read. The pace is fast so it makes for a good beach read.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Grief, Suicide attempt, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Body shaming, Confinement, Cursing, Vomit, and Death of parent

dale1997's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Body shaming, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Fatphobia, Gore, Mental illness, Misogyny, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Alcohol, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail