Reviews tagging 'Gore'

Whalefall by Daniel Kraus

87 reviews

crayoline's review

emotional tense slow-paced

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

1.0

I did not enjoy this book even a little bit. I went into it without really knowing anything about it, so unlike other reviewers, I did not have the expectation of a thriller where a guy sciences himself out of a predicament. I was open to it being allegory or have deeper meaning or whatever. But man. The sentences—cringe. The dialogue—cheese. The writing style—melodramatic. The audiobook narration—whiny. The sentences—fragmented. 

This read like an undergrad creative writing assignment about setting atmosphere. It was as if the author pulled out a thesaurus to force alliteration wherever possible and use as many words as possible to reinforce that the inside of a stomach is gross. And he really thought he was doing something by highlighting the passage of time in PSI instead of minutes. 

The main character was whiny which made me really not care about the story. The reflections lacked depth, the revelations were trivial. It’s lit for men written by a man, and it’s not my thing.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Gore, Vomit, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Alcohol

Minor: Suicide

moxiereads's review against another edition

challenging dark sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Cancer, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Panic attacks/disorders, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Death of parent, and Injury/Injury detail

loquaciousleon's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional inspiring 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? It's complicated

4.75

If you liked 

• 'Life of Pi' and/or 'Dark Life'.
• Are intrigued by the premise/summary.
• Okay with storytelling that closely follows a graphic 3rd person narrative; walking through actions quite a bit.

you will like this story.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Cancer, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Blood, Grief, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail

caseythereader's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark fast-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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Cursing, Gore, Suicide, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Death of parent, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, and Pandemic/Epidemic

aleksssync's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional tense fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror and Gore

Moderate: Suicide

sarahbroccoli's review against another edition

dark emotional tense slow-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

2.5

This could have been an amazing vignette into turbulent father-son relationships and the effects of toxic masculinity on boys and young men, but it was too non-cohesive as a story and instead it mostly made me squeamish

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Gore, and Blood

Moderate: Bullying, Emotional abuse, Vomit, and Injury/Injury detail

jakegray's review

dark emotional medium-paced

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

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Death, Gore, and Death of parent

Moderate: Emotional abuse

adrilynn21's review against another edition

emotional informative inspiring sad tense slow-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Gore, Blood, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Cancer, Death of parent, and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Pandemic/Epidemic

green_with_3nvy's review against another edition

dark emotional tense fast-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Emotional abuse, Gore, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Suicide

belacqua's review against another edition

adventurous emotional tense fast-paced

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

5.0

One of the best books I've read this year. A tense emotional story about coming to terms with the shortcomings of ourselves and those we love all while our protagonist attempts to survive inside a magnificent creature we are largely responsible with driving to extinction. This book touches on reconciliation, loss, resilience in the face of dire circumstances and the role we all play in protecting our precious earth. A must read!

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Gore and Suicide