Reviews tagging 'Animal cruelty'

Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke And Other Misfortunes by Eric LaRocca

109 reviews

maggieoc_x's review

dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child death, Death, Suicide, Toxic relationship, and Grief

Moderate: Gore and Murder

Minor: Homophobia, Miscarriage, Vomit, and Pregnancy

porshainielsen's review against another edition

dark

• Strong character development? No

2.5

 The namesake of this short story collection was my least favorite story. That particular story felt poorly written, and while I understand it is a short story, there was absolutely no build-up. The other stories were a little better, but the animal violence was unnecessary. I did like that there was some interconnectedness between the stories, but as a whole, this was underwhelming. I guess that is what happens when "extreme" horror goes viral on Tik Tok.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, and Suicide

cupofcauliflower's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

things have gotten worse sincr we last spoke was a 5/5 for me, loved the format, body horror was very intense. 

the enchantment was alright, didn't love it, just wasnt something i was intently invested in but i must admit i was hooked. 

youll find its like that all over was also alright, just didnt relate very much at all but it worked with tension very well. 

if i only read things have gotten worse i wouldve marked this 5 stars, but i didnt connect or feel as invested in the other 2. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child death, Miscarriage, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Blood, Excrement, Grief, and Toxic friendship

alexdefel513's review against another edition

fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• 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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Death, Self harm, and Suicide

tropicalpanda's review against another edition

Too gory and disturbing, I barely made it through the salamander murder and I had to stop when she began describing crucifying a baby in excruciating detail

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual content, Slavery, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Grief, Murder, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, and Injury/Injury detail

fanglyfish's review

challenging dark emotional mysterious fast-paced

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

3.5

The titular story is easily the strongest, though the following two are pretty distinct, so you won't feel any redundancy reading them. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, and Toxic relationship

Minor: Self harm and Vomit

steffivandewouw's review

dark mysterious reflective tense fast-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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Toxic relationship, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Animal death, Sexual content, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Medical trauma, Pregnancy, and Gaslighting

Minor: Death, Vomit, Lesbophobia, and Outing

trashgobby's review

dark emotional 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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Toxic relationship, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Cursing, Death, Blood, and Abandonment

minimicropup's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

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

4.0

Mood Reading Match-Up:

• Bizarro, speculative, satirical threaded with low key, suggestive horror
• Hits of heavy, sad, macabre horror and exploring the effects of that trauma in symbolic prose
• No plot just vibes-ish, snapshot of life drama with polarizing experiences and themes
• Eclectic mixes of short/novella style stories

 
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🐺 Growls, Howls, and Tail Wags 🐕
 
🎬 Tale-Telling: The writing throughout was mesmerizing. There was a rhythm to the words that made me eager to discover what would happen next. Even when the stories seemed to wander into the abstract, the prose held my attention without being distracting or seeming fake. It didn’t feel pretentious, just…different and literary?  
 
🔥 Fuel:
1: My favourite and sits perfectly in the realm of realistically skewing nostalgia. For those millennials who grew up with the internet, this isn’t so far-fetched. Pretentious people writing long-winded weirdness was like, the entirety of late ‘90s/early aughts discussions on websites anyone could make and hardly anyone would ever find 😅. And for the younger reader wondering why anyone would even interact with the giant red flag these people were…think of Catfish fully unhinged. 
2:  With its echoes of "The Shining," it had an atmosphere and a deep, unsettling vibe that carries the narrative far, even if the ending leaves you scratching your head and feeling insecure about clues you might have missed (or was that just me?)
3:  While not hitting the same high notes, still offered its own unique flavor.
 
Random Thoughts
🤓 What worked: Most of these tales were suggestive, symbolic horror more Kafkaesque nightmare than gory spectacles. It was the kind of horror that sometimes had shock value but mainly aimed to unsettle through the absurd, the satirical, and the downright bizarre. The collection might not be for those seeking straightforward or gory scares; instead, it was a deeper, more introspective form of unease and existential dread.
🫠 What didn’t: Since they're so different, not every story in this collection may hit the mark for every reader. Those who like 1 may dislike 3...those who love 3 likely dislike 1 etc.
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Content Heads-Up:
1: Food horror. Sexual content (brief, self). Animal cruelty and torture (wildlife

salamanders

). Financial insecurity. Body horror. Parental rejection (of adult child). Unemployment.
2: Divorce/separation. Suicide. Delusions. Death. Murder. Sexual content (consentual, brief). Religious/spiritual horror (death, afterlife, punishment). Parental rejection (of adult child). Infidelity. Loss of a child. Miscarriage (brief description on page). Loss of a spouse. Grief. 
3: Racism (racist character opinion; off page). Gambling. 
 
Rep:
1: Lesbian. Ambiguous gender and sexual identities. 
2: Heterosexual. Cisgender and ambiguous gender identities. 
3: Gay. Cisgender. 
 
👀 Format: Kobo Plus
 
“Reviews are my musings 💖 powered by puppy snuggles 🐶 refined by my AI bookworm bestie ✨”

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, and Suicide

Moderate: Gore and Miscarriage

Minor: Animal cruelty, Infidelity, and Sexual content

therealmsroth's review

dark mysterious tense fast-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

4.75

Quick, highly intriguing read. Took a partial point off because of all the unanswered questions. I wanted more... In a good way? Very interesting characters. I wish I could get more of their stories. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Gore, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Body horror, Death, Emotional abuse, Infertility, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Self harm, Sexual content, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Blood, Vomit, Grief, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Pregnancy, and Injury/Injury detail