Reviews tagging 'Body horror'

Little Eve by Catriona Ward

18 reviews

orizenda's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad medium-paced

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

4.5

Honestly so far I’ve loved everything I’ve read by Ward. I’m wondering if the reason I didn’t fully connect with this one is because I listened to the audiobook and had trouble with the accent and the narrator’s volume? Not sure. But this was so much deeper than I initially thought it would be. I did not expect to cry, but there are just horrific realizations I had, thinking about the things the characters were going through. I did figure out the “twist” or whatever quite a bit before it was revealed, but I don’t mind that at all. I appreciate the queerness that is in this, even if it’s not explicit. I don’t think it needs to be. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, and Confinement

Moderate: Miscarriage, Pedophilia, Sexual assault, and Pregnancy

crowyhead's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious tense slow-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Death, Gore, Incest, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Blood, Grief, Murder, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, and Abandonment

wait_whoissheagain's review against another edition

dark mysterious 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

3.5

This book left me guessing until the very end! Catriona Ward has a way of leaving you confused (in a good way) and then piecing all those puzzles together at the end in a way that makes you think ‘how did I not see this coming?’

I enjoyed reading this book, although the character’s relationships were constantly back-and-forth, and did leave me somewhat confused as to where the characters stood at different points throughout the story. I suppose these twisty relationships could be put down to the horrible traumas these characters faced while at Altnaharra. These traumas are heart wrenching and very uncomfortable to read, especially as more comes to light throughout the story.

I didn’t find the characters all that likeable (again I think this is due to their trauma) but I was yearning for all of them to be ok and parts of this story were heartbreaking! It was interesting watching Eve struggle with wanting to embrace her curious side and break free from the life she has been told to live, while also wanting the power and life of the Adder so much that she would do anything. It was also interesting to hear how Dinah adjusted to life after the traumatic events, and how she was learning to deal with her past. I was rooting for these characters, despite the fact that I didn’t particularly resonate with them.

There are only 11 chapters in this 265 page book, which was a little frustrating, as I like to take breaks at different chapters, and that was hard to do with chapters that were 30-60 pages long! Despite this, I do like how the story was set out, moving back and forth between the perspectives of Eve and Dinah at their respective times. And, there was easy enough spots to stop and have a rest with breaks between paragraphs, it’s just a personal habit that I like to stop at chapters!

Please make yourself aware of the possible trigger warnings before reading this book, but if you are a fan of twisty murders, stories about religious cults or gothic tales, I would recommend giving this book a read.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Violence, and Murder

Moderate: Infertility, Miscarriage, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, and Suicide

korikam's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Suicide, Blood, Murder, Pregnancy, and Gaslighting

lizreaderhold's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Gore, Infertility, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Car accident, Abortion, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail

archaicrobin's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-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

1.0

Honestly, I really didn’t like this book. It had the same excellent writing and dark atmosphere of Ward’s other novels but was lacking in every other element for me. 

The characters were all unlikeable and prevented me from connecting with any of them.  The story is told from two timelines, one in the past before the massacre on the island, and the other after from the perspective of the sole survivor. It’s written in first person for both perspectives but this did not help connect with the character, it just made things more tedious in my opinion. 

Along with unlikeable characters the pacing was far too slow and this book was a total slog to get through. I had to force myself to read this because most of the time nothing was happening but more abusive cult bullshit with no real purpose. Trigger warnings for rape, drugs, torture, starvation, child abuse, sexual assault, pedophilia, and violence by the way because no trigger warnings are given and this whole book is focused on this mini cult where all these abuses occur.   It was so tedious to pick this up and have another chapter about abuse but it’s ok because it’s for Adder, like I GET IT, they’re in a cult on this island for some reason. 

I know there’s a plot in this book I just honestly can’t find it. The twist was also just confusing, there were so many questions, all of them left unanswered. The narrator is a huge part of the twist and it lies in her changing her mindset and leaving the brainwashing but it was unbelievable how it happened. She just woke up on day and decided to not believe in it anymore, after being raised and manipulated and abused her entire childhood she just one day stands up and says “nah”. 

Overall, I would skip this earlier novel by Ward which was recently re-released on the states and read her newer works instead that have engaging characters, better pacing, and a clear plot line that doesn’t get muddled up in abuse and cult nonsense. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Torture, Violence, Blood, Death of parent, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Dysphoria, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

wrestleacademic's review against another edition

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? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Blood, and Pregnancy

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship

Heavy heavy eye trauma/horror; religious zealotry and abuse

siobhanward's review against another edition

dark slow-paced

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

3.5

 I'm still not sure if Gothic fiction is my style or not. I love the atmosphere created in Gothic works, but the pacing is always a bit slow for me. This was a solid read though - I loved the story and the characters, although I found the time jumps to be a bit hard to follow. Ward has a gift for creating an amazing ending for her stories and this one was no exception. I definitely look forward to reading more from her in the future. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, and Murder

mwass's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced

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

3.5

I have a lot of mixed feelings about this book. The story itself was excellent, 5 starts! There were moments I was on the edge of my seat, suspense, plot twists, everything you want from a thriller! However, I found the story telling to be very dense and hard to get through. I was considering DNFing this until about 60% through the book, when I had no choice but to finish because I needed to know what happened. This could be because I’m generally just not very into historical ficition and this was my first gothic horror. So it’s feels more like this writing style just isn’t my personal jam, but the plot and characters were strong enough that I pushed through it! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Confinement, Emotional abuse, Gore, Physical abuse, Self harm, Blood, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Suicide, Kidnapping, and Suicide attempt

Minor: Pedophilia and Rape

mispaintedlady's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-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? It's complicated

5.0

A true gothic tale with an unexpected queer story happening. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Murder, and Pregnancy

Moderate: Body horror, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Grief, and Abandonment