Reviews tagging 'Alcoholism'

Bad Cree by Jessica Johns

59 reviews

leannanecdote's review

dark hopeful mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Death, Gore, Mental illness, Violence, Blood, Grief, Colonisation, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Alcoholism, Cancer, Drug abuse, Vomit, and Alcohol

musicalpopcorn's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

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

3.75

When MacKenzie starts having terrifying dreams, she decides to return home to try and get to the bottom of the mystery.

I enjoyed this story. It was spooky and layered. I did find that the book got a bit repetitive with the secret keeping and lying. It kind of felt like MacKenzie and her family had to learn that lesson more than once. Apart from that, the characters were interesting and had a lot of dimensions. I was very intrigued in where the story would go. Nice one for a spooky afternoon read. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Death, Blood, and Grief

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Cancer, Chronic illness, Cursing, Gore, Vomit, and Injury/Injury detail

dragongirl271's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Animal death, Body horror, Death, Blood, Grief, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Alcoholism, Cancer, and Cannibalism

theverycraftyvegan's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

5.0

This book is so beautifully written and deeply haunting. It made my scalp tingle a few times. 

Mackenzie is a young Cree woman who is suddenly able to take things from her dreams and bring them into the waking world. Her dreams are of the past and they are trying to tell her something. 

Her best friend encourages her to talk to her family about what she’s going through and after a phone call with one of her aunties she knows she needs to go home. 

As Mackenzie starts trying to mend her relationships with her family they all begin to learn they have more in common than they ever realized. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Gore, Blood, Cannibalism, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Animal death, Cancer, Child death, and Vomit

Minor: Addiction, Alcoholism, Alcohol, and Colonisation

heresyourletter's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.75

As someone who’s struggled to transition from YA to adult fiction, I often struggle to find adult-oriented books I enjoy. 

But from the get-go, I was transfixed by Bad Cree. The fast-paced, unceasing tension; the creepy, unsettling dreams; the bonds between the main character and important women and non-binary people in her life — it was all an utter delight (which isn’t normally something I’d say about a horror book!)

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Body horror, Death, Blood, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Addiction, Cursing, Gore, Violence, Vomit, Grief, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Alcoholism and Cancer

Not as gory as many horror books, since the focus is more on dreams and the supernatural.

However, there are some intense scenes, including one where a character severs a crow’s head in a dream, one where a beating heart is exposed in a dream, and one where a supernatural creature autocannibalizes itself in real life. One character almost dies after rotting mushrooms begin to cover her

Death of the main character’s sister is the main focus of the story, and to a lesser extent, the death of the main character’s grandmother. Lots of mentions of cigarette smoking and brief mention of former alcohol addition. Brief mention of residential schools.

ipanzica's review

adventurous dark hopeful fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

The horror will captivate you and a family that will keep you glued to the book even more, hoping that everyone will stay safe. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror

Moderate: Death

Minor: Alcoholism and Dementia

brotestantethic's review

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

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

2.5

I wanted to like this one a lot more than I actually did. The positives: the characters are fleshed out well, and the central themes of sisterhood and cultural belonging are overwhelmingly present. 

Unfortunately, the strong themes are diminished by poor execution. The pacing is dreadful — there is a long chunk in the middle of preparing for a big fight that is anticlimactic, derivative, and most importantly only a couple pages long. There are also some pretty solid gore scenes, but not enough to classify this as horror. Overall, the plot might have been strong if the writing was not so disappointing.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gore, and Vomit

Moderate: Addiction and Alcoholism

jdhauk's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad medium-paced

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

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Panic attacks/disorders

Moderate: Animal death, Mental illness, and Suicidal thoughts

Minor: Alcoholism and Sexism

prologues_epilogues's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

This was such a lovely (and relatable) exploration of grief and the way it affects family relationships and daily life. Especially depending on how people grieve differently and how it causes strengths and weaknesses in personal relationships 🥲. I loved it. The supernatural and magical realism elements made the story so interesting and fun to read, and the different types of connection with reality through dreams was so enthralling. I liked how concise and consistent the writing style was while still being able to portray imagery and symbolism well. It was very fast paced. And it made me emotional in a way I haven't been while reading for a long few months.

The horror elements weren't too 'scary', but they did creep me out quite a bit reading this at night. The Wh*etigo spying on Tracy through the bloody rag freaked me out a bit, as well as the "decomposition(?)" of her body while she was alive and the quick regeneration of it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Grief

Moderate: Body horror and Blood

Minor: Alcoholism and Animal death

biojesspj's review

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.5

The story weaves together explorations of grief, family, belonging, heritage, and healing.
Some parts are a bit gross in body horror ways (that fit the plot without being gratuitous), and there's plenty of suspense and developing mystery without feeling like your being strung along. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief

Moderate: Body horror, Death, and Gore

Minor: Alcoholism and Vomit

Crows feature heavily, including a bird attack near the beginning. People have scary near-death experiences in dream states including

drowning, freezing, and fungus growing all over one's body. Plus there's some sleep paralysis and a monster to escape.