Reviews tagging 'Body horror'

Between Two Fires by Christopher Buehlman

79 reviews

sophiacongdon00's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious medium-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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Rape, and Sexual assault

sean_davy's review against another edition

adventurous dark 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

Like The Last of Us set in a plague ridden France but the plague is actually the consequence of hell's lead in a holy war with heaven. Can't really sell it better than that. It even reads like a video game with the serialised monster encounters.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Body horror, Child death, Cursing, Death, Homophobia, Misogyny, Rape, Sexism, Sexual violence, Torture, Blood, Excrement, Antisemitism, Religious bigotry, War, and Pandemic/Epidemic

poechedkrisps's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional 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

5.0

I thought this would just be a metal, horror-filled read, but by God, the ending made me emotional and actually rejuvenated some of my own faith back.

While this book starts off really quite slow at first, it really ramps up in intensity and stakes midway through. And then when

it got to the epic battles, the way the devils and hell are depicted, the description and of angels—everything was just hook after hook.

I love books with paralleling ends and beginnings, and this one features this.

The ending quite literally parallels the beginning and even features a well-deserved epilogue for our main character's lost past.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Gore, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Moderate: Sexual content, Sexual violence, and Antisemitism

Minor: Rape

itsjustgrumpy's review against another edition

adventurous 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

5.0

Savage, brutal, heartfelt and hilarious. What an absolutely stellar religious grimdark tale.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Cursing, Death, Gore, Sexual assault, Torture, Violence, Blood, Antisemitism, Grief, Religious bigotry, Murder, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Child death, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Excrement, Vomit, Cannibalism, and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Incest

thepeach77's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional inspiring sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Gore, Homophobia, Religious bigotry, and Death of parent

The book is very dark, a lot of violence and gore. The book deals with demons and the 7 deadly sins. The religious beliefs of the area during the time leans towards a bit of antisemitism, but it is not a main point and it is obvious that it is not supported by the author, just part of the historical context.

spacetravels's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional 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? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Gore, Torture, Violence, Medical trauma, War, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Moderate: Cursing, Xenophobia, and Antisemitism

Minor: Sexual violence and Excrement

sofipitch's review against another edition

adventurous dark medium-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

4.25

Overall a good book. It really delivers on horror, especially on a type that I feel is more rare but to me hits hard which is engaging in something you morally object to, it's a recurring theme of "you are what you do" which was interesting. It had what I felt was a lot of Christian themes, mainly redemption, while at the same time criticizing the institution of Christianity, so I can actually see this being popular with those who do and don't believe but raised with that religion. It has considerably less to say about Judaism and Islam, doing the "it's all the same God right?" thing which may annoy some.

Plot wise it dragged at times and I felt the way the major conflict resolved was a bit weak. But it manages to be both entertaining and thought provoking. Also does it's genre fiction, historical and horror, really well. I actually wish I knew more books of that combo of genres

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Body horror, Sexual violence, Violence, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Homophobia, Infidelity, Antisemitism, and Death of parent

beesbookhaunts's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful tense 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? Yes

4.0

I was surprised by this one! Going to add spoiler tags because it’s hard for me to describe my feelings without giving away too many plot details. 

Normally I am not into religious horror that has a happy ending, God saves the day type of thing. But I loved the characters so much!  And the horror elements? Perfectly done.  Instead of it just being standard temptations for our heroes, they were faced with some truly terrifying things, which got to me a few times. Having a happy ending just felt right after all they went through!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Religious bigotry, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Moderate: Homophobia and Sexual assault

Minor: Sexual violence

marthadude's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny mysterious sad tense medium-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: Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Homophobia, Infidelity, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Antisemitism, Grief, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Murder, Outing, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Heavy emphasis on plague. There’s also a lot of near misses of pedophilia/sexual assault of a minor. It doesn’t end up happening but the mentions/threat of it are brought up pretty frequently

directorpurry's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious 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? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Death, Gore, Homophobia, Pedophilia, Racism, Rape, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Terminal illness, Torture, Violence, Antisemitism, Medical content, Religious bigotry, Murder, and Sexual harassment

Moderate: Animal death, Xenophobia, and War

Minor: Grief and Death of parent