Reviews tagging 'Animal death'

Coraline by Neil Gaiman

57 reviews

loonysaurus's review against another edition

adventurous dark inspiring mysterious 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? No

5.0

---

Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Body horror

Minor: Animal death and Abandonment

pacifickat's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.75

Neil Gaiman understands how to write magic, especially dark magic, in a way that makes it feel real and old and timeless. He also picks at the edges of our deepest, most primal fears without revealing too much at a time. Love the way he plays with old magic tropes (black cats, talismen, portals, the monster under the bed, mist) in ways that make them feel both refreshingly new and impossibly ancient at the same time. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Confinement, Toxic relationship, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Slavery and Violence

Minor: Animal death, Kidnapping, Murder, and Abandonment

riverofhorton's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-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

5.0

I want to start this review by saying that this book is firmly on my re-readable pile, and it may well be my new favourite modern horror book. Which I find amazing considering this is a children's book.

I found it to be just the right level of horror to be a casual read, which I find I'm most likely to return to in the future. A good portion of the horror content of the horror was of the slightly-to-the-left-of-normal kind, rather than being overt and graphic.

This book offers depth to the world and story, rather than a shower of blood and guts found in some other horror book I've read. Sometimes I think this kind of horror takes more work, and this is even more true when it's a children's book and the author (presumably) knows adults will also read it and so also need to be thrilled. To me, this shows the mastery of the art of writing that Neil Gaiman repeatedly demonstrates.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Bullying, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Cannibalism, Stalking, Murder, Gaslighting, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail

matildag00's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious fast-paced

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

4.0

A great fucking children's book! Such a good atmosphere. Listened to it, narrated by Neil Gaiman and hearing his words in his voice and the added affects and sounds were creeping me the hell out but in such a good way! 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child death, and Confinement

Moderate: Death, Kidnapping, and Abandonment

Minor: Animal death and Blood

michael_langeloo's review against another edition

dark hopeful tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes

5.0

So glad I read this as an adult but I know that younger me would have loved it as well. Such a good story about a young girl, being brave and learning how to believe in herself and what she is capable of. Beldam was of course creepy and every scene that she was in was intense. While this book left me with possibly having some nightmares, if also kept me hooked until the last page, I just needed to know how it ended up for Coraline Jones.

---

Content Warnings

Minor: Animal death, Child death, and Death

annie_brewer's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious fast-paced

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

5.0

Having read the book after watching the movie, my imagination was spoilt! 

However, the colourful imagery from the screen fit in nicely with the tale and I am impressed how strong and accurate the movie adaptation was. The parts of the writing not included in the movie were also able to fit in seamlessly in my reccolection of the movie world and were testament to Gaiman's storytelling writing.

The impatient and paticular temprament of Coraline is exceptionally believable, the oddball characters she encounters are an unsettling delight, and the other mother is the queen of creepy!

---

Content Warnings

Minor: Animal death, Body horror, Child death, Confinement, Emotional abuse, Toxic relationship, Blood, Gaslighting, and Abandonment

micaelacccc's review against another edition

dark mysterious 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

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Child death, Confinement, Death, and Violence

Minor: Animal death and Blood

misszoe's review against another edition

adventurous dark fast-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

5.0

I enjoyed this so much - it did feel very personal tbh, more so than many other books I've read before. It did feel like Neil Gaiman wrote it for his daughters, I don't know how to describe it. I definitely loved it. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement

Moderate: Animal death and Child death

booknerderika's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious

3.5

I watched the movie before reading the book. It was good, but I wanted the doll with the button eyes and Wybie!! It wasn't as good without him. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child death, and Confinement

Moderate: Death, Kidnapping, and Abandonment

Minor: Animal death and Blood

lydia_reads's review against another edition

adventurous dark fast-paced

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

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Minor: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Child death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, and Kidnapping