Reviews tagging 'Animal death'

Penpal by Dathan Auerbach

74 reviews

lady_grey_with_honey's review against another edition

dark 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? No

5.0

This horror story is narrated by a young man who is reflecting back on many strange occurrences from his childhood. In each of the six chapters, he lays out some significant experience, based on what he remembers, starting in kindergarten and progressing through his teen years. These glimpses into his coming-of-age begin innocently - with a school project or an activity with a friend - and slowly ramp up to something terrifying, but inexplicable. He eventually enlists the help of his mother to piece it all together - the truth of what was really happening all those years is devastating. This story was originally released in sections on the r/nosleep forum on Reddit and adapted for The NoSleep Podcast. Fans loved it so much that the author launched an extremely successful Kickstarter to self-publish it as a novel in 2012. I loved it too and stayed up too late some nights because I couldn't put it down. The only reason that I didn't give this a full 5 stars was because the very end of the book became a bit confusing in a few ways. I finished in astonishment and then spent an hour on Reddit threads reading long discussions about the ending in order to make sure I wasn't missing something.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pedophilia, Stalking, Car accident, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Kidnapping, and Grief

pryingblackbird's review against another edition

dark sad tense medium-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? It's complicated

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Stalking

Moderate: Child abuse, Child death, Pedophilia, and Murder

Minor: Animal cruelty and Animal death

g_xandra's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? N/A
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death

Moderate: Animal death, Gore, Blood, and Stalking

Minor: Medical content and Injury/Injury detail

lugosi147's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

This book is deeply deeply scary and tense at times and so deeply deeply tragic in others.  The author has a knack for crafting horror and pathos into an incredibly paced narrative.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Gore, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Dementia, Kidnapping, Grief, Stalking, Car accident, Murder, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail

one boy’s friendship damns his friend’s entire family

nalakoala's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Pedophilia, Blood, Kidnapping, Stalking, and Murder

Moderate: Animal death, Cursing, Emotional abuse, Violence, and Grief

ans_reads's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Child death, Death, and Blood

madelinequinnee's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

Wow, this book has left me absolutely broken. I had no idea what to expect going into this as I knew it was best to go in blind from the recommendations i’d seen online, and i’m so glad i did because this was one of the most incredibly sad horror stories i’ve ever read. 

The horror was so effective in such a ambiguous way, it didn’t rely on shock value or gore, it was all in the atmosphere and the unknown of what was happening, and I think it was so cleverly written. 

This story will stick with me for a long time 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Child death, Cursing, Death, Blood, Dementia, Grief, Stalking, Car accident, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

hue's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad

3.0

A bit predictable and slightly overdramatic at times. The dragging on of certain sentences to "build tension" (I'm assuming) was just annoying. Come to the point.

Otherwise it was an interesting story, and though it jumped a bit strange at times I liked that it was him looking back at his childhood and how strange things then seemed even stranger now. I'd say it's still more sad than it is scary, but I enjoyed it regardless.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Bullying, Child death, Death, Pedophilia, Blood, Stalking, Car accident, and Murder

haleyhorrorshow's review against another edition

dark tense medium-paced

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death and Stalking

Moderate: Animal death and Dementia

Minor: Pedophilia

ninasloft's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Grief, and Stalking

Moderate: Dementia

Minor: Animal death and Vomit