Reviews tagging 'Body horror'

Penpal by Dathan Auerbach

19 reviews

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

dexlud's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

Okay I’m giving this a 5 star just because of how purely amazed I am at how much this book purely terrified me. Auerbach definitely has a way with words. Even if the writing itself was just above basic, the way my emotions were toyed with throughout this book was actually insane. I wish I could read this book for the first time because what the fuck. Started reading at 3am, both recommend and do not recommend reading this at such an hour. Definitely recommend this book, has a little bit of body horror too at points and overall is just a gorgeous book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Vomit, Grief, Stalking, and Abandonment

Moderate: Body horror and Gore

Minor: Adult/minor relationship

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

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

madfromonline's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-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? No

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Gore, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Violence, Dementia, Kidnapping, Grief, Stalking, Car accident, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

itsjustgrumpy's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

Utterly heart broken. Tense, and emotional. Auerbach gives you the pieces of the puzzle to put together yourself, each one more horrifying than the last. The final picture is harrowing. What a read.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Death, Gore, Blood, Stalking, Car accident, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Dementia and Trafficking

Minor: Vomit

star_charter152's review against another edition

challenging dark 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? No

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Confinement, Death, Pedophilia, Violence, Grief, Stalking, and Car accident

Moderate: Animal death, Gore, Dementia, and Kidnapping

barronhaily's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Stalking

Moderate: Body horror

hailey_horror's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Body horror, Bullying, Child death, Death, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Stalking, Car accident, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

nagisasigh's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

4.5

this book broke my heart, but it was also gripping and well written.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Child death, Death, Gore, Violence, Blood, Stalking, Car accident, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Pedophilia, Medical content, Dementia, Kidnapping, and Grief

Minor: Adult/minor relationship