Reviews tagging 'Sexual violence'

Woom: An Extreme Psychological Horror Novel by Duncan Ralston

157 reviews

moosereads1's review against another edition

dark tense medium-paced

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

3.0

I genuinely don’t know what to say about this book. It was certainly disturbing, and it helped me realize that I can deal with blood and gore but draw the line at… other bodily fluids. I do have to say though, going into this I certainly wasn’t expecting the story to twist the way it did. I had an idea of what might be involved by the title, but the rest of the story was just a mindfuck. I also wasn’t expecting moments of emotion and sadness, so that was interesting. So, just like this book and the review I’m leaving it, my emotions are all over the place.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Body horror, Confinement, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Fatphobia, Gore, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Abortion, Death of parent, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

abbz_o_lutely's review against another edition

dark sad tense fast-paced

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

3.5

I'm going with 3.5 stars. The writing is impeccable and very much so has you invested and turning pages. This left me constantly on the line to DNF or to push through to the end to know the full story. I went into this book super blind and I came out of it wishing I could pretend I never opened the first page. This book is very.... Icky.
It needs about 3-4 pages of content warnings as this book can be very triggering.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Body horror, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Gore, Hate crime, Infertility, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicide, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Abortion, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, Alcohol, and Sexual harassment

There is no going back to your normal self after this book. I wish I could erase this from my brain.

xwickedxcrowx's review against another edition

dark tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• 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: Death, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, and Abortion

brutallybookish's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.0

Woom is one of those books I couldn't put down. Through each story being told via flashback, more pieces to the puzzle become clear, and the plot was well thought out, addictive, and wonderfully written. The graphic descriptions in each scene were stomach churning in just the ways one would expect for a horror story, and it made the journey immersive and emotional. Despite the weirdness that continues to unfold, I couldn't help but develop empathy for each of the two main characters. A wild ride leading to a gut wrenching ending and overall, a very interesting read.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore and Sexual content

Moderate: Drug abuse and Sexual violence

elderlyemo's review against another edition

dark 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

2.5

Listen, it's rare that I ever give a KU "extreme horror" book more than three stars and this one was no exception. Whilst the pacing and format of the story was quite interesting, and the inextricable intricacy of the ending kind of made me gasp - this story was just okay. 

It follows a random dude who pays a sex worker to "stretch" the limits of her capabilities and whilst doing this, he regales her with the mystic symbolism of the motel room they're in and weaves together increasingly more depraved stories of things that have happened in said motel room. 

The biggest let down of this book? The title. I saw the finale of the book before there were ever really any hints dropped and though I've never read anything like this and probably won't again, sometimes, as if often the case with extreme horror, originality doesn't always rule the day. 

Two and a half stars. It's well written, with three dimensional characters and even though it's pretty short, it still managed to pack a punch and leave an after burn in my brain for a few days. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Drug abuse, Drug use, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Abortion, and Murder

mmtrue's review against another edition

dark medium-paced

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

1.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Body horror, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Infertility, Mental illness, Racial slurs, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Torture, Blood, Excrement, Kidnapping, Grief, Abortion, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, and Injury/Injury detail

billie_churchill's review against another edition

dark tense fast-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Body horror, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gore, Infertility, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Abortion, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, and Injury/Injury detail

layc's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny lighthearted sad tense medium-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Body horror, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Infertility, Mental illness, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Torture, Medical trauma, Abortion, Pregnancy, and Sexual harassment

thegreatandwonderfulbookwitch's review against another edition

dark sad tense fast-paced

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

4.0

I read this is 1 sitting!

I'm still kind of shell shocked by it! 

Vague Summary:
A man has a dark connection to a motel room.

It wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be. I'm dipping my toes into extreme horror, so I was a little nervous about what to expect from this book. It absolutely did NOT disappoint!

It left me disturbed and unsettled, but not disgusted and I was able to easily finish it. It definitely had the effect of a good horror movie! (I'm more knowledgeable about horror movies and more extreme horror movies than I am books)

If you want to be unsettled, disturbed, left feeling a little weird, and unsure what to do with yourself after reading, then this book is for you!

I've already saved book 2 on Kindle unlimited!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror

Moderate: Addiction, Body horror, Child abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gore, Infertility, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, Medical trauma, and Abortion

dallasreeves's review against another edition

dark medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Miscarriage, Rape, Sexual violence, Abortion, and Pregnancy