Reviews tagging 'Torture'

The Salt Grows Heavy by Cassandra Khaw

145 reviews

raybudbury's review against another edition

dark mysterious fast-paced

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

2.0

Not my ass being like “the gore was fun but the story was eh”. Makes me sound crazy but whatever, we love gore in this house. Story was hard to follow a bit + wasn’t grabbing me as much as I wanted it to. Actually probably would be better if it were longer 🫶

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Gore, Torture, Violence, Cannibalism, and Murder

cfell's review against another edition

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Gore, Torture, Violence, Blood, Cannibalism, Medical trauma, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

cowboycarol342's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense fast-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? It's complicated

3.75

absolutely heart wrenching. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Torture, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Cannibalism, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

lori85's review against another edition

dark

• Loveable characters? It's complicated

5.0

I love this book so freaking much I bought it in both the British and US hardcover editions because they have different artwork. I have never felt the need to own more than one copy of the same book in my entire life. I prefer library and ebooks! But I am seriously not kidding when I say it has been YEARS since I have read something that has sent my imagination spiraling off in so many directions. I've dreamed up sequels and backstories for everyone and pondered so many questions of identity, gender and sexuality, the nature of gods and monsters, and so much more. I've been begging, begging, begging my book club to choose The Salt Grows Heavy but instead we keep getting crap like Delilah Green Doesn't Care.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Gore, Misogyny, Torture, Violence, Medical content, Cannibalism, Medical trauma, and Injury/Injury detail

elliottcrow's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective 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? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Physical abuse, Self harm, Torture, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Cannibalism, Medical trauma, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

carlita_tv's review against another edition

challenging dark informative mysterious tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Physical abuse, Torture, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Cannibalism, Medical trauma, Murder, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

kelseyr713's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense fast-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? Yes

4.0

A dark take on mermaid fairy tales, this one features a huge catharsis and beautiful, lyrical prose. I loved the relationship between the mermaid and the plague doctor. Stick around after the acknowledgments for a prequel chapter.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Gore, Torture, Violence, Blood, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Animal death, Confinement, Domestic abuse, Miscarriage, Pregnancy, and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: War

lshort1230's review against another edition

dark emotional sad slow-paced

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

2.0

I was initially drawn to this book for the prose, similar to Gideon the ninth. I'm not one for horror/gore but since I liked Gideon I thought I would get through this one. There were several moments when I thought to stop, it is quite graphic, and sometimes for no particular reason. The "happy" ending seemed forced, and was unsatisfying 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Gore, Physical abuse, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Blood, Grief, Cannibalism, Murder, and Fire/Fire injury

syzygy_savi's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense fast-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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Gore, Torture, Violence, Medical trauma, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Sexual harassment

nadiaxm's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

3.75

Great horror retelling! I especially loved the story at the end. Would be 5 stars if the author didn't decide to use the fanciest words in existence

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Gore, Physical abuse, Torture, Blood, Cannibalism, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail