Reviews tagging 'Blood'

Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke by Eric LaRocca

157 reviews

nalakoala's review against another edition

dark tense fast-paced

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

3.0

I have the edition with the two other stories but I'll read those at a later date, which is why I'm commenting on this one.

THGWSWLS has a lot of hype... but it didn't hit. I wanted it to get progressively worse but instead there was like 1 gross scene and then it ended. The end was weird and while I did like it, it came too fast and just fell flat. We also didn't get to explore Zoe as a character as much as I would've liked.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Death, Homophobia, Vomit, and Pregnancy

Minor: Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, and Medical content

alex_conners's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

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

2.75

I wasn't a huge fan of the first story. But the second two I actually really liked.

I think the first story would be better served as a longer story. There's just not enough development between the characters for me to suspend disbelief.

The second story, I thought, was fine. I had forgotten about the gas by the time it came back into play, and I think it was well served by its length. It posed a couple of interesting questions, and the idea of a husband and wife forced together by their dead son is a good concept.

The third story was short and sweet and sets up a lot that I liked. I do enjoy the idea of a little old man going around terrorizing people with bets that they accept out of politeness. It's a terrifying concept, while also incredibly interesting.

Despite my enjoyment of the last story and being lukewarm on the second. I can't rate this higher because the majority of the books length was taken by a story I wasn't a huge fan of.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child death, Suicide, and Blood

Moderate: Miscarriage, Toxic relationship, and Vomit

toadscreams's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense slow-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

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Emotional abuse, Gore, Self harm, Sexual content, Torture, Toxic relationship, and Blood

pendularium's review against another edition

dark fast-paced

2.0

I believe I bought this book because it was recommended time and time again by various people promising a 'disturbing' and 'thought provoking' read on booktok. This was not that book. The gore often felt unnecessary, and the writing only really shone in the titular Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke - I found Agnes' emails in particularly genuinely captivating. The through line of the human desire for connection was...fine? It was best done in Things Have Gotten Worse, but even there it felt like some more time between emails - or more content of Agnes and Zoe talking would have significantly helped it out. I have nothing much to say about the other two short stories, other than that the last one (You'll Find It's Like That All Over) genuinely baffled me in why exactly it was there at all.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Mental illness, Blood, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Pregnancy

marcostorin's review against another edition

challenging dark sad tense fast-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Self harm, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Pregnancy, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Sexual content and Kidnapping

lordofdisorder's review against another edition

challenging dark sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Death, Gore, Toxic relationship, Violence, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Confinement, Homophobia, Mental illness, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Kidnapping, Lesbophobia, and Abandonment

kharv294's review against another edition

dark sad fast-paced

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

0.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Death, Domestic abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Toxic relationship, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Medical content, Suicide attempt, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

afriendwithfiction's review against another edition

dark tense fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Blood, Excrement, and Vomit

Moderate: Emotional abuse

strabbyfieldz's review against another edition

challenging dark sad 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? Yes

3.0

I find myself uncertain how to feel about this book: somehow it is not grotesque enough, while also relishing it the lashings of blood and other viscera it produces far too much. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child death, Death, Blood, Medical content, and Fire/Fire injury

imogil's review against another edition

dark fast-paced

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

1.0

i should’ve listened to tiktok when they said it was lesbian torture porn. literally why was this written. even the authors note provided no clarity on why this was written. i hate that it was set out as if it was a true crime case - even though unfortunately that could make very poignant commentary on our societal obsession with “true crime” and not letting victims rest but i doubt the author went into this story thinking of that. he literally described their story as “a nightmarish fever dream of inspiration, an arduous ordeal of painstaking creativity.” i understand the want for portrayal of unhealthy bdsm dynamics i guess and the want for people to read gorey horror but it wasn’t even well written??? agnes did not show any signs of being mentally ill to the point that she could be exploited so whole heartedly. i HATED zoe and the fact that she did all of that to agnes - RUINED AGNES’S LIFE - just to see if she could. the only reason this book has 1 star is because the author - unfortunately - has a great grasp on descriptive language and i was able to picture a lot of this really well. 
i do realise that this was a dead dove clearly labeled do not eat and yet i chose to eat the dove anyway. i have read many dd:dne fics and stories before and been fine - i guess this dead dove just wasn’t to my taste. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Self harm, Torture, Toxic relationship, Blood, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Mental illness, Sexual content, Vomit, and Medical content

Minor: Homophobia and Lesbophobia

unhealthy bdsm dynamics, graphic depiction of a tapeworm and the passing of it, graphic depiction and description of eating raw insect filled meat