Reviews tagging 'Fire/Fire injury'

Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke by Eric LaRocca

22 reviews

snyxism's review against another edition

dark tense fast-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Gore, Toxic relationship, Blood, Medical content, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

shinsoukoku's review against another edition

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

1.5

underwhelming

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Emotional abuse, Toxic relationship, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Mental illness, Self harm, Slavery, and Medical content

Minor: Suicide, Vomit, Lesbophobia, and Fire/Fire injury

lacee's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious 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? Yes

1.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child death, Death, Gore, Homophobia, Torture, Toxic relationship, and Lesbophobia

Moderate: Mental illness, Miscarriage, Suicidal thoughts, Excrement, Medical content, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Murder, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, and Gaslighting

Minor: Child abuse, Confinement, Cursing, Emotional abuse, Suicide, Vomit, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail

marprokup'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? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

This book was bewildering, agonizing, thrilling, and fantastic. I read the entire book in one sitting. It will make you squirm, and (I mean this in the best way possible) I understand how and why this book has mixed reviews. It's definitely meant for a very specific audience, and thus many view this book as off-putting. However, as someone in the LGBTQ+ community who has previously engaged in a toxic, online relationship and chatrooms (I feel inclined to say it was not nearly as grotesque as the relationship explored in this book!!!)... it nevertheless hit very differently for me than it probably will for the majority of readers. If you read the trigger warnings, enjoy reading about twisted characters and grotesque imagery, identify with the LGBTQ+ community, and/or have history with online chatrooms, I highly recommend reading (especially since it's such a quick read)!

A side note for readers still on-the-fence about this book: Look up Ivan Albright and pull up images of his paintings. I feel like is artwork pretty efficiently encapsulates the tone of this book (plus he's one of my favorite artists of all time).

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Self harm, and Vomit

Moderate: Animal death, Cursing, and Fire/Fire injury

ren97's review against another edition

challenging dark fast-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Homophobia, Mental illness, Self harm, Sexual content, Suicide, Vomit, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Lesbophobia, Fire/Fire injury, and Gaslighting

bookswithgracie's review against another edition

challenging dark tense medium-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

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Homophobia, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Self harm, Suicide, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Cannibalism, Murder, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, and Toxic friendship

honeybuns's review against another edition

challenging dark tense fast-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? It's complicated

2.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Body horror, Gore, Blood, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

lleebee's review against another edition

dark emotional 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Child death, Death, Gore, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Slavery, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Vomit

lizjenkins'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? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

1.25

The book had so much potential and ended up being strange and uncomfortable. The gore felt misplaced and forced. The plot was bland. I do not recommend 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Gore, Self harm, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Blood, Vomit, and Fire/Fire injury

saintsunshine's review against another edition

dark 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? Yes

2.5

Things Have Gotten Worse presents interesting ideas but mostly falls flat in its execution. I'm personally not a big fan of the way in which the story was presented— though the narrative itself was interesting, the long-winded emails destroyed much of the story's immersion. This style also made it difficult to connect with the characters despite the narrative's insistence on caring about their wellbeing. Overall, feel that LaRocca touches on interesting concepts surrounding that obsession and control but are ultimately underexplored and underdeveloped.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Child death, Mental illness, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, and Pregnancy

Moderate: Cursing, Blood, Medical content, and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Suicide and Vomit