Reviews tagging 'Animal cruelty'

To Be Devoured by Sara Tantlinger

32 reviews

dosxhime's review

dark tense fast-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death of parent, Animal cruelty, Vomit, Toxic relationship, Mental illness, Death, Cannibalism, Animal death, and Suicide

entazis's review against another edition

challenging dark 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

4.0

 I recently traveled to Portugal, and those who watched the reading travel vlog (in Croatian) at the @morinakutija YouTube channel know that I read A House With Good Bones by T Kingfisher on the way there. But on the way back I read the horror novella To Be Devoured by Sara Tantlinger.

What a ride that was. And I don't mean airplane travel, I mean the book. The only thing I knew about it was that it had cannibalistic sapphics so I was naturally up for it, especially because I remembered I haven't still filled out the "food centric" prompt on #bitfchallenge2023. Turns out, this novella is about a woman with unhealthy obsessions toward vultures, to the point she believes she's transforming into one. That negatively influences her relationships, mostly the already shaky one with her girlfriend. What follows is disturbing fixations on meat, hunger and death, resulting in some grossly horrifying scenes, written with beautiful prose. It's very effective, some scenes so visceral that I felt the discomfort under my skin, but I couldn't stop reading, hooked to the story with morbid curiosity. This one is meant to gross you out, so it's not for every reader, and if you have troubles with animal cruelty, maybe not a good fit for you.

This was actually a funny choice after A House with Good Bones that also had plenty of vultures, and especially to read it while flying. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty and Animal death

seesalynne09's review against another edition

4.0

Finally a book I was told would be messed up and it actually was :) 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Animal cruelty and Animal death

winsomefish's review against another edition

dark slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• 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: Blood, Lesbophobia, Animal cruelty, Body horror, Animal death, Suicidal thoughts, and Torture

Moderate: Biphobia

wyabook234's review against another edition

dark emotional sad fast-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Animal cruelty, Toxic relationship, Gore, and Blood

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Death of parent, and Grief

Minor: Racial slurs

thrillsnchills's review against another edition

dark emotional 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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Cannibalism, Gore, Vomit, Injury/Injury detail, Animal cruelty, Blood, Animal death, and Mental illness

Moderate: Death of parent

offtheraels's review

dark fast-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Mental illness, Vomit, and Death of parent

Moderate: Cannibalism, Child death, and Toxic relationship

Minor: Racism

sammysamsam'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? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Vomit, Addiction, Animal cruelty, Body horror, Physical abuse, Blood, Cursing, Murder, Emotional abuse, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Violence, Animal death, Cannibalism, Death, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, and Torture

Moderate: Drug use, Alcohol, Body shaming, Cancer, Abandonment, and Death of parent

cat_d's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cannibalism, Death, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Blood, Body horror, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Gore, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Child death, Death of parent, and Vomit

decaying's review

challenging dark tense medium-paced

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

3.0

A macabre and agonizing story of a never-ending hunger. I think Tantlinger's writing here is best described as festering. It is absolutely dripping with exquisitely putrid details of horror that makes you crawls under your skin and make you squirm. Although I really enjoyed her writing, I didn't find the overall book compelling. It is still a fun piece of horror and worth the read especially if you're interested in obscure and gore-y horror.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Mental illness, Sexual content, Cannibalism, Animal cruelty, Body horror, Violence, Blood, and Gore

Moderate: Grief, Drug use, and Infidelity

Minor: Sexual assault, Racism, and Death of parent