Reviews tagging 'Child abuse'

All Hallows by Christopher Golden

22 reviews

hxlleann's review against another edition

mysterious tense slow-paced

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

2.75

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Content Warnings

Minor: Alcoholism, Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Death, Gore, Hate crime, Homophobia, Infidelity, Pedophilia, Racism, Toxic relationship, Blood, Murder, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

kaylee1957's review against another edition

adventurous dark 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

4.0

Felt like the "bad guys" in the book needed a little more fleshing out and more background lore to make it more engaging and believable. 

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Content Warnings

Minor: Child abuse, Homophobia, and Pedophilia

phantomgecko's review against another edition

challenging dark medium-paced

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

4.0

I saw a blurb for this book that described it as a "twisty" horror story. And I thought, how can a creature feature be twisty? And yet. The book isn't neck deep in twists, but there was one or two that caught me off guard.

Positive points for interesting use of folklore and New England vibes. Negative points for it was gory gross.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Gore, Infidelity, Pedophilia, Racial slurs, Racism, Blood, Death of parent, and Alcohol

spenny21's review against another edition

4.0

This is a good one to read this time of year!

I listened to the audiobook and I left at 5am the other morning and it was definitely scary in the dark when the cunning man was chasing Laura.

I liked the commentary of certain topics. All in all, I was entertained!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Gore, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Sexism, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Murder, and Outing

ktb97's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

3.5

A spooky October read that I’m happy I picked up. It’s a bit confusing at times, but that didn’t distract me from the character arcs, which really are the highlight of the book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Homophobia, Physical abuse, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Lesbophobia, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Child abuse, Pedophilia, Violence, and Outing

Minor: Vomit

finnsnowbevi's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Body horror, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Infidelity, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Violence, Blood, Grief, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, Lesbophobia, Abandonment, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Child abuse, Pedophilia, Racism, Self harm, Vomit, Kidnapping, Suicide attempt, and Outing

Minor: Sexual content and Medical content

klhunter42's review against another edition

dark fast-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child abuse, Homophobia, and Infidelity

pinkalpaca's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Child death, Homophobia, and Violence

Moderate: Child abuse

hollyberry_books's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Domestic abuse, Gore, Infidelity, Misogyny, Self harm, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, and Outing

Moderate: Alcoholism, Homophobia, Vomit, and Sexual harassment

mishmashreads's review against another edition

dark mysterious slow-paced

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

3.0

Not a terrible book. But definitely not a good book either. 

The writing was good… ? I loved the feel of the neighborhood. Gave me Donnie Darko vibes. I love getting to know the characters and seeing their lives intersect. But also, the writing was bad. The phrase “hitched his/her breath” was used so many times it was distracting. One chapter literally spent pages building a climatic situation and then ended with the full sentence “And he died.” Also the whole Ruth and Zack storyline is super weird and I did not like it. Are we supposed to be learning about monsters among us? Cuz very bad job of pulling that metaphor off, if so.

There are a lot of characters with each chapter focused on one of them. Don’t put it down for too long or you will forget who is who. 

The book does not actually get anywhere close to action until 150+ pages in. Thank goodness the chapters were short. Christopher Golden should skip horror and just write fiction novels. I liked his characters. I liked his writing when it wasn’t in the “spooky” part of the book. The horror part of the book (aka the second half of the book) is not good.

3 stars, but if I was rating based on horror alone, it would have been 2. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Death, Homophobia, Infidelity, Pedophilia, Sexual assault, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Death of parent, and Murder

Moderate: Misogyny, Racial slurs, Racism, Lesbophobia, and Outing

Minor: Self harm and Suicidal thoughts