Reviews with content warning for Blood - Motel Styx

Reviews tagging 'Blood'

Motel Styx by Jonathan Butcher, Michelle von Eschen, Michelle von Eschen

8 reviews

nalakoala's review against another edition

4.5

dark tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Wow. What a book. I loved this, one of the most realistic yet still shocking and fun horror books I've read to date. Would reccomend to anyone who can handle the topic of n3cr0ph1li4.

Loved it!

Content Warnings

rachel_jozie's review against another edition

4.5

adventurous dark tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

*I'm not going to give you the whole 'what this book is about' blurb - you can read that elsewhere.

1. I don’t know what I was expecting with this one, but it surely wasn’t what I got – I say that in the best way possible, though! Motel Styx was dark and delicious, but I would rather not book my stay…

2. This whole storyline was unique; I can’t think of another story I’ve read that gave me similar vibes, which is super impressive, in my opinion. I really loved everything about this read, but perhaps my favorite part was that each chapter started with some sort of review/tweet/social media post regarding the ‘necrotel’ or the ethical and moral questions surrounding the re-instatement of the Lazarus Act. These were all realistically written for what you see on social media and very creative; they also expertly set the stage for each chapter. I love when a book does something like this, and Motel Styx did it better than any other book I’ve read so far.

3. Ellis, our MC, was quite…um, complex. I don’t want to give anything away, but his motivations at the beginning of the book were vastly different than what they were at the end. Little by little, his façade was chipped away, and what we were left with at the end of the book was a complete 180 from what we began with. I started out thinking he was such a sweet and emotionally injured man just searching for answers, and by the end, I absolutely hated him.

4. Along those lines: all the characters were so compelling! No one was perfect, and even the people you started out disliking have at least one situation where you find them endearing. Oh, and those endearing characters have something about them that will give you the ick. They were so flawed it was hard not to see parts of yourself in them, but hopefully not in the same situations 😉

So good!

Content Warnings

hippieonsteroids's review against another edition

2.0

challenging dark tense fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

Content Warnings

creatureof_nature's review against another edition

3.0

dark fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: No

Content Warnings

brutallybookish's review against another edition

5.0

adventurous dark mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

I have been a fan of Jonathan Butcher's previous work, so when I heard he was co-writing Motel Styx with Michelle Von Eschen, I knew I needed to get my hands on a copy, and it did not disappoint. I loved the cognitive dissonance that arose from being in the "necrotel" environment and enjoying many of the characters as people despite their questionable tastes. The fact that I could never decide who the "good guys" were was interesting and added a layer of mystery fueled by moral ambiguity. I also appreciated the unfolding of the plot answering multiple different questions about different characters, and the ending was definitely poetic, but also quite disgusting, which is perfect when I'm reaching for an extreme horror title. I would highly recommend this to extreme horror fans new and experienced, and also to anyone interested in giving the genre a try. There's plenty of action in the storyline to go alongside some of the more graphic scenes, and everything about the book is creative from the concept, to the website, to the characters. It's a page turner that's going on my list of favorites!

Content Warnings