Reviews tagging 'Grief'

The Four by Ellie Keel

17 reviews

paula_shd_04's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Rape, Suicide, Grief, and Alcohol

Moderate: Death of parent

chloeosaurusrex's review

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad 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? Yes

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, and Suicide

Moderate: Bullying, Physical abuse, Blood, Vomit, Grief, Death of parent, Toxic friendship, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

_bird_'s review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective 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? It's complicated

5.0

Wow. I wasn't expecting this book to turn out the way that it did. I can’t remember the last time I got emotional over a book but this left me with watery eyes. The author does an impeccable job at telling the story of four hopeful, vastly different yet similar kids who embark on their journey at a boarding school that they hope will change their lives for the better. What happens in the time that they are at High Realms is so heart breaking relatable, so devastating, it’s a roller coaster of emotions that make you question how far you would go to protect your friends and those you love. It also paints a very raw and brutal portrait of what unchecked trauma does to a person especially when it’s compounded with events that continue to tear you apart. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Toxic friendship, and Abandonment

staxreads's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

4.0

It was a bit of a weird one and I'm not sure how to rate it as a whole. I was oddly hooked on this book yet felt little / no connection to any of the characters. The story was gripping yet I felt that the 'serious' parts were over the top and unnecessarily violent. Honestly there were times when I wasn't sure that I wanted to continue reading, yet I could not bring myself to put the book down.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Grief, Abortion, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Abandonment, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

bookb1itch's review against another edition

challenging emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.5

Although this book has some MAJOR red flags - self-harm, suicide, rape - it was engrossing and beautifully fits the Y9 Savage Humans genre study.  It is a disturbing tale, but a lovely exploration of friendship and romantic love.  Boarding schools should be outlawed.  I found myself often wonderinng if this was an "unreliable narrator" story, which added a layer to the mystery.  I'm still not quite sure how I feel about the main characters.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Incest, Mental illness, Rape, Self harm, Suicide, Grief, Death of parent, and Alcohol

Moderate: Cursing, Panic attacks/disorders, and Sexual content

Minor: Vomit and Suicide attempt

rad_reads_123's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad 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? Yes

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Self harm, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Rape and War

therealjessicaaustin_2002's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual violence, Suicide, Vomit, Islamophobia, Grief, and Classism

Minor: Abortion

whatzoreads's review against another edition

mysterious 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

1.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Confinement, Incest, Self harm, Suicide, Violence, Grief, Medical trauma, Toxic friendship, and Classism

pageswithamber's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad tense slow-paced

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Confinement, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Grief, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Toxic friendship, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

georgie_rose_'s review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad slow-paced

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

3.0

things I liked:
• the setting was beautiful, High Realms (the school) was so vivid in my mind - I loved the vibes of the first 20%
• audio narration was good - it was read by Ellie’s friend Ell Potter and they have an interesting chat/interview at the end
• lgbt rep
• the ‘four’ characters themselves were fleshed out imo - although some of the other characters were confusing 
• as this is a debut I’m excited to read more Ellie Keel in the future!

things I didn’t:
• it was quite long and lacked direction at times
• it seemed like the author grabbed a thesaurus and threw in big words in for the sake of it where they didn’t make sense and to make it sound ‘academic’ and pretentious
• romantic relationships were so random / out of nowhere and not well explored 
• an ‘event’ (no spoilers) happens about 20% in that is the focus of the rest of the plot. this was not the direction I expected the book to go in and I enjoyed it much less
• it was too much? it’s so sad and lowkey traumatising from then onwards!!

I’m here for the dark academia vibes, but the plot was a little too harrowing once the setting is taken away. 

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please check the trigger warnings - it’s pretty intense

Thanks to Netgalley and Harper Collins for providing me an audiobook ARC

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Bullying, Confinement, Death, Eating disorder, Incest, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Rape, Sexual assault, Suicide, Violence, Vomit, Grief, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Pregnancy, Outing, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail