Reviews tagging 'Grief'

These Fleeting Shadows by Kate Alice Marshall

8 reviews

julieyael's review

challenging dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

Lovely haunting mystery, anchoring supernatural to our world. A bit gothic, a bit fantastic, a bit creepy. 
I would have loved it more with less teenage characters (harder for me to identify as I am over 40), but it would have worked less, I guess. 
I couldn’t put the book down so that’s a good sign☺️
Not rating higher because of some details that annoyed me, and the romance which I don’t really care for. The characters are interresting, even if a bit simplistic/stereotyped. 
I loved the global rythm of the story and could re-read it with pleasure. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Child death, Confinement, Death, Blood, Grief, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Medical content, Death of parent, and Murder

sage_alexandra's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful mysterious sad medium-paced

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

5.0

Besides this book being really good, the narrator Megan Trout? Absolutely fantastic!!!!! I had CHILLS when the first figment spoke. 

Kate Alice Marshall crafted a beautifully complicated story

The book description mentions "The Haunting of Hill House meets Knives Out", but neglects to bring up, what I found to be, a much stronger connection to The Haunting of Bly Manor. Spoilers for both Bly Manor and this book:

The figments being similar to the faceless ghosts of Bly Manor. The queer romance. The main character becoming or uniting with the thing that was feared most. The absurd child sacrifices (or attempts of) for power or personal gain.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Death, Misogyny, Violence, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Confinement, Gun violence, Vomit, and Kidnapping

Minor: Cursing, Homophobia, Infidelity, Pregnancy, and Alcohol

a couple more content warnings: - mention of lobotomies - altered perception of reality/dissociation/loss of time and memories - a lot of bones, human and animal - vague mention of severing of limbs - specific body horror: skin coming off the body, soft bones, jumbled up humanoid bodies

sai_like_sigh's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Confinement, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Medical trauma, Murder, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Animal death, Chronic illness, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicide, Pregnancy, Alcohol, and Classism

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Cursing, Infidelity, Blood, Death of parent, and Classism

Unreliable narrator, reality called into quest, inte se doubt

ilaxaria's review

dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Violence, Grief, and Murder

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Gun violence, Blood, Gaslighting, and Alcohol

Minor: Emotional abuse, Incest, Infidelity, and Death of parent

alexijai98's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense medium-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Body horror, Child death, Death, Gore, Violence, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, and Alcohol

lilifane's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective tense medium-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

5.0

What a pleasant surprise, I didn't expect to love this book so much. 
This is a creepy, atmospheric gothic haunted house story with queer representation, really good themes and a satisfying ending. There are not many of those out there. 
Although it's YA, it's also very dark. It deals with violence against girls, and there is gore. I would recommend for the upcoming spooky season, if you haven't read it yet. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Confinement, Death, Gore, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

sunshinestark's review against another edition

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Violence, Grief, and Murder

bookishsapphicshay's review

adventurous challenging dark mysterious reflective tense 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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Grief, Medical trauma, and Murder

Moderate: Confinement, Homophobia, Misogyny, Sexism, and Injury/Injury detail