Reviews tagging 'Excrement'

The Running Grave by Robert Galbraith

2 reviews

rnbhargava's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful informative mysterious reflective 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Eating disorder, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicide attempt, Grief, Alcoholism, Addiction, Biphobia, Body horror, Gun violence, Suicide, Miscarriage, Self harm, Torture, Trafficking, Body shaming, Toxic relationship, Classism, Death, Chronic illness, Pregnancy, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Blood, Infidelity, Misogyny, Suicidal thoughts, Child death, Dysphoria, Gaslighting, Sexual assault, Confinement, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Kidnapping, Gore, Forced institutionalization, Medical content, Medical trauma, Rape, Slavery, Stalking, Mental illness, Murder, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Sexual harassment, Car accident, Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Child abuse, Excrement, Ableism, Violence, and Bullying

There’s murder, sexual coercion and assault on underaged and of age characters mentioned and suggested. There’s drowning, confinement in tight, restrictive spaces, there’s mental and physical manipulation and torture. There’s hired hit men and lurkers. The plot has to do with a controversial cult that uses a lot of cultural appropriation of Asian religions and philosophies in the cult’s supposed doctrine. There are also scenes and depictions of endangering small children’s welfare. Cult characters assault female characters quite obviously as well. There are characters with mental and physical health problems. There’s suicide and murder. Look at the triggers.

jhbandcats's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional informative mysterious sad tense fast-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

I love all the Cormoran Strike books - they get better and better with increasing complexity of Strike and Robin’s characters. There are complaints that this one, at close to 1000 pages, is too long, but I found the story so riveting that I never felt the plot was unnecessarily long. The occasional dry humor is a relief from all the tension - it feels good to laugh when there’s nothing remotely laughable about the story as a whole. 

This entry in the series is particularly horrific. I knew the part about Robin going undercover in a cult was going to be tense but I didn’t know it would be quite as terrifying as it was. I found myself consumed with dread as I read it and kept having to stop and pull back from the story. 

I did have trouble keeping the relationships of the characters straight. There were a lot of people and parentage wasn’t always what the cult leaders claimed. The next time I read this I’ll make a cheat sheet so I can remember who’s who. 

I’m already looking forward to the next in the series. I hope there are a lot more books to come. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Child death, Excrement, Gaslighting, Gun violence, Emotional abuse, Gore, Murder, Pedophilia, Sexual assault, Suicide, Trafficking, Violence, Abandonment, Child abuse, Confinement, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Rape, Bullying, Death, Forced institutionalization, Self harm, Sexual violence, Slavery, and Torture