Reviews tagging 'Confinement'

The Gathering by C.J. Tudor

11 reviews

minimicropup's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-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? No

4.0

I enjoyed most of this. Except, strangely enough, the vampires? 

 

Energy: Enervated. Conscientious. Cruel. 

Scene: 🇺🇸 Fictional town of Deadhart, Alaska

Perspective: We follow multiple characters in the town. Mainly an easygoing, dedicated detective with a background in vampire anthropology visiting to assist in the investigation, and an unknown captive being kept in a small room while being cared for (somewhat) by their captor. 

 

🐕 Howls: Losing interest near the end. The underdeveloped fantasy-style lore of the vampires. 

🐩 Tail Wags: The writing style. Barbara (the anthro-detective). The world-building and atmosphere. 

 

🤔 Random Thoughts: 

Reminded me of Stephen king style of writing. Cinematic, slow burn descriptive style.

 

To enjoy this, I think you need to build some level of care for the community (regardless of the vampires) otherwise it would probably feel like a slog. 

 

Audio was easy to listen to. The chapters aren’t from any specific perspective, so if you zone out for a second, you’ll likely be lost for a bit but quickly get context clues on who is speaking and where we are without having to skip back. 

 

I’m iffy with police procedurals, but this one was interesting. I agree it has a Fargo vibe, where people beyond the police are such characters and the police parts are more investigative hunting down clues rather than high stakes action. 

 

I was initially intrigued by the vampire structures/society, but near the end we do a deep dive in to the colony and lost my attention. It just felt like suddenly we were expected to understand the colony and its hierarchy. Maybe I was just hoping for more of a day-in-the-life get-to-know-them style, but it felt underdeveloped. 

 

I was losing track of peripheral characters late in the story, especially if they ended up having a more major role later on. At first, I felt like I was keeping up, so didn’t keep detailed character notes, but I wish I had!

 

The violence and high stakes action is quick and sprinkled throughout so never felt drawn out or boring. But I also wouldn’t call this heavy on high-stakes action-adventure if that’s what you’re looking for. 

 

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🤓 Reader Role: A little bit of an outsider. Observing and overhearing conversations, with the narrator filling us in and taking us to different scenes. 

🗺️ World-Building: Cinematic, immersive and descriptive. 

🔥 Fuel: Did a vampire murder a teen boy? If so, why? If not, who did? Why did one of the characters commit suicide? Who is the girl being held captive? Will Barbara be able to solve the case? Will it result in a legal cull to the vampire colony?

📖 Cred: Sci-fi style realistic (think modern day but vampires are real and were present throughout our human history). 

 

Mood Reading Match-Up:

• Sour bar smells. Earthy scents. Christmas lights. Falling snow. Coffee. Rot. Dark buildings. Howling winds. 
• Anthropological sci-fi with Us vs Them elements
• Police investigation whodunnit and whydunit

 

Content Heads-Up: Infidelity. Suicide (brief mention). Prejudice. Confinement. Blood. Death. Murder. Alcohol use. Alcoholic parent (recall). Loss of child (teen). Animal death (bat, pig). Sex trafficking and abuse. Violence. Genocide/cull. 

 

Rep: Indigenous, Black, and White Americans. Transgender. Cisgender. Gay. Heterosexual. Diverse body sizes. 

 

📚 Format: Library Audio

 

My musings 💖 powered by puppy snuggles 🐶

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence

Moderate: Blood, Murder, Sexual assault, Death, Suicide, Confinement, Genocide, Alcohol, and Trafficking

Minor: Infidelity and Animal death

nrogers_1030's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad medium-paced

• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Religious bigotry, Cursing, Gore, Death, Violence, Blood, and Murder

Moderate: Confinement and Alcohol

Minor: Pedophilia, Homophobia, Terminal illness, Racism, Dementia, Suicide, Cancer, and Fire/Fire injury

kaiyakaiyo's review

adventurous 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
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

a fun time, definitely twisty! 

maybe a few too many twists actually, but I liked this a lot overall! The idea of vampires as an indigenous-ish species that lived in harmony with the land, only to be subjugated and made into second class citizens was very compelling! 

im not a fan of red herrings, so there was a point where I was just like “can we get on with it damn”, but in general i loved Barbara and her thought process was fascinating. the reverend… CRAZY 

would love a sequel! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Hate crime, Child abuse, Blood, Colonisation, Body horror, Misogyny, Gore, Domestic abuse, Death, Religious bigotry, Confinement, Alcoholism, Alcohol, Adult/minor relationship, Physical abuse, Torture, Death of parent, Racism, Sexual assault, Pedophilia, Murder, Suicide, Sexual violence, Homophobia, and Grief

Moderate: Suicide attempt and Terminal illness

cc_shelflove's review against another edition

mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.0

I don’t love books about vampires (spelled ‘vampyrs’ in this book), but vampire hunters? Ooooooo. When a boy is found dead in the town of Deadhart, Alaska, Chief Nicholls is immediately convinced the nearby community of vampyrs (otherwise known as the Colony) is to blame. There is a law that if the Colony is posing a threat to humankind, the government may authorize a cull to essentially wipe them out. 😳 Dark! Detective Barbara Atkins of the Forensic Vampyr Anthropology Department is assigned the case to determine whether the boy’s murderer was in fact a vampyr or perhaps something more sinister. While this story was so unique, I had trouble following its many characters. There were simply too many to keep track of! Once I got to the book’s ending, I had to do a quick recap in my brain, and there wasn’t any space left for me to be excited about what I learned or what Barbara uncovered. I wouldn’t recommend this if you are looking for a quick read; it was more of a mystery with many (too many, in my opinion) threads for your brain to follow. I’m also not sure what the epilogue meant. ☹️

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Hate crime, Religious bigotry, Suicide, Confinement, Murder, and Blood

Moderate: Medical content, Rape, and Sexual assault

Minor: Infidelity

paronomaniac's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Blood, Murder, and Child death

Moderate: Racism, Homophobia, Colonisation, Confinement, and Gun violence

Minor: Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Deadnaming, and Transphobia

josiesprobablyreading's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Physical abuse, Racism, Religious bigotry, Sexual violence, Racial slurs, Sexual assault, and Confinement

Minor: Child death, Suicide attempt, Torture, and Gun violence

author2223's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Confinement, Dementia, Body horror, Gore, and Murder

Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Trafficking, Torture, and Pedophilia

Minor: Rape and Fire/Fire injury

aileron's review

adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Death, Child death, Murder, Blood, Physical abuse, Gore, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Fire/Fire injury, Rape, Religious bigotry, Domestic abuse, Pedophilia, Hate crime, Confinement, Car accident, and Torture

Minor: Alcoholism, Infertility, Miscarriage, Cancer, Racism, Suicide, and Animal death

katelynprice's review against another edition

dark mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

3.75

I enjoyed the overall vibe and mystery of this book, but I found the mystery wrap-up in the end to be rushed, a bit underwhelming, and confusing. Barbara was a great main character, and I would definitely read another book about her if there is a sequel. The social commentary was right up my alley, but I can definitely see it being off-putting to some readers. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Emotional abuse, Child abuse, Physical abuse, Child death, and Suicide

Moderate: Cursing

Minor: Infertility, Rape, Grief, Miscarriage, Dementia, Gun violence, Cancer, Domestic abuse, Genocide, Alcoholism, and Animal death

unboxedjack's review against another edition

dark funny mysterious tense 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? Yes

3.25

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Sexual harassment, Xenophobia, Sexual assault, Suicide, Kidnapping, Blood, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Rape, Domestic abuse, Gore, Murder, and Sexual violence