Reviews tagging 'Pedophilia'

The Gathering by C.J. Tudor

11 reviews

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

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

jelkebooks'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? No

3.0

I received a galley of this book through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

When this book started off I was very quickly very invested in it. I thought C.J. Tudor just did an incredible job completely transporting you to this small town. The atmosphere was impecable. I also thought the inclusion of vampyres in a premise like this one, was incredibly interesting and really well executed. I was super intrigued to see how this mystery was going to unravel itself, especially because we relatively quickly made a big breakthrough in the case.
However, that being said this book also got stagnant very quickly. After that first breakthrough it takes until the very end for anything else to happen in this book. I did still think the tension with the vampyres was interesting, but ultimately I can only read about how the townspeople really fucking hate the vampyres and want to kill them no matter what a certain amount of times before it gets really repetetive and boring. So even though I was gripped from the start, I did find myself quite bored throughout most of this book.
Then the ending also felt a bit like a bit of letdown. The reveals were really well done, and honestly I didn't even see them all coming. I just feel like they all happened a bit too close to one another as they were packed in like the last 5% of the book. Some resolutions we didn't even get to see happen on page, we're just told about them afterwards. It felt a bit like a let down. And then we also get a little something that could potentially be a teaser for a sequel. I do have interest in that though ... So maybe that will be something to check out. Yeah, in conclusion I thought this book did some things really well but it left me just a bit too bored for me to fully root for it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief

Moderate: Suicide, Physical abuse, and Racism

Minor: Drug use, Alcoholism, Dementia, Misogyny, and Pedophilia

Huge content warning for child loss!!!

ripxw's review against another edition

dark fast-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Violence and Gore

Minor: Pedophilia and Rape

amy_reading_23's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.0

This is a well written and fast paced book. I'd say it fits more the crime genre than fantasy, it just happens to have vampires in it. I think it was an interesting take on vampires and they were certainly used as a device to explore real life issues like prejudice, inequality, and scapegoating. The vampire colony shared a lot of similarities to native American reservations and how indigenous people of America have been treated - I am not indigenous or American so can't really say if this was done sensitively but it seemed to be to me. It was certainly interesting, and it's one of my favourite things magical books does - is to hold a mirror up to society and make us think. 

I thought it was refreshing to have a middle aged plus sized lesbian protagonist and I mostly enjoyed her character, however I was dissapointed by one throw away comment towards the end that she should cut down on calories. I would love it if one day we could have a plus sized character who isn't told or isn't thinking about losing weight.

This book doesn't shy away from the heavy topics, and some content is quite explicit, so if you are worried about finding some things triggering then check out the content warnings first. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Body horror, Confinement, Domestic abuse, Gore, Grief, Mental illness, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Hate crime, Murder, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Addiction, Cancer, Child abuse, Colonisation, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Drug use, Forced institutionalization, Genocide, and Kidnapping

Minor: Body shaming, Torture, Violence, Gun violence, Misogyny, Self harm, Sexual assault, Gaslighting, Medical content, and Rape

dogearedbooks's review against another edition

dark mysterious 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? No

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Child abuse, Gore, Murder, Death of parent, Hate crime, Religious bigotry, Blood, and Car accident

Moderate: Physical abuse, Suicide, Violence, Dementia, Fire/Fire injury, Pedophilia, Alcohol, Blood, Child death, Child abuse, Death of parent, Rape, and Gun violence

jasmine256's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, and Gun violence

Moderate: Child abuse, Body shaming, Sexual assault, and Pedophilia

srivalli's review against another edition

dark mysterious slow-paced

3.75

 3.7 Stars

One Liner: A good mystery but not enough vampire chills

Alaska 

Deadhart is an Alaskan small town. It has a few hundred human population and a Colony of vampyrs, who recently came back to settle down in their home. Soon, a young boy is found dead with his throat ripped. The townsfolk are sure it is someone from the Colony and want all the vampyrs culled. 

Detective and forensic doctor Barbara Atkins, with specialization in vampyr killings, arrives to determine if it is indeed a Colony killing and decide the status of the request for a cull. Soon, she realizes there are secrets and discrepancies everywhere. With help from former police Chief Jenson Tucker, Barbara sets out to find the truth. As another body surfaces, the tension rises. 

What’s going on in Deadhart? Are the new killings related to the death from twenty-five years ago? Is it a vampyr on a bloodlust? Is it a human psychopath taking advantage of the prejudice against the Colony? Can Barbara solve the case before it’s too late? 

The story comes in the third-person POV of Barbara, Beau, Jenson Tucker, Jess, Reverend Colleen, and Athelinda. 

My Thoughts:

The premise gives you more than a clear idea of what the story would be. The vampyrs are a replacement for indigenous people, and the others are well, humans (white). As a mystery, it does have quite a bit to offer. 

The MC is a combination of what we expect and what we don’t. Barbara Atkins is 50-something, single, not entirely fit, and a darn good detective. She also has a tragic backstory, which is almost a must for detectives in thrillers. Still, I do like how it connects to the plot. 

The mystery has a few twists, and the information is revealed in stages. There are some clues, too, which can be red herrings or real clues. I like how this is done. The suspense holds well until the last quarter. 

The pacing is uneven – slow, fast, slow, fast… which dampened my reading experience. This is because of the excessive emphasis and repeated scenes where the townsfolk show their hatred and prejudice for the vampyrs. As a pagan, I happily support books that highlight this. However, it should crowd the plot. 

Additionally, there are a lot of characters to track. I stopped listing them at one point (ran out of space on that sheet). This doesn’t leave room for character development. They are what they are. That’s it. Also, one of those could have been removed or presented from another perspective. However, I quite liked Athelinda’s POV. If only there was more of it! 

Is the book horror? Nope. There is a bit of gore and some creepy moments, but nothing on the horror scale. Of course, it has triggers, which aren’t graphic but can make you uncomfortable. 

I’m not sure why the vampyrs don’t get enough space given their importance in the book. Apart from a vague idea of what they could be, we get very little about them. Instead, we got way too much of what the townsfolk think about them. This got tiring, TBH. Knowing when to tone down is also important for a writer. 

No idea if the book will turn into a series. The last chapter has nothing to do with the plot but is a hook for the next book. If it won’t be coming, then, keeping that chapter would be a bad idea. I know contemporary thrillers tend to have unwanted final twists, but this book doesn’t need it. The book could be a series, but we’ll need more than socio-political hate and bigotry to hold it together. 

To summarize, The Gathering is a worthy mystery with a good setting and some chills. Don’t look for any vampirish stuff, though. 

Thank you, NetGalley and Random House (Ballantine Books), for eARC. This review is voluntary and contains my honest opinion about the book. 

#NetGalley #TheGathering 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Religious bigotry

Moderate: Murder and Sexual violence

Minor: Pedophilia