Reviews tagging 'Toxic relationship'

Sundial by Catriona Ward

78 reviews

addiclaire's review against another edition

dark mysterious medium-paced

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Death of parent, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Gore, Pregnancy, and Toxic relationship

bowenlacar's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Gaslighting, Mental illness, Blood, Animal death, Animal cruelty, Murder, Toxic relationship, and Violence

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Panic attacks/disorders, Toxic relationship, Violence, Child abuse, Death of parent, Death, Drug abuse, Grief, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Murder, and Pregnancy

midnightgremlin's review against another edition

dark tense fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Death, Violence, Physical abuse, Murder, Domestic abuse, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Toxic relationship, and Blood

Moderate: Infidelity, Drug abuse, Mental illness, and Domestic abuse

imstephtacular's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gaslighting, Gore, Grief, Infidelity, Medical content, Toxic relationship, Violence, Addiction, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, Child abuse, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Murder, and Physical abuse

Moderate: Cursing, Abandonment, Confinement, Miscarriage, Pregnancy, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Alcohol, Body horror, Gun violence, Sexism, Sexual assault, and Vomit

ericarobyn's review against another edition

challenging dark slow-paced

3.0

Sundial by Catriona Ward is a tale that pushes the question, “How far would you go for those that you love?” to the most extreme limit. Filled with family dysfunction, scientific testing, and love, this story will take readers on quite a dark trip!

Content Warnings:
Animal testing, animal death, child abuse, domestic abuse, mental abuse, physical abuse, toxic relationship, miscarriage & more

How cool is that cover?!? This version, published on March 1st, 2022 by Tor Nightfire, was created by Corey Brickley and Katie Klimowicz. I’m obsessed! The colors are stunning and the illustration definitely captures some of the darkness that readers will discover within the pages.

In regard to the plot, I went into this one dark. I had heard a few reader friends raving about it, so I wanted to know as little as possible!

I will admit, the toxic relationship that we get a very heavy dose of at the beginning almost made me put this one down. It was so powerfully written to the point that it triggered me, and that came back in the trough of the waves throughout the rest story. So if you can stomach that, the crest of each wave will serve up even more heaviness as you continue reading!

If you need content warnings, I highly recommend you do some additional research from other reviewers before diving into this, as I’m sure I missed plenty with the list I provided in my opening.

I couldn’t believe how this story served up one horrific element after another… When I thought things couldn’t get more intense, the author proved me wrong. Set in two main story arcs, we see what is happened in the present, mixed with a story from the past. Each timeline twists and turns around one another until the explosive ending…

And with that, I will leave the rest of the discovery about this story and it’s plot up to you to discover!

Let’s jump to my favorite passages so you can get a taste of the wonderful writing.

My Favorite Passages from Sundial

When people say something is “unthinkable,” what they usually mean is that they don’t want to think it. They are resistant to an idea. But that is not what unthinkable means. I understand that, now. It means to be confronted with a thought so vast, dark, and monstrous that it will not fit into any known shapes in your mind. It is poison and madness flowering behind your eyes. I clear my throat to free it from the taste of old soda. The worst part is that I’m not as surprised as I should be.

It’s cold inside the MRI machine. Narrow, cold, and full of noise like ghosts knocking on your coffin. It’s hard to breathe in here but I always make sure I’m smiling when I come out, because Jack goes second.

Mom stops. She looks thin and empty- like the story’s been inside her, keeping her upright all this time. Now it’s coming out she’s deflating like a balloon.

You can only do three things with danger: run away from it, fight it, or make friends with it. I don’t know which one to do.

Kids are mirrors, reflecting back everything that happens to them.

My Final Thoughts on Sundial

While I can’t say that I liked this one, I can definitely say that the storytelling was very intense! Every time I set it down for a break, I realized that this story had left me wandering around in a bit of a daze, feeling very queasy.

Sundial is a must read for fans of stories with really twisted and dark dysfunctional families.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Child abuse, Miscarriage, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Domestic abuse, and Emotional abuse

Minor: Addiction

bi_n_large's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious 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? Yes

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Miscarriage, Toxic relationship, Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, Drug use, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, Violence, Murder, Gore, and Mental illness

starrysteph's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional 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

4.0

Sundial is a twisted, dark, psychological horror novel. Catriona Ward has a unique imagination and way of evoking unease through her storytelling. This is one of those books that I read in one sitting, put away to let things simmer, and then leapt out of the shower in a maddening haze with fresh theories. It's a novel that will sink its teeth into you and leave you disturbed and trembling.

The setup is an unassuming tale of domestic dysfunction, though it soon elevates and spirals into the realm of horror. We follow Rob, an English teacher & mother struggling with her deeply unstable family. Her husband Irving is abusive and dangerous, her older daughter Callie has been acting strange, and her younger daughter Annie is sweet and frail. 

Callie has begun to display some peculiar & disturbing behavior - she's collecting and displaying animal bones, talking to imaginary creatures, and may wish to harm her little sister. Rob feels she must take action and flees with Callie to Sundial - her family's compound in the Mojave desert - in an attempt to improve their bond and understand Callie's behavior. (Irving wholeheartedly disagrees.)

Once they arrive, the plot expands in a flash and Rob's tumultuous history is slowly revealed. As dark secrets come to light, Rob knows she's at a critical decision point for her family's safety.

We as readers are constantly being manipulated, tossed back and forth by the unreliability of the characters’ minds. Catriona Ward is skilled at sharing little specific moments that illuminate the core of a person (thinking of the French restaurant scene here). Though are a lot of plot threads, it is overall a straightforward story. 

 
The setting is excellent - you feel the grittiness and expansiveness of the desert. The depiction of the Sundial compound is also really well done; I could picture every part of it.

One of the big thematic questions is nature vs nurture, specifically in regards to violent impulses . Some of the characters tackle this through extreme medical experimentation (huge trigger warning for animal cruelty & death, specifically with dogs). Though many of the actual instances of cruelty happen "offscreen", please be wary if you are sensitive to depictions of animal harm. 

The one section of the books I couldn’t quite get behind were Rob’s fictional inserts. I understood why she was writing them (an emotional outlet and a safe place to unpack guilt and trauma), but I wasn’t sure why we needed to read them or how they were meant to enhance the story. Yeah, yeah, they're metaphors, and I suppose they offered some foreshadowing, but I much preferred the “in-story” clues and action. 

 

A second gripe would be the character of Irving - in a book with so much richness, he stands out as a flat villain. If we’d gotten even a morsel of his history or thought patterns or any additional depth, he would have been a more believable antagonist.

Overall - I enjoyed Sundial (if enjoyed is even the right word to describe the experience). I'll be chewing on these concepts for a while (I have some THEORIES!). 

 

CW: animal cruelty, animal death, animal medical experimentation (extreme - involving dogs), death, murder, self harm, blood, child abuse, emotional abuse, gaslighting, physical abuse, medical trauma, grief, infidelity, mental illness, miscarriage, pregnancy, self harm

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Death, Death of parent, Drug use, Gaslighting, Gore, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Murder, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Self harm, Toxic relationship, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Emotional abuse, Grief, Infidelity, Blood, Child abuse, Child death, Medical content, Medical trauma, and Violence

nisima's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Animal cruelty, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Toxic relationship, Torture, Kidnapping, Confinement, Animal death, Violence, Child abuse, Child death, and Death

Moderate: Infidelity, Medical content, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Abortion

Minor: Adult/minor relationship

Much of the plot and setting revolves around animal experimentation specifically on dogs and a coyote. Things go horribly wrong, and the premise of the experimentation is debateably ableist. The rest of the plot and setting basically revolve around a woman escaping a deeply abusive relationship, and worries that one of her two daughters might be a serial killer. There are multiple violent confrontations. The end is happy but may be too ambiguous for some given the tension.

archaicrobin's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense fast-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

4.0

Catriona Ward does an amazing job of writing thrillers that keep you on your toes. I had no idea what was happening, who to trust, how it was going to end, and I loved it! Sundial is a sci-fi, horror, thriller with so much going on I really recommend going in with as little knowledge as possible so you can enjoy the twists and turns. Big warning on animal cruelty though, there are a lot of dogs and animals being mistreated in this one and that is definitely something I don’t like. However, the animal cruelty in this was very relevant and not random or thrown in for shock value, and ties in with the themes of the novel. 

If you’re up for a crazy thriller/sciFi/horror mashup with beautiful writing, grab this one. I’m still thinking about it! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Gore, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Infidelity, Medical content, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Self harm, Violence, Gun violence, Grief, Child abuse, and Toxic relationship

venusbloo's review against another edition

The ideas are muddled.  Most of what I read was just descriptions of varying degrees of domestic abuse/violence and child abuse/neglect.  There seemed to be some supernatural background elements, but it didn't get explained by nearly halfway through the book.  I peeked at the end, and that did not help explain anything at except it appeared the major conflict between the mother and daughter was resolved even if other conflicts in the story weren't.  Just a strange book that I didn't really vibe with.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Bullying, Child abuse, Infidelity, Mental illness, Toxic relationship, Emotional abuse, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Domestic abuse, Violence, Misogyny, and Physical abuse