Reviews tagging 'Death'

Sin Eater by Megan Campisi

25 reviews

shawniejo's review

adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Child death, Death, and Animal cruelty

Moderate: Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Murder, and Physical abuse

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Incest, Sexual assault, Infidelity, Infertility, and Sexual harassment

rhgrimes's review

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Blood, Infidelity, Vomit, Injury/Injury detail, Death, Murder, Animal death, and Incest

brianamorrison's review against another edition

mysterious sad 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? No

3.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Murder, Torture, and Death

katclaybaugh's review

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-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

4.25

I give this a 4.25/5 stars. This book was extremely tender, and there were some parts that made my heart ache to read. I loved reading her internal dialogue as she made her way through the world as a sin eater and grappled with what that meant. 

It was a great premise, and I loved most of it. There were moments when I had to fight to suspend my disbelief for the sin eater overhearing certain conversations between members of the court. 

I also thought this book would’ve been more powerful if the focus of the novel was more entirely on May the sin eater and less on the court of Queen Elizabeth I aka Queen “Bethany”. It felt like the mystery at the court was a bit of a gimmick to mimic popular royal intrigue plot lines to keep us engaged. I felt like the character of May already had so much depth and the role of a sin eater was already so fascinating that the court intrigue felt unnecessary and overwhelmed the parts of this book that were truly special and unique. 

Keeping the world more focused on May and less on the court would’ve allowed deeper explorations of the thematic aspects of - I had especially hoped for more exploration of her relationship to the Instrument Maker as a Jewish man who didn’t believe in sin eating. 

Overall this premise was so unique and was an engaging, tender, dark but not unbearable sort of read, that I really enjoyed.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Gore, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Sexism, Religious bigotry, Death, Ableism, Misogyny, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual violence, Torture, and Blood

Moderate: Confinement, Grief, Miscarriage, Child death, Fire/Fire injury, Physical abuse, Ableism, Abortion, Rape, and Violence

Minor: Infidelity, Infertility, Classism, Animal death, Child abuse, Pregnancy, Incest, Alcohol, Antisemitism, and Xenophobia

rhi_'s review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

2.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture, Confinement, Death, Religious bigotry, and Murder

Moderate: Misogyny, Slavery, Vomit, Violence, Sexism, and Physical abuse

salemander's review

5.0

i really didn’t think i was gonna like this book after reading some reviews but i read this shit in one day. an incredibly riveting devastating story that while maybe not the most exciting at times had such beautiful characterization and was written so poetically i couldn’t put it down. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture, Violence, Death, Murder, Abandonment, Sexual violence, Ableism, Classism, Grief, and Injury/Injury detail

m_egg_o's review

dark mysterious medium-paced

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

4.25

Gobble gobble 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Murder

Moderate: Vomit and Sexual assault

bookedbymadeline's review against another edition

dark mysterious medium-paced

5.0

Really intriguing and unique story! I did not know this bit of history of sin eaters, and loved learning about it. The story is set around a fictionalized version of England with some minor basis in historical fact (Queen Bethany=Elizabeth, Bloody Maris=Bloody Mary).

The plot twists were great and unexpected! The characters were well written and I enjoyed watching May grow throughout the novel. I also loved the writing style and the pacing was well done, I didn’t want to put this one down! The ending was also perfect for this novel. It wrapped things up with the main plot but left things open character wise.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Death, and Sexual assault

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Death of parent, Grief, Vomit, Blood, and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Torture, Rape, and Pedophilia

passionatereader78's review

dark sad fast-paced

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

4.0

Interesting take on religious culture.  Good book! I love the way the author incorporated nursery rhymes and folktales. When May Owens becomes an orphan and steals food to eat she is arrested. The recorder sentences her to be a sin eater. She now spends her days hearing people's death bed confessions. A sin eater is less then a servant so May hears many secrets even ones involving the royal family and her own birth. Well written. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Death, Pregnancy, and Murder

Moderate: Child death, Adult/minor relationship, and Infidelity

dizzy_mittz's review

dark reflective medium-paced

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

3.75

This is a book written by a playwright, which shows in a unique cadence, and it is clear she did her research. Often historical pieces can have unbelievable elements when fiction is added to them, but I never scoffed at this book. It’s a story with the right amount of tension in the right places. It’s also a social commentary that not only speaks to “then” and “now” but also to what may have impacted our time between. It’s a a great story if you’d like it to be, but if you’re open to it, it can also become very cerebral.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Vomit, Blood, Religious bigotry, Torture, Classism, Death, and Rape

Minor: Death of parent, Incest, and Miscarriage