Reviews tagging 'Murder'

House of Salt And Sorrows by Erin A. Craig

97 reviews

ahaugen23's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad medium-paced

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

3.5

It is dark - I mean you can probably tell from “sorrows” in the title that it will be sad, but it also gets kinda gross and def needs a TW for sexual assault. The world is great, and the mystery is well crafted.  

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gore, Blood, Sexual content, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Murder, Pregnancy, Violence, Body horror, Child death, Grief, and Vomit

Moderate: Rape

cerilouisereads's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Death, Child death, Death of parent, Grief, Pregnancy, Murder, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Sexism, Toxic friendship, and Toxic relationship

mlem's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

Esse livro é muito bom pqppp

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Blood, Mental illness, Murder, and Death

Moderate: Sexual assault

eve_reads's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-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? It's complicated

3.25

⁕ The dark fantasy elements of this novel were top notch and surprisingly intense for a YA novel. Craig does not shy away from the more sickening details of death, rot, and ghosts, even though the main characters through which we experience these things are literal children.

⁕ The slow burn romance honestly made me feel stupid giddy. I read this book months ago and I still remember the toe-tingling delight I felt when *the kiss* FINALLY happened. 

⁕  I didn't very much care for the characters as individuals (I felt that they were one-dimensional and stereotypical), but I loved their relationships and arguments as siblings. The jealousy and love between them were very well-written.

⁕ SPOILER: Portions of the plot felt haphazardly thrown together. We spend the entirety of the book trying to solve which friend or family member killed Annaleigh's sisters, only to find that it was largely the work of an evil demon that we didn't even know existed until the last few chapters? Also, the main love interest has magical powers and is related to royalty but doesn't use these attributes to help solve the mystery? Okay....

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical content, Child death, Gore, Suicide, Pregnancy, Body horror, Gaslighting, and Murder

Moderate: Death of parent

clarabooksit's review against another edition

While I enjoyed the mystery and horror elements, the constant insertion of romance really took me out of the story and the romances themselves were super cringey. This wasn’t for me.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Grief

Moderate: Body horror, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, Gaslighting, Murder, and Child death

narsere's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious medium-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Murder

Moderate: Death of parent

nagem's review against another edition

dark mysterious medium-paced

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

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Death, and Child death

Moderate: Suicide, Pregnancy, and Murder

Minor: Sexual harassment

sammymantis's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Blood, Body horror, Death, and Murder

Moderate: Miscarriage, Grief, and Pregnancy

Minor: Cursing, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Infidelity, Toxic relationship, Addiction, Alcoholism, and Vomit

magellen's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious slow-paced

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

3.0

This book wants to be too many things at once and only succeeds marginally at tying them all together. It is certainly a romance with gothic tones rather than a gothic, and the chapter content splits between the romance and plot to the point you can nearly skip whole chapters of purple prose. Bloated though it is, there are some very nice creepy moments - that are immediately scuppered because it's time to pivot the plot again!
The twist on a twist on a twist just...it feels like a beta reader should have gone 'this one works the best, lean into THIS angle' and instead the author piled up everything that ever crossed her mind. The cast sprawls, the descriptions drag on without being punchy, and any moment the mc knows herself is overridden, made malleable by others to progress the plot.

I've seen this described as an example of unreliable narrator - ehhhh I disagree. Literally all you need to know is in the narration. Information is not withheld by the narrator, the narrator's opinion does not color the facts, there is nothing unreliable about it. If people use 'unreliable narrator' I can see it applied to a couple endgame chapters where there's a gaslighting, but again, it's not unreliable narration, it is an mc set up to have no self when challenged by others.  

It's a ya romance with gothic overlay. Does what it says on the tin, but by the end you are apt to be exhausted by the pivot twist pivot turn of the back third. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Mental illness, Murder, Pregnancy, and Grief

lis98's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

I wasn’t aware this book had horror elements in it but it really doubled down on this in the end. It was proper eery and creepy. Very atmospheric. I loved this so much. Probably as confusing for the reader as for Annaleigh, since it’s basically impossible to tell what is real and what isn’t. 
The whole time I thought this would make an fantastic movie with its atmosphere and very vivid imagery. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pregnancy, Child death, Death, and Murder

Moderate: Gaslighting