Reviews tagging 'Physical abuse'

A History of Wild Places by Shea Ernshaw

5 reviews

auudrey's review against another edition

dark mysterious 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? No

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Suicide, Physical abuse, Emotional abuse, Torture, and Confinement

Moderate: Death, Murder, and Sexism

anarchist_al's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense slow-paced

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

3.75

A pretty disorienting read—we begin with a narrator whose storyline is simply abandoned for basically the rest of the book. It eventually makes sense, but was kind of a head scratcher for the majority of the book. I really liked the setting of Pastoral, with beautiful descriptions of trees and forest and darkness. I was really intrigued by Travis’s ability to read after images of an object’s history, and was disappointed that it wasn’t explored or explained more. It was very very light magical realism. Also,

the idea of a charismatic cult leader works really well, and that he could lead a community to believe existential falsehoods is totally realistic. However, the whole thing being hypnosis was kind of a stretch. If it had been another bit of magical realism special ability thing, I would have liked it more and it would have mirrored Travis/Theo’s ability.

Overall, cool concept and setting, cool mystery, interesting characters—an entertaining listen. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Medical trauma, Murder, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Religious bigotry, and Torture

anni_swanilda's review

dark emotional mysterious medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Grief, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Physical abuse, Torture, Toxic relationship, and Violence

Moderate: Ableism, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Medical content, Pregnancy, and Suicide

gm_vak's review

adventurous challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Gun violence, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Grief, Violence, Ableism, Infidelity, Medical content, Murder, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Torture, Emotional abuse, Alcohol, Blood, Body horror, Confinement, Death, and Medical trauma

onemorepagecrew's review

challenging dark mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• 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

This psychological mystery follows the story of two missing people and the lives of three primary characters in a secluded commune.  The first person to go missing is a well-known author and the second is a private investigator looking for her.  The investigator’s search leads him to the commune and that’s as much as the reader knows before we switch to the perspectives of the commune residents.  

 

As the secrets unfold and the seclusion of the community is tested, it’s a page-turning pace with quick chapters and high curiosity for it all to become clearer.  There were enough clues for me to see some of the plot, but enough mystery to still have some surprise and unfolding.  I also appreciated that the actions of one didn’t detract from the goals of many in the long run and there was closure on the characters next steps.  

 

I enjoyed the sub-plot on power, influence, control, and psychological abuse.  The author gave enough information to know something wasn’t right and left the right amount blurriness for the reader to have a puzzle in front of them.  If you’re in a bit of a reading slump and need a quick mystery, this would be a great choice.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Death, Physical abuse, Gaslighting, and Murder