Reviews tagging 'Torture'

A History of Wild Places by Shea Ernshaw

17 reviews

maison's review

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad medium-paced

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

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood and Torture

Moderate: Violence, Toxic relationship, and Pregnancy

joannalouise's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective 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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Pandemic/Epidemic, Pregnancy, Confinement, Toxic relationship, Gaslighting, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Drug use, Sexism, and Torture

czoltak's review

challenging dark mysterious medium-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? Yes

2.0

I don’t mind having to suspend my disbelief for books, but this twist was so ridiculous and over the top it honestly ruined the book for me. This would have been so much better if we had just gotten Travis’s story instead.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic relationship, Torture, Suicide, and Pregnancy

lpdx's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-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? No

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pregnancy, Suicide, Gaslighting, Gun violence, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Pandemic/Epidemic, Confinement, Alcoholism, Blood, Death, Domestic abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Violence, and Torture

Minor: Infidelity

bookswithbray's review

3.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Pregnancy, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Torture, and Pandemic/Epidemic

emeryboyd's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes

5.0

The last few chapters picked up the pace to the point I stayed up late reading. I was so drawn into the story I felt the fear of the characters as the story came to an end. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Murder, and Torture

Moderate: Addiction, Confinement, Death, and Suicide

Minor: Drug abuse, Drug use, and Domestic abuse

jessiejonesbentley's review

adventurous dark emotional hopeful mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Emotional abuse, Toxic relationship, Torture, and Gaslighting

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

adamsbookshelf's review

adventurous mysterious medium-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? It's complicated

3.5

I am very conflicted on how to rate this book. I enjoyed the overall plot and the ending was so strong. My biggest problem was the middle of the book (Parts 2&3). They felt so stagnant and nothing interesting was really happening. I found myself zoning out quite a bit.

 However I did enjoy the story. I thought the Pastoral plot point was a cool concept, I just was so intrigued by the first part that I was waiting for the stories to connect so we could get back on track. it truly did feel like two separate stories that were pushed together.

I am aware now that we follow Maggie and Travis as they are brainwashed into becoming Cala and Theo. I am rating this novel based on notes I took while reading. Even though I enjoyed how the two stories came together I still spent over half the novel confused on what's happening.

 

Overall maybe I'm too harsh on this book, but I have been on the waitlist since June 2022 at the library. I feel like the hype around this book lead to me being slightly disappointed. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Suicide, Murder, Gun violence, and Torture

blissofalife's review

adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.5

I spent most of the book confused, and the twists and explanations felt like a reach but a very original plot and like-able main characters. “The Village (2004)” vibes.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gaslighting, Confinement, Murder, Toxic relationship, and Death

Moderate: Blood, Alcohol, and Body horror

Minor: Injury/Injury detail, Pregnancy, Torture, Gun violence, Murder, Violence, Child death, Fire/Fire injury, and Gore