Reviews tagging 'Child death'

The Screaming Staircase by Jonathan Stroud

27 reviews

zoeelora's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted mysterious tense fast-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

5.0

An absolute and utter treasure of a book. #SaveLockwoodandCo 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Child death, Gore, Grief, Murder, Gun violence, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, and Violence

theirgracegrace'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

4.0

Recommended by a friend, I enjoyed The Screaming Staircase quite a lot. The setting of this alternate London is similar to our own, but coloured by the supernatural in a way familiar to fans of the Bartimaeus trilogy - which I read ages ago but remember fondly. Not only do the trio of Lockwood & Co. have to deal with the unquiet (and often grotesque and violent) dead, but also the political machinations of the British gentry and the attempts of rivals to close down their agency. The story progresses like a horror-filled Sherlock-esque mystery, and the ending is incredibly satisfying.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Bullying, Child abuse, Fatphobia, Blood, Mental illness, Body horror, Toxic relationship, Violence, Fire/Fire injury, Body shaming, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Murder, Misogyny, Abandonment, Classism, Confinement, Death, Gaslighting, and Torture

Moderate: Death of parent

Minor: Cursing, Forced institutionalization, and Vomit

atalea's review against another edition

adventurous 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? Yes

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder and Death

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Child death, Fire/Fire injury, and Violence

jasminehere's review against another edition

adventurous 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? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Suicide, Child death, and Death

rae42's review against another edition

adventurous dark

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

3.0

Really liked the book however the writer is clearly fatphobic, Seriously dude you don't need to continually call a character pudgy or pugley 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Violence, Child death, and Murder

Moderate: Fatphobia

saurahsaurus's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Blood, and Fatphobia

Moderate: Death, Bullying, Injury/Injury detail, Child death, Fire/Fire injury, and Murder

Minor: Cultural appropriation, Classism, Child abuse, Death of parent, Physical abuse, Domestic abuse, Sexism, and Violence

vreadsalot's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.0

CAWPILE: 7.69/4*

George verdient zo veel beter dan de beledigingen die dit boek naar zijn hoofd gooit :(.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fatphobia, Blood, Suicidal thoughts, and Physical abuse

Moderate: Child death and Child abuse

Minor: Death of parent

rafacolog's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious tense slow-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Child death, and Child abuse

inirac's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.5

A great new-to-me series that even though I guessed the ending I’ll be continuing. The only thing that bothered me was the lack of clear decade it was set in. I kept thinking it was turn of the 20th century and then they’d casually mention a phone or a flashlight.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Child death

Moderate: Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Blood, Confinement, Suicide, and Suicide attempt

labothways's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark informative mysterious sad fast-paced

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

4.0

-REREAD-
Still an entertaining, fast-paced read. However, there are some character decisions that don’t make sense upon a second read. (

For example: Lockwood keeping his suspicions about Fairfax to himself, why they kept working their way through the house after they were in a safe area after the Red Room, why they left via the celler.

) My first instinct was to let these issues slide because of the intended age group. However, these books are deeply creepy and tackle much darker themes than the average MG book, so logic gaps like those listed above stand out all the more. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Domestic abuse, and Child death

Moderate: Suicide and Violence