Reviews tagging 'Child death'

Sixteen Souls by Rosie Talbot

27 reviews

natashaleighton_'s review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

4.0

A delightfully spooky, humorous and marvellously plot twisty romp that hooked with the promise of ghost-filled antics, that I’m happy to report did NOT disappoint! 

I’ve yet to visit York (the setting for Sixteen Souls) myself but Rosie Talbot’s beautifully atmospheric world-building and wonderfully descriptive prose really brought the city and all of its rich, uniquely haunted history to life. 

I also loved the dialogue, and the use of British colloquialisms, which made all of the characters’ interactions feel waay more realistic —it was almost as if Talbot had eavesdropped on actual ghostly conversations, making for an incredibly immersive and entertaining reading experience.

Our loveably endearing cast of characters helped with that too. Aside from the obvious villains and a few of the Mouldy Oldies (old spirits who essentially govern the city’s ghost residents) , I pretty much loved them all. Particularly Charlie (our reluctant, ghost seeing MC) and his spectral, ride or die besties Ollie and Heather— as well as the highly amusing George Villiers, who won me over with his rather amusing antics. I also liked fellow seer Sam whose adorably sweet romance with Charlie gave me supernatural Heartstopper vibes that I’m excited to see more of.

If you’re looking for something spooky to read this autumn, but also love heartwarming found family vibes, LGBTQIA and disability rep —then I thoroughly recommend checking this out. Just make sure to check the TWs beforehand. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Gun violence, Suicide, Death of parent, and Murder

Moderate: Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, and Medical trauma

Minor: Ableism, Bullying, Homophobia, Panic attacks/disorders, Torture, and Transphobia

sammymilfort's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful reflective tense slow-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Homophobia, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicide, Terminal illness, Torture, Blood, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

kaz_brekker1'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? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Violence, Blood, Death of parent, and War

Moderate: Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Gun violence

ethen_rey's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful mysterious 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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Suicide, and Murder

Moderate: Child death, Self harm, Kidnapping, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Homophobia and Death of parent

mxajlikesbooks's review

adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Death of parent

Moderate: Body horror, Child death, Gore, Violence, Medical content, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Cancer

anton13's review

adventurous emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted sad tense medium-paced

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

4.75

Wow. Just wow. It’s not quite my usual read but nonetheless I loved reading it. It’s like Lockwood and co. meets Heartstopper. I love how different identities and people are represented. It was quite the roller coaster and I saw none of it coming. I thought I had it all figured out but boy let me tell you I didn’t. I really recommend it. So much love to this book and to Rosie for writing it

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Gun violence, Suicide, Death of parent, and Murder

Moderate: Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Death, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Kidnapping, and Medical trauma

Minor: Ableism, Bullying, Cancer, Homophobia, Panic attacks/disorders, Torture, and Transphobia

fe_aye's review

dark emotional funny mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.5

Solid book, if you’re a fan of The Mediator series by Meg Calbot you’ll enjoy this. It’s the same sort of vibe with a new setting, new rules and a darker plot line. Reading this was simultaneously a blast from the past and something entirely new. An interesting take on the concept of being able to see ghosts and what that can do to your life. 
Along with the paranormal is a good mystery element that keeps you guessing. Great book really enjoyed it. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gore, Gun violence, Suicide, Suicide attempt, and Death of parent

Moderate: Ableism, Body horror, Child death, Cursing, Terminal illness, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Forced institutionalization and Classism

milessmiles's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious fast-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? It's complicated

3.5

I read this for my bookclub and it was fun!! :) 

(positive)
- loved most characters, and even liked the main character towards the end (great character development) 
- such a cool idea!! would love a sequel or a prequel 
- i really liked the writing! 

(negative)
- Just overall, my main issue with this one was the world building and the pacing. Would have loved to learn more about the world, i have way too many unanswered questions. And it felt pretty slow in the beginning and then rushed in the end. 
- the random transphobia from the main character.. this didn't need to be in the book (was a huge critique point at my bookclub meeting too)
- just lots of trauma that kinda didn't get questioned mhh

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Death, Gore, Suicide, and Transphobia

pan_to_ffel's review

emotional funny hopeful mysterious sad medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Death, Gore, Suicide, Violence, Medical content, Kidnapping, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Abandonment

Minor: Deadnaming, Homophobia, and Transphobia

needles stitching a wound

kiwii091's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Absolutely amazing book - definitely one of my favourite reads! Takes a little while to really get going, but the characters and plot were beautifully well written which made the wait worth it. The map at the beginning of the book also really helped aid with getting a feel for the setting/ where characters were as they constantly moved about and was nice addition overall. The mixture of

magic and science

was very well done as well, and a very interesting concept that bindes the two together during the story.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gore, Torture, Violence, and Blood

Moderate: Child death, Self harm, Suicide, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Ableism, Homophobia, and Transphobia