Reviews tagging 'Emotional abuse'

The Shadows by Alex North

5 reviews

belysagan's review against another edition

dark emotional tense medium-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? Yes

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Child death, Toxic friendship, Blood, Death, Dementia, Violence, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Grief, Murder, Suicide, and Body horror

blackcatkai's review

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

2.5

CW: casual ableism, blood, violence, murder, child death, suicide, infidelity, addiction mentioned, alcohol/drug use, violence, gaslighting, toxic friendships, gore, trauma, abuse/bullying

I started reading this one with such hope, and i was enjoying it initially, but as it continued i found myself bored and could not stay engaged. there was both too much going on and yet nowhere near enough. a big issue, for me, were too many characters that all felt flat and too similar, and too many time skips back and forth. i also feel the detective parts could have been completely cut out and the story would've been much better. her povs just felt like a way to make the book longer and i am not a fan.

a couple of the twists in the end were pretty decent overall, but we get fade to black in a big action end scene that felt so disappointing. i was overall underwhelmed and i wish i wasnt. still going to check out other books by North, but this one was an absolute miss for me.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Child death, Death, Suicide, Toxic friendship, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Bullying, Murder, Ableism, Blood, Gore, and War

Moderate: Infidelity, Grief, Gaslighting, Alcohol, and Drug use

Minor: Addiction

tarynreadss's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad tense fast-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? Yes

5.0

I LOVED this book! I read the Whisper Man by the same author and it definitely has similar vibes to this. This book was dark, mysterious, heart-pounding, creepy, and kept me guessing. I thought I had it figured out a couple of times throughout the book but I was wrong every time. This book gives major fall/Halloween spooky vibes and it's amazing. It felt like a fever dream at some parts. I think you'd like this book if you're looking for something to keep you up at night and be scared to go to sleep! I absolutely loved this one. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Animal death, Violence, and Death

Moderate: Blood, Suicide, Emotional abuse, and Torture

aoifestardust's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

3.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Alcohol, Blood, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, and Murder

gm_vak's review against another edition

dark 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? Yes

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Blood, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Murder, Torture, and Violence