Reviews tagging 'Grief'

The Shadows by Alex North

14 reviews

cyndi1966's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Violence, Child death, Suicide attempt, Self harm, Death, Suicide, Murder, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Grief

Minor: Dementia, Mental illness, Animal death, Death of parent, Infidelity, and Bullying

rcd229's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad 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

4.0

I've read so many books at this point in my life and I have such an overactive imagination that not a lot surprises me. Or if it does, it doesn't surprise me all that much. Usually if I'm reading a good mystery and I guess a good ending, I mostly just enjoy seeing how said ending was arrived at rather than being wowed by any plot twists because I generally see them coming. Not gonna lie, I did not quite see this one coming. The writing and the setup is done in such a way that I didn't even consider the big twist until I was already past it. So I'm fairly impressed. I read The Whisper Man a while back and thought that that, too, was a really good, albeit ***extremely*** messed up story, and I am no less appreciative of this (although this, while very dark, is definitely dark in a deeply sad way rather than the way The Whisper Man turns out).

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Violence, Suicide, Toxic friendship, and Murder

Moderate: Bullying, Dementia, and Grief

Minor: Torture

ashleycmms's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Grief, Death of parent, Violence, Death, Child death, Blood, Dementia, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Suicide

Minor: Animal death

bxnnny's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective sad slow-paced

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

2.0

i read the whisper man a few months before reading this one and i ultimately liked this one much better. i didn't find this story as predictable and i was much more intrigued by the story and mystery. both books are set in the same universe but this one isn't a direct sequel - you can read them each independently of one another. the lucid dreaming bits were interesting and the twists were decent but not amazing. i liked the flashes to the past that piece the whole puzzle together gradually throughout the book, but also felt that some of it was slower-paced than i would have liked.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death

Moderate: Toxic friendship, Violence, Grief, and Suicide

Minor: Gaslighting, Animal death, and Child abuse

haleybre's review against another edition

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

2.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Kidnapping, Child death, Death, Dementia, Violence, Death of parent, Animal death, Blood, Bullying, Murder, Physical abuse, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, Domestic abuse, Grief, Suicide, and Toxic friendship

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

hannahs_library__'s review against another edition

dark mysterious sad 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? It's complicated

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Grief, Dementia, Death, and Murder

Minor: Suicide

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

staceyisbooked'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? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Suicide, Self harm, Violence, Torture, Death, and Murder

caseyemorgan's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Death, Gaslighting, Gore, Grief, Murder, Violence, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Torture