Reviews tagging 'Drug use'

The Library at Mount Char by Scott Hawkins

56 reviews

ryn_bow's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark funny mysterious tense fast-paced

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

1.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Sexual violence, Death, Blood, Gun violence, Drug use, Child death, Suicide, Murder, Animal death, Torture, Child abuse, Toxic relationship, Suicide attempt, Self harm, Fire/Fire injury, Death of parent, and Animal cruelty

Moderate: Rape

the_one_krissy's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.5

What the heck did I just read?! This book was nothing like I expected, and it was one of the craziest experiences of my reading year so far. I honestly couldn't put it down, and the plot twists were insane and absurd and, somehow, worked really well all the same. I actually don't want to reveal anything about the plot, because I think this is one of those books you should go into without knowing what's in store for you to get the full experience.

It's a whole bunch of crazy, though. Crazy but the kind of crazy that keeps your eyes glued to the page. Be warned though, this book is entertaining but also stuffed to the brim with sick and twisted cruel things, and those who are particularly sensitive to cruelty against children might want to skip this one altogether. It's very brutal in places.

The characters of this book I really enjoyed, even if some of them - okay, most of them - are totally bonkers. Erwin was my favourite, but the whole cast was excellent. Overall, this book really gripped me and was very close to a five-star read... I'm not even sure what it is that I felt was missing. Some elusive little spark, maybe, that tips the scale from an excellent read to a sublime one. Still, this was an absolutely wonderful book I enjoyed with mixed feelings of slack-jawed admiration and abject horror.

You underestimate linguists and librarians at your own peril. Just saying.

And I'll definitely be keeping my eyes open when this author publishes something new.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse and Child death

Moderate: Violence, Torture, and Gore

Minor: Rape, Physical abuse, Murder, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Animal death, Suicide, Injury/Injury detail, Fire/Fire injury, Emotional abuse, Drug use, Death, and Car accident

logarithmic's review against another edition

dark emotional funny mysterious tense fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Cannibalism, Child abuse, Drug use, Murder, Sexual violence, Suicide, Child death, Physical abuse, Self harm, Sexual assault, Gore, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Drug abuse, Fire/Fire injury, and Rape

aformeracceleratedreader's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Loveable characters? It's complicated

3.25

I really dislike using r*p* as character development and this book uses that a little bit. So hated that. Also kind of hated throwing sex/peens in the story too. Like no I didn't need to know that one character could not get erect no matter how much the other character involved tried in any level of detail, but here we are.

Also wasn't a fan of making a large portion of carolyn's motivation being her romantic crush

. 
But overall the book was okay. Super slow going, but the idea was good. I understand needing quite a bit of the back stories leading up to the present time now that I've finished it, but while reading, it made the story drag on a little. It also kind of feels like a couple ideas were thrown together that didn't get fully fleshed out, but the main thing of the book is

creating/raising/training a god or a god-like being. It also really embodies the meme "I want to punch god in the face"

. People are saying it's weird but I didn't find it so much as it was just kind of graphic.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Grief, Child abuse, Cursing, Violence, Animal cruelty, Car accident, Gun violence, Murder, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Alcohol, Animal death, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Rape, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Drug use, Kidnapping, Suicide, Blood, and Confinement

Minor: Sexism

snivellus's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious fast-paced

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

5.0

This book is 5 out of 5 stars for me, honestly one of the best books I’ve read. The world building was confusingly immaculate. I couldn’t get enough of the plot, it was like a roller coaster I didn’t want to get off of. All the characters were all so incredibly flawed but just a delight to read about and discover more of. A dysfunctional "family" if I've ever read one, but I loved them all (even that one librarian).

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gore, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Suicide, Torture, and Violence

Moderate: Addiction, Drug use, and Grief

Minor: Child abuse, Rape, and Sexual assault

astronut's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-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? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Sexual violence, Gun violence, Animal death, Death, Death of parent, Child death, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Torture, Rape, Physical abuse, Murder, Medical trauma, Injury/Injury detail, Incest, Gore, Fire/Fire injury, Drug use, Body horror, and Blood

saintmaud's review against another edition

The book had so much potential with its unique magic and worldbuilding but for some reason there are multiple long chapters about a plumber named Steve and we hear little about the rest. Incredibly frustrated.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Blood, Death of parent, Death, Drug use, Gore, Physical abuse, Rape, and Sexual violence

odius_hades's review against another edition

dark funny mysterious medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Child abuse, Child death, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, and Suicide

Moderate: Death, Death of parent, Drug use, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Murder, and Rape

Minor: Abandonment, Cursing, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

yavin_iv's review against another edition

adventurous 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

1.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Death, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Suicide, Torture, Violence, and Homophobia

Moderate: Bullying, Car accident, Drug use, and Grief

printzgirl's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny mysterious sad tense fast-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

5.0

 Plot: 4/5

Characters: 4/5

Worldbuilding: 3/5

Writing: 3/5

Overall: 4/5

Darkness level: Not very dark. One scary haunted house-esque scene and a description of how a ghost died. However, rated R for some graphic sex scenes

This year, I've been on the lookout for fantasy books that don't follow traditional epic fantasy conventions. No big quests to defeat a world-ending villain. So I was really excited to see a modern fantasy romance book come up as a recommendation for this category. I can count the number of romance books I've read on one hand, which made this book an exciting change for me. Vivienne is a college student studying witchcraft with her aunt and cousin. After her summer fling breaks her heart, she drunkenly curses her ex. Ten years later, Vivienne's ex reappears in her hometown to renew the ley lines that power her family's magic. It turns out that the joking curse she cast on him was a real curse, and now the entire town is going haywire. Vivienne and her ex have to fix the town's magic and resolved their messy feelings for each other. 

This book was very fun. I loved the lighthearted, everyday approach to witches and magic. The characters were memorable and easy to like. My biggest complaint was that there was a lot of lust in this book. I know that it's a romance, but the main characters probably devoted 75% of their mental energy to thinking about how hot the other one was. It was cute/funny at first, but got old after a while. Even people who are in the honeymoon stage of a relationship don't think about each other that much! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Grief, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Medical content, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Murder, and Physical abuse

Moderate: Rape