Reviews tagging 'Torture'

The Library at Mount Char by Scott Hawkins

160 reviews

evandaniel's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective medium-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? Yes

4.25

I don’t really even know how to describe this. Recommend for fans of Stephen King, Neil Gaiman, and Terry Pratchett who aren’t sensitive to violence.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child death, Death, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Blood, Suicide attempt, and Death of parent

Minor: Drug use, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gun violence, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racism, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Forced institutionalization, Xenophobia, Vomit, Kidnapping, Murder, Abandonment, War, and Injury/Injury detail

amelyn19's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious 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? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Gore, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Suicide attempt, Murder, War, and Injury/Injury detail

istenerson's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark funny hopeful mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.5

Excellent story - However, do not need to read again due to the aggressive explicit content. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Blood, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, and Fire/Fire injury

azurae's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad tense slow-paced

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

1.5

While I have mixed feelings about this book, I overall really didn't enjoy it. The violence was overdone to the point of being gratuitous, the story didn't flow well, alternating between painfully slow and dropping large storyline bombs quickly, and so many loose ends left unexplored. Many of the characters are never developed at all, for example

Nearly half the librarians were barely mentioned, the enemies were nebulous and barely any info is given on them, many of the mysteries brought up left unexplained etc

The "oh father was the hero all along and had to horrifically torture these kids to make a god, and planned everything out behind the scenes, meaning Carolyn was just a pawn plodding to her destiny" ending was really unsatisfying. The sexual assault scenes were unnecessary and horrible to read, the story would've been better without them. The author himself in interviews has said that he debated heavily with himself on whether to include them, and I feel he made the wrong call. 
However, the writing was really gripping, the library concept was executed well, and I did enjoy some aspects of this book. Dresden & Naga were my favorite characters and the whole lion arc was meaningful and engrossing, albeit sad. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Homophobia, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Blood, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Addiction, Excrement, and Alcohol

pansypantaloons's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Rape, Sexual assault, Suicide, Torture, Blood, Murder, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Suicide

Minor: Sexual assault and Death of parent

wistfulspirit's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny hopeful mysterious sad 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Gore, Physical abuse, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, and Death of parent

meg_elyse's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional inspiring sad tense medium-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicide, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Suicide attempt, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Animal death, Confinement, Drug use, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Torture, Excrement, Vomit, Death of parent, and War

its_kievan's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious 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

4.5

Such an utterly bizarre book that reads like genuinely nothing else, but I kind of loved it. I don’t even know how to begin to describe this book - it’s horrifying, but not horror, fantastical but not fantasy. It would almost be Lovecraftian except the unknowable cosmic horrors is the main character. Do yourself a favour and read this so maybe you can tell me what it is.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture

Moderate: Rape

Minor: Sexism

soaphest's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny mysterious medium-paced

5.0

amazing book. started off super strong & only got better as it went on. all the characters were hugely compelling & the story managed to present something great and unknowing without being difficult about it. very excited about anything else the author will write. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Death, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Murder, and Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Addiction, Drug abuse, Drug use, Rape, Sexual assault, and Sexual violence

Minor: Child death and Death of parent

ceridwyn's review against another edition

challenging dark reflective tense fast-paced

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

3.75

This is a well written page Turner. Bleak, full of horror and too nihilistic for me to enjoy.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail