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sasdaly's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
slow-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
4.5
Content Warnings
Moderate: Child death and Murder
Minor: Rape and Drug use
mgcord's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
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? Yes
3.5
It was fine. Slow to get into, incredibly so. But the ending was good. It definitely surprised me towards the end, I just struggled to dig into the story.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Drug use, and Murder
Moderate: Child death, Death, Gun violence, Alcoholism, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual harassment, Classism, Alcohol, Blood, and Grief
Minor: Rape
greatexpectations77's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
mysterious
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
2.75
This is interesting, but it had way too many characters for me to keep track of, and I didn't feel like I "knew" any of them, even after 17 hours of audiobook. I also may have not been a huge fan of the writing style.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Death, Physical abuse, Stalking, Blood, Gaslighting, Suicide attempt, Confinement, Bullying, Classism, Toxic friendship, Violence, Torture, and Toxic relationship
Moderate: Ableism, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Drug use, Addiction, Chronic illness, Alcoholism, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Abandonment, Mental illness, Alcohol, Grief, and Infidelity
Minor: Misogyny, Rape, and Sexual harassment
Avoid if you don't like: torture, trying to remember about 24 vaguely similar characters, or telling instead of showing.medini_l's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.25
Content Warnings
Moderate: Drug use, Violence, Fatphobia, Gun violence, Murder, Blood, Death, Classism, Sexual assault, Eating disorder, and Child death
amphibianwitch's review against another edition
mysterious
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
2.0
Las siete muertes de Evelyn Hardcastle es una historia que promete intriga, acción y giros increíbles. Y digo que lo promete, porque no tiene mucho éxito en cumplirlo.
La novela comienza con una situación típica: un hombre que ha perdido la memoria llega a una mansión llena de secretos, en la que va a celebrarse un baile que terminará en tragedia. En la página 80 se produjo el primer giro que me hizo pensar que me iba a encantar la novela, porque revela su verdadera trama y es una idea que me fascina. El final también es muy interesante, cuando llegué a la misma conclusión que los protagonistas aplaudí el giro final y no podía despegarme de las páginas.
El problema es el resto. Las otras 300 páginas están colmadas de cosas puestas para rellenar el libro pero que son aburridísimas. Nos dedicamos a ahondar en personajes que a mí por lo menos no me importan, a desvelar secretos cada cual menos interesante y en general a hacer cosas porque hay que llenar huecos hasta el gran final.
No ayuda que es muy difícil empatizar con los personajes. Como he comentado, el protagonista sufre amnesia, no conoce su identidad, sus acciones pasadas ni sus motivos, por lo que el lector tampoco los conoce. No puedo decir mucho más sin destripar la historia, pero por cierto punto vital de la novela, es imposible llegar a conectar con la personalidad del protagonista. Los otros personajes más recurrentes son dos mujeres que están ahí para motivar al protagonista, para ayudarle e incentivarle. No es muy emocionante. Y no mejora cuando sucede la revelación sobre los dos protagonistas, su historia y sus motivos, que es, cuanto menos, cuestionable. De alguna forma, el libro intenta venderla como esperanzadora.
Una historia que tenía un montón de ingredientes para ser genial, pero se quedó en mediocre. Se deja leer, pero poco más.
La novela comienza con una situación típica: un hombre que ha perdido la memoria llega a una mansión llena de secretos, en la que va a celebrarse un baile que terminará en tragedia. En la página 80 se produjo el primer giro que me hizo pensar que me iba a encantar la novela, porque revela su verdadera trama y es una idea que me fascina. El final también es muy interesante, cuando llegué a la misma conclusión que los protagonistas aplaudí el giro final y no podía despegarme de las páginas.
El problema es el resto. Las otras 300 páginas están colmadas de cosas puestas para rellenar el libro pero que son aburridísimas. Nos dedicamos a ahondar en personajes que a mí por lo menos no me importan, a desvelar secretos cada cual menos interesante y en general a hacer cosas porque hay que llenar huecos hasta el gran final.
No ayuda que es muy difícil empatizar con los personajes. Como he comentado, el protagonista sufre amnesia, no conoce su identidad, sus acciones pasadas ni sus motivos, por lo que el lector tampoco los conoce. No puedo decir mucho más sin destripar la historia, pero por cierto punto vital de la novela, es imposible llegar a conectar con la personalidad del protagonista. Los otros personajes más recurrentes son dos mujeres que están ahí para motivar al protagonista, para ayudarle e incentivarle. No es muy emocionante. Y no mejora cuando sucede la revelación sobre los dos protagonistas, su historia y sus motivos, que es, cuanto menos, cuestionable. De alguna forma, el libro intenta venderla como esperanzadora.
Una historia que tenía un montón de ingredientes para ser genial, pero se quedó en mediocre. Se deja leer, pero poco más.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcohol, Child death, Murder, Fatphobia, and Drug use
Moderate: Rape and Suicide
twistykris's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
slow-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
2.0
I honestly was going to DNF this book about 20% in and I wish I had. I loved the concept of this (especially since I'm going through a phase of wanting to read murder mysteries) but I seriously struggled getting through this.
- The fatphobia made me so so uncomfortable. Aiden is in a host body of one character, and every other paragraph talks about how "huge" and "grotesque" this man is, and how every piece of furniture "creaks" under his "immense" weight, and how he has "many greasy chins." It felt excessive and unnecessary (yes, he's fat, you hate how fat he is when you're in his body, we get it. And sure, maybe some of it was
because the thoughts and memories of the hosts start to take over Aiden's mind, and maybe this is that character's own self-hate and internalized fatphobia but YIKES ). - I don't mind reading a book I feel is dense or challenging. But maybe my brain was just not prepared for the absolute string-and-post-it-note levels of dense this book felt. I had to make a GoogleDoc to keep track of who said what when and who interacted with who because as it turns out, tiny little details would pop up later and I had to be constantly re-reading and flipping back to previous chapters, and not in a fun "OH I'M MAKING A CONNECTION" way; more of a "wait, who said what? I'm so confused" way. To be honest: this book made me feel dumb as hell at times.
- I couldn't seem to be invested in these characters. I felt a twinge of it for Aiden closer to the ending after a big reveal, but nothing that made me hold my breath in anticipation, fear, or excitement.
- Without spoilers: the ending left me feeling a sort of "ick."
- There were some things that felt unanswered in an unsatisfying way.
All in all, I'm giving this a 2.25- this book wasn't for me. I went into this book, craving a "Benoit Blanc"-style mystery but it left me feeling disappointed. Maybe it was a wrong-book-wrong-time scenario, maybe I would never have enjoyed this. But I leave with the knowledge that I need to learn when to put a book down if it isn't giving me satisfaction.
If you enjoy a book that will make you put up a whiteboard to keep track of the intricate webs, if you enjoy multiple twists that leave you feeling a smidge lost and wanting to find the connections, if you feel compelled to immediately re-read a complex book so you can pick up on all the details you missed the first time, this might be the book for you.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Fatphobia, Murder, Body shaming, and Violence
Moderate: Child death, Rape, Alcohol, Drug abuse, Drug use, Classism, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Death of parent and Ableism
laurajordensharris's review against another edition
dark
funny
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Body shaming, Child death, Death, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Grief, Blood, Drug use, Classism, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Infertility, Sexism, Sexual assault, Alcohol, Murder, Torture, Violence, Fatphobia, Infidelity, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Misogyny, and Sexual harassment
phantomgecko's review against another edition
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
An enigma wrapped in a mystery. Mindbending. Have you seen Source Code? This is Source Code but with more layers.
The pacing of discovery was good. Enough questions were answered along the way to keep my interest. Semi-answered questions also made new puzzles acceptable.
The reader is supposed to care about the characters and how they feel. I didn't. But it didn't lessen my enjoyment of the robust plot. To be fair, plenty about character motivation, personal dilemma and interpersonal relationships exist in this book. I just dodged all of that because I cared more about answers.
The resolution didn't disappoint. The ending didn't disappoint. Chef's kiss, A++
The pacing of discovery was good. Enough questions were answered along the way to keep my interest. Semi-answered questions also made new puzzles acceptable.
The reader is supposed to care about the characters and how they feel. I didn't. But it didn't lessen my enjoyment of the robust plot. To be fair, plenty about character motivation, personal dilemma and interpersonal relationships exist in this book. I just dodged all of that because I cared more about answers.
The resolution didn't disappoint. The ending didn't disappoint. Chef's kiss, A++
Content Warnings
Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Confinement, Murder, Fatphobia, Body shaming, Child death, and Death
Minor: Alcohol, Drug use, and Drug abuse
ved_z18's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence
Moderate: Murder
Minor: Drug use
abbigirl97's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-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
4.5
The only reason I didn't give it 5 stars was becasue it was a little slow to get into and I lost track of the characters because there were so many
Content Warnings
Graphic: Suicide, Murder, and Drug use