Reviews tagging 'Grief'

The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle by Stuart Turton

68 reviews

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.

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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.

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

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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

bealittlebrave's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious 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

5.0

To call this "ambitious" is such an understatement. I don't understand how anyone can even begin to layout this story and its timelines (and at this point I'm trusting blindly that they all add up correctly because I wouldn't know if he snuck one past me).

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Dementia, Suicide, Rape, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Infidelity, Death, Abandonment, Alcohol, Blood, Body horror, Child death, Addiction, Classism, Confinement, Sexual assault, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Grief, Violence, Drug use, Torture, Suicide attempt, and Stalking

mekrasts's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious 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? No

4.0

It took me a really long time to finish this book. I think that the plot was pretty good, but not quite my style. On the other hand, the writing itself was absolutely beautiful. There were so many moments where I just had to highlight entire paragraphs for fear of losing such amazing writing. It was almost lyrical or melodic in the way that it just grabbed and immersed you into such vivid descriptions. This is easily the best written book I've seen in a while, hence the many many tabs and highlights that are in my copy. I would recommend this book to a lot of people, but mostly those who are looking for a book that will sweep them off of their feet with the flow of words on the paper.

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Content Warnings

Minor: Grief, Murder, Sexual harassment, Gun violence, Stalking, Suicide, Death, Drug use, Injury/Injury detail, and Torture

kimmykelly's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious reflective tense 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? Yes

3.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Suicide attempt, Violence, Drug use, Murder, Alcoholism, Blood, Child death, Death, Gun violence, Infidelity, Rape, and Grief

divine529's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious tense slow-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? It's complicated

This was absolutely brilliant and I really enjoyed reading this. 

As stated in the summary, Evelyn Hardcastle has been murdered and will continue to be murdered until it can be solved. Our main protagonist has eight days to solve it and eight different hosts to use to do so, some are more helpful than others, and several obstacles stand in his way. 

It's really difficult to talk about this book because it's one you need to experience and sit with and it's very complex. It has the feel of an Agatha Christie novel, and it has some serious twists and turns and everything happens in a way you don't exactly expect. I'm usually really good at guessing mysteries very early, but this one kept me on my toes for quite awhile, especially since things get more and more complicated as you go. 

I loved the setting a lot. It's perfectly atmospheric in every way, and particularly for this time of year. The plot was expertly woven together and I kept sitting here wondering how you'd keep track of it all to even write. It was excellent. The characters were all very interesting in a variety of ways, and there were some I liked more than others, but I don't think I ever truly fell in love with any of them. They're all despicable along with the intrigue, and yet you find yourself rooting for them in a way. It's very complicated. 

Unlike most people, it seems like I was in the minority who didn't hate the ending. I thought it was very fitting. There were certain parts I wished were explained a little more (but it wasn't needed) and I have a lot of conflicting feelings about certain characters' endings, but it was satisfying nonetheless. 

All in all, my feelings on this book are as complicated as the book itself, but I really enjoyed it anyway and can safely say it's a mystery I'll pick up again because there's so much to unpack. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Blood, Death, Fatphobia, Murder, and Violence

Moderate: Torture, Child death, Death of parent, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Drug use, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Medical content, Infidelity, Rape, and Sexual assault

laguerrelewis's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

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

4.75

This was a marvelously creative and captivating murder mystery. A creative twist in the premise helps shake things up, but it is far from the only trick this book has up its sleeves. A fun workout for the brain with a great narrative voice and complex mystery that will appeal to all fans of the genre, with a surprisingly poignant message at the center of it all. Would be a 5 star if only it fleshed out its message just a bit more, and the occasional moment that raised my eyebrow (but didn’t quite offend).

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Grief, Torture, Classism, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Kidnapping, Alcohol, Murder, Blood, Gaslighting, Death, Gun violence, Drug abuse, Gore, and Child death

Moderate: Rape and Suicidal thoughts

maeverose's review against another edition

dark mysterious medium-paced

• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No

2.0

I think the concept is super cool but I’m not a fan of how it was executed.

Pros:

I like the writing style, and I’ll acknowledge that the author has to be pretty smart to have come up with this story and make everything connect. It was also not at all predictable.

Cons:

First, It’s overly convoluted. There’s too many characters and events to keep track of, and because it’s jumping around in time so much it’s difficult to follow where you are and whats happened or not happened yet in the day. I think it would’ve been better if it had been done in a way that was a little less confusing for the reader. Less characters, and less unnecessary details. By the time I was about halfway through I was pretty bored and only really reading to find out who Aiden, Anna and the plague doctor were and how he was reliving the same day over and over. That was the most interesting part to me, I didn’t end up caring about the murder mystery at all. I did find the explanation of the fantasy elements to be really interesting, but we were given hardly any information about it. I felt like we should have gotten more.

Second, the body shaming. I’d heard going in that it had fatphobia in it but.. maybe I’m being dramatic but I don’t know how this was able to get published without anyone suggesting the author tone it down a bit. I don’t know how the author thought he could publish that without backlash. It’s really bad. I don’t know how anyone could actually think that way about another person’s body. Every single thing about Ravencourt’s appearance he describes in an unflattering or insulting way. And it’s never corrected in the narrative so that makes me think that’s the author’s thoughts. It’s not just that either, I felt that there was a lot of body shaming in general throughout this book, including ableism. The only characters that are ever described as being attractive are white, young, blonde and fit/thin. I think the only exception to that is Grace, who I believe had dark hair. But everything else still applies.

Third, going off the last one a bit, there’s zero diversity. Everybody is straight, cis, white, and most of the important characters are men. Evelyn and Anna being obviously important to the story but they’re hardly in it compared to the men. None of Aiden’s 8 hosts are women. On top of that, a lot of the people we’re supposed to dislike are described as ‘ugly’ or disfigured.

Fourth, what was the deal with Aiden loving Anna? Even before the reveal of who she was at the end, I didn’t understand why he was so protective of her. He hardly spent any time with her, he didn’t even know her, he knew he couldn’t trust  anyone, and he was straight up told she would betray him, and yet he was determined to save and protect her. He actually loved her, even after finding out who she was and what she did to his sister. I don’t understand how he could care for her after learning that, even if she had changed. That whole thing was just so weird to me

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Death, Fatphobia, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, and Violence

Moderate: Ableism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child death, and Mental illness

Minor: Excrement, Grief, Racism, and Sexual content

Implied rape, memory loss, poisoning

smkelly1997's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark hopeful mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

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

4.25

This book is slow in the beginning but it works. It all adds up.  The last 25% of the book I didn’t want to put down. The twists and turns and a major plot twist at the end. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Alcohol, Fatphobia, Infidelity, Mental illness, Blood, Murder, Body shaming, Drug abuse, Suicide, Child death, Emotional abuse, Violence, Classism, Confinement, Death of parent, Death, Drug use, Forced institutionalization, Gore, Grief, Toxic relationship, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Stalking, Suicide attempt, and Torture

genny's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.75

I was apprehensive about this book because I felt lukewarm about The Devil and the Dark Water, but I enjoyed this so much more! Tense and gripping, this could make for a really fun live-action adaptation. I also think it would've been fun to annotate a physical copy (I had the ebook from my library) and go ham with plotting time stamps, locations, etc. 😆 

It's a testament to Turton's writing that the protagonist's voice always felt distinct despite him waking up in different bodies. For all of Aiden's confusion, he was still way smarter than me because I was scrambling to keep up with his plans, haha. He was always one step ahead of me in figuring it all out, but it was entertaining enough that I didn't mind just going along for the ride. The glimpses we got of the "outside world" were enough to establish some sort of dystopian society, and this (along with some important reveals) allowed for commentary on the justice system that I thought was well-done. Surprisingly, I got quite emotional towards the end! I'd give this 5 stars except all of the language regarding Ravencourt's body bothered me (check content warnings); I understand needing to emphasize the difficulties of each host but the author went over-the-top there IMO.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Suicide, Body shaming, Child death, Fatphobia, Forced institutionalization, Gun violence, Murder, Suicide attempt, and Violence

Moderate: Torture, Grief, Rape, and Sexual assault

Minor: Alcohol

Aiden inhabits the body of an obese man and there's a LOT of comments about how difficult it was to navigate his surroundings, being unable to stop gorging on food, feeling useless because of his body, etc. He also inhabits the body of a rapist. He doesn't sexually attack anyone but feels the urge to do so.