Reviews tagging 'Child death'

Middlegame by Seanan McGuire

30 reviews

dulceserenidad's review

challenging dark emotional funny mysterious slow-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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Suicide attempt, and Suicidal thoughts

Moderate: Child abuse and Child death

Minor: Grief, Panic attacks/disorders, and Death of parent

mfrank's review

adventurous dark emotional hopeful mysterious sad fast-paced

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

4.0

 I love Seanan McGuire and her writing so much! I was so happy to read this and it made me happy to go through it! I loved Roger and Dodger so much. They felt very real to me. I think Seanan McGuire is so great at creating characters. For me, the only reason that this was four stars instead of five stars is the climax scenes. I think Seanan McGuire is great at creating characters and building narrative tension, but I've noticed in a few of her books that I've read that the climax sometimes fails to deliver on that tension.

I really hated the fake-out climax. It felt like we gained nothing from that. They would have manifested without that. And the fact that we thought both Leigh and Erin died and then neither of them died made me so upset. Like, what was the point of that scene if it accomplished literally nothing for them. Also, the face that Erin then actually died made me so upset. It felt a bit weird too. Like, that Erin was just too broken to survive without her brother? It felt off to the message about sibling love. Especially, that Erin basically chose to kill herself, sort of? I know she didn't literally, but it felt at the end like she was making the choice to die rather than that Reed actually killed her. Just those last like 30 pages felt weird overall.

Despite those few issues I had with the book, I loved the overall story enough to sort of make up for those moments where I didn't. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Murder, and Violence

Moderate: Self harm, Suicide attempt, and Suicide

Minor: Blood, Child death, Death, and Death of parent

leanne_miron's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Violence, Self harm, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Death of parent, Gaslighting, and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Child death, Confinement, and Gun violence

jayisreading's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced

3.25

For a limited time, Tordotcom made Middlegame downloadable for free, which was nice. I admit I have a tendency to jump at any opportunity to get a free book, even if I don’t know the premise of it. It was absolutely the case with this book, ahaha.

That said, I think I enjoyed this book? It’s hard to tell because, admittedly, I didn’t fully follow what was happening at times. I think there were two reasons for this. One is that there’s a lot of fascinating worldbuilding, but there was a little too much happening. The other related reason is because of the point-of-view that McGuire decided to write in, which was limited third-person primarily from the perspectives of Roger and Dodger. I don’t mind reading books that don’t have an omniscient perspective, but I think it would have helped for this book because, goodness, Roger and Dodger simply have no idea what’s happening for most this book. In other words, the reader has to deal with this as well, and that can get really frustrating. As a result, the story got messier.

On a more positive note, though, I was fascinated by this idea of math and language being the foundation of the world (in a way). I also really enjoyed how McGuire explored the relationship between Roger and Dodger. It was such a unique dynamic that felt very real. Lastly, McGuire writes beautifully with multisensory descriptions that added so much to the book.

I could have missed something that resulted in my confusion, but I may look into the sequel. I’m admittedly curious to know what more McGuire can do with the worldbuilding she has done. Plus, it might make more sense since I have some footing from this book. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Death, Self harm, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Violence, Fire/Fire injury, and Murder

Moderate: Death of parent, Gore, and Suicidal thoughts

Minor: Child death

m_e_ruzak's review

adventurous challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Self harm, Child abuse, Suicide attempt, and Child death

boneloose's review

adventurous dark emotional mysterious 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

new all-time favorite. holy shit. definitely a book i can see myself rereading over and over to catch every bit of foreshadowing i can find. holy shit i haven't read a book so good it leaves me in a daze upon finishing it in ages. (similar to vicious by v.e. schwab in vibes)

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Gore, Suicide attempt, and Death

Moderate: Gun violence, Body horror, Gaslighting, Child death, Death of parent, Self harm, and Suicidal thoughts

Minor: Forced institutionalization

Page 101 in the US hardcover edition for forced institutionalization mention. A character is painted as crazy for experiencing something that actually is happening and is threatened with forced hospitalization and forced anti-psychotic medication.

je55ilo's review against another edition

adventurous dark 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? It's complicated

4.25

This was a good book to read in January 2022, while the omicron numbers ticked ever higher and it felt like an unstoppable force bearing down on all of us. Sometimes the themes of a book come too close to a stressful reality, but

watching Roger and Dodger attempt to outrun their evil alchemists was heartening. If they can walk the improbable road, maybe I can too.

I am not a horror fan, and the beginning of this book was almost too much for me (see content warnings), but I'm glad I stuck with it long enough to see Roger and Dodger grow up enough to have a fighting chance against the evil bearing down on them. Maguire knows how to keep you turning the pages.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death of parent, Self harm, and Suicide attempt

Minor: Child abuse and Child death

redkeys's review

dark 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Suicide attempt, Self harm, Injury/Injury detail, and Murder

Moderate: Forced institutionalization, Confinement, Fire/Fire injury, and Death of parent

Minor: Child death

meliroo's review against another edition

4.5

4.5 ⭐

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Murder, Blood, Child death, Death, Death of parent, Sexism, Torture, Suicide attempt, Body horror, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, and Self harm

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts and Vomit

kmtd's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Child death, Confinement, Death, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Torture, and Violence