Reviews tagging 'Animal cruelty'

The Alienist by Caleb Carr

17 reviews

thatgirlemili's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad 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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Murder, Child death, and Blood

Minor: Cannibalism

itsjadenbaby's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-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

4.0

I liked the use of an Alienist and a journalist as the protagonists of the story. It takes the story to a new place where a cop protagonist couldn’t go. I really enjoyed it, the audiobook is a solid narration.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Pedophilia, Sexual violence, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Violence, Sexual assault, Rape, Child abuse, Death, Adult/minor relationship, Trafficking, and Murder

Moderate: Torture, Gun violence, Hate crime, Blood, Homophobia, and Animal cruelty

Minor: Animal death, Cannibalism, and Police brutality

raginsagein's review

challenging dark informative mysterious slow-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? It's complicated

1.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Pedophilia, Sexual violence, Child abuse, and Child death

Moderate: Alcohol, Addiction, and Animal cruelty

Minor: Drug use, Antisemitism, Deadnaming, Classism, Colonisation, and Cannibalism

irishgypsie's review against another edition

dark informative 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Gore, Animal cruelty, and Blood

elenikin's review

dark emotional mysterious 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

3.75

It was a little slow to get into but then came together more quickly towards the end. Interesting to follow the characters use psychology to piece together the clues to who the serial killer was, especially during the 1890s. Interesting mix of history, crime, and psychology. Well written, but gruesome. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Police brutality, Sexual assault, Child abuse, Gore, Homophobia, Murder, Domestic abuse, Blood, Death, and Excrement

Moderate: Animal cruelty

kaitlyn15's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark tense medium-paced

3.5

I think I went into this book with a lot of expectations, which is never a good start. I loved the TV adaption, so I had to read the novel when I found out about it. The resemblance between the two is very strong, especially in the characters (particularly Kreizler). However, I would say this book was too long. The first half was a bit difficult to get through, until it picked up. There was also a couple instances of slurs. Even if we are aiming for historical accuracy, I just don’t see a need for that. Overall, it was a good book though. The mystery was very well plotted out, the main characters were three-dimensional, and the reveal made sense. I don’t know that I would read it again (and I’m not reading the sequel immediately), but I don’t regret reading it by any means. 
Association Words: gotta stop with the slurs, dark, heavy, kinda sciencey(ish), that baby can fit a lot of trauma in it

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence and Murder

Moderate: Homophobia

Minor: Sexual assault and Animal cruelty

bxnnny's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious reflective slow-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

3.0

a fairly slow-paced and dense read, but kept me interested throughout. felt like an 1800s version of mindhunter. i found the main character to be one of the least likeable characters (besides the obvious criminals/bad guys) as he often came across as whiny and narrow-minded and i grew tired of his constant need of approval and inclusion by the others. there were also some weird undertones of homophobia and perhaps even transphobia and just general bigotry mainly from him that i didn't enjoy either. i suppose one could argue that "times were different then," but i still wasn't a fan. the writing could often times be pretty dense and over-explanatory, but i become used to the writing style as the story progressed and i ultimately was interested enough in the plot to keep reading. i didn't expect teddy roosevelt to be a character at all, much less play a fairly prominent role, and the book at times just felt like a weird teddy roosevelt fan fiction. which, i guess it could actually be considered one...

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Religious bigotry, Trafficking, Child abuse, Hate crime, Homophobia, Violence, Xenophobia, Bullying, Adult/minor relationship, Medical content, Racial slurs, Racism, Transphobia, Mental illness, Murder, Animal cruelty, Animal death, and Confinement

Moderate: Rape, Kidnapping, Sexual assault, and Stalking

Minor: Sexism, Sexual violence, and Antisemitism

jmross10's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative mysterious sad 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? Yes

4.0

The book was a bit drawn out.

The strongest part for me was the use of history to inform the story, particularly the criminology aspect. It was interesting to see how the characters drew certain conclusions based on early studies and new practices. I especially liked that they tried (at least one) scientific principle that had no real basis. It shows the trial and error aspect of research which suits the subject matter. 

It’s not a fast read by any means but it was an interesting one. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Blood, Body horror, Violence, Murder, Death, Homophobia, Animal death, Death of parent, Child abuse, Child death, Racism, Racial slurs, Gore, and Mental illness

Moderate: Excrement, Police brutality, Rape, Forced institutionalization, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Adult/minor relationship, and Grief

meowster18's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense slow-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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Animal cruelty, Murder, Sexual violence, Violence, Emotional abuse, Blood, Transphobia, Child abuse, Animal death, and Physical abuse

Moderate: Body horror, Kidnapping, Trafficking, Ableism, Racism, Body shaming, and Misogyny

rob's review

adventurous dark mysterious slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character

3.0

It had the potential to be a great story, but failed to realistically tie everything together.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Torture, Violence, Animal cruelty, Blood, Child death, Gore, Gun violence, Kidnapping, Murder, Pedophilia, Sexual assault, Animal death, Death, and Sexual violence