Reviews tagging 'Murder'

The Library at Mount Char by Scott Hawkins

129 reviews

carbs666's review

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? It's complicated

4.0

Ok first of all: huge TW for literally every thing you could possibly imagine and a bunch of stuff you couldn't. Now I'm going to try to describe what I liked and disliked without spoilers, which is difficult so bear with me.

I liked how conversationally the book is written, how wacky the characters are (real people are wacky so this made them really whole to me), and how even when the narrative is taken over by one character's POV it maintains a good omniscient remove. I also liked how intricate the book was and how the author released just enough information about the central mystery to keep you paying attention. There are no throw-away scenes in this book; absolutely everything matters.

The core thing I didn't like about the book is that I thought the final act was a bit drawn out, and while I did think Carolyn experienced some growth of character I felt the implication that things work out for her was somewhat.....unearned? Absolute power corrupts absolutely and all that. 

Anyways, if you like weird-ass books and aren't troubled by some of the most horrifying, traumatic shit that can happen to a person, you're gonna love this book! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Blood, Cursing, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Gun violence, Sexual assault, Suicide attempt, Torture, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Physical abuse, Violence, War, Addiction, Animal death, Death, Death of parent, Drug use, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Murder, Rape, Sexual violence, and Suicide

chefboyavi's review

adventurous challenging dark funny mysterious sad tense 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

3.0

I found the experience of reading this enjoyable overall. It’s well-written, has interesting world building, and the pacing carries you through to the end. 

However, I can’t rate it higher than middling because I was too irked by the authors own biases throughout the text, particularly the undercurrents of racism and homophobia. I was also disappointed by his use of fantasy language. I read an interview where he said he was making words up based on whether he liked how they sounded and the laziness of that comes through in the text. Comparing this to other fantasy novels where the author created languages with a basis in linguistics shows a real failing in the “made up” approach. 

Ultimately, this was fine but I don’t think I’d read anything else by this author. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Murder, and Gore

caoimhemia's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious sad 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Animal death, Animal cruelty, Torture, Violence, Suicide, Physical abuse, Death of parent, Death, Murder, Emotional abuse, Sexual assault, and Injury/Injury detail

mgwarnstedt's review

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Gore, Sexual violence, Blood, Rape, and Murder

anexcessofebooks's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny mysterious 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

3.0

What a shit ending.  The whole tone of the book changed at the end and the author was trying to be too funny in a way that didn't fit with the rest of the tone of the book.

I liked it up until the end and would have rated it 4+.  It was weird AF throughout, which was fine/appealing, but there are just too many things that are irreconcilable.  Biggest gripe is

Carolyn being essentially a God sometimes and completely oblivious/helpless at others.  Her solution to the whole apocalypse she brought on was to turn Steve into the sun and have it rain bread?  Dafuq?  Just undo some stuff which is apparently an option as alluded to by Father who I now just picture in a bathrobe and fluffy slippers drinking coffee as he doles out fatherly advice in a calm tone; not at all what you're led to believe throughout the whole book

It's clearly setup for a sequel, but I don't think I'll pick it up.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence and Murder

Moderate: Rape and Sexual assault

Minor: Torture

random19379's review

funny mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Gaslighting, Toxic relationship, Child death, Emotional abuse, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Death of parent, Gore, Torture, Violence, Abandonment, Grief, Murder, Body horror, Medical content, Suicide, and War

Moderate: Rape and Incest

kermittuesday's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.5

Deeply weird, but very good. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Murder, Torture, Rape, and Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Animal death, Death of parent, Blood, Suicide, War, Gun violence, Death, and Child death

Minor: Car accident

maddyag123's review

adventurous dark funny medium-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? No

4.25

Slow and confusing start but it really picked up towards the middle. Great to have books with simple and comical plot points combined with the complex ones

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Murder, Blood, Death, and Rape

hilarym's review

dark mysterious tense medium-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

1.0

Really confused for most of the book,  not sure what the plot was. Kept reading bc was told a surprising ending, but had to read other reviews to understand what happened. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Murder, and Blood

cassie7e's review against another edition

adventurous dark hopeful mysterious tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes

5.0

I picked this only knowing it was dark and weird. It has similar dark vibes as Seanan McGuire's Alchemical Journeys series, which I loved! Creepy old abilities and beings in the modern day, but even darker and more morally twisted, and on a larger scale. It's meticulously elaborately plotted, especially leading up to the climax ~2/3 the way through, whereupon we get more character growth and trauma reckoning in the aftermath.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Suicide attempt, Murder, Torture, Violence, Blood, Child abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, and Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Death, Sexual assault, Gore, Rape, and Gun violence

Minor: Car accident, Homophobia, and Death of parent