Reviews tagging 'Child death'

Ordinary Monsters by J.M. Miro

23 reviews

clarabooksit'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

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Murder, Sexism, Self harm, Gun violence, Fire/Fire injury, Death, Kidnapping, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, Violence, Child abuse, Religious bigotry, and Racism

Moderate: Child death, Forced institutionalization, Torture, Death of parent, Colonisation, Ableism, and Abandonment

ktame001's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad tense slow-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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Body horror, and Child abuse

pickupthebook's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.75

When Ordinary Monsters was voted to be our most recent book club pick, I was hesitant at first - partly due to its size and partly because Victorian-era fantasies aren’t typically my jam. However, I was pleasantly surprised within the first few chapters. I immediately became attached to each of the characters and the situations they were thrown into. I really enjoyed that the “good versus evil” theme wasn’t quite what you expected it to be. I feel like the pacing was a little off in places, and I do think the book could’ve been at least 100 pages shorter. Overall, I still really enjoyed this and will most likely pick up the next book in the series when it comes out!

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Blood, Child abuse, Death, Violence, Injury/Injury detail, and Murder

Minor: Fire/Fire injury and Child death

librarianlayla's review against another edition

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

4.0

4/4.5 stars.

Prepare yourself for a heartbreaking, raw, ride. Beautifully written, darkly descriptive, and intense.

The only reason this doesn't get the full 5 stars is because there was very little ebb and flow of emotions. It is mostly fraught, with very few light moments to break up the harshness. But I did enjoy it greatly, and am looking forward to the sequel!

For fans of Miss Peregrine's, The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen and The Nevers.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Grief, Toxic relationship, Death, Blood, Toxic friendship, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Confinement, Hate crime, Racism, Addiction, Racial slurs, Gore, Gun violence, Murder, Child death, Gaslighting, Torture, Drug use, Physical abuse, and Self harm

katieo156's review against another edition

challenging dark 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

3.5

I enjoyed the story, but this could easily have been two books. There was such a long arc to get to the central setting that I was wearing thin on patience. I'm glad I kept going- I did like the characters and their grit, but I wish we had learned more about the magic and mythology of the book. It was vaguely alluded to and then kind of info dumped, but I feel like there's more left to learn that didn't need to be kept hidden for a sequel. I wondered the whole time if

everyone's instant intense love for Marlowe was part of his powers because it was mentioned so frequently and so soon after anyone met him- guess not.

 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Cannibalism, Abandonment, Blood, Body horror, Child death, Excrement, Gore, and Violence

saville08's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious 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

4.5

 4.5
Extremely long story. Would recommend the Audiobook and do it at 1.85 speed - 2.0 as the narrator takes long breaks, and draws out the words.

Overall was almost a 5-star read, had great characters, an atmosphere, and a great plot. Miro did an excellent job of creating the atmosphere and the setting for this story. He is able to capture the reader and draw them in if you are looking for a cozy long read in a dark setting. The fight scenes are descriptive along with the monsters in this story. The plot kept you motivated and the characters were thought out perfectly.
I am not going to lie the bad guy Jacob was my favorite character as you get to see his development and his power in this novel, along with Alice who finds both of the main characters.

I would give this a shot if you are interested in long drawn-out stories that build a great dark atmosphere setting and characters that are easy to fall in love with.

Trigger Warnings include:
Death, child abuse 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Stalking, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Gaslighting, and Kidnapping

maregred's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny mysterious sad 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? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Murder, Death, Death of parent, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Racism, Violence, Blood, Police brutality, and Child death

Minor: Cursing, Grief, Rape, Sexism, Gun violence, Kidnapping, Terminal illness, and Stalking

unboxedjack's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad 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? Yes

4.25

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Gore, Violence, Kidnapping, Pregnancy, Racism, Racial slurs, Abandonment, Blood, Grief, Body horror, and Murder

Minor: Child abuse, Child death, Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, and Gaslighting

krysley's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense slow-paced

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

3.0

 Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for allowing me to listen to this audiobook in exchange for an honest, unbiased opinion.

This is how I've been describing this book to people: it's a mashup of Harry Potter and X-Men with an historical fiction setting. Honestly, I think that's pretty accurate.

J.M. Miro creates some incredibly likeable and interesting characters, from Charlie to Alice to, yes, even Jacob Marber, as well as great atmosphere. However, the story gets bogged done with a back-and-forth timeline and an excessively long story. As an audiobook, I was just waiting for it to be over because it didn't seem to be moving along.

The narrator, Ben Onwukwe, has an absolutely beautiful baritone that fits perfectly in the time period. The issue is that he has atrocious voices for women and children, which often sound like gravely southern American accents for some reason. I got used to the weird voices, but it didn't exactly add to my enjoyment of the listening experience. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Abandonment, Racism, Child death, Fire/Fire injury, Murder, Confinement, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, and Violence

moiralyle's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious sad medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Racism, Violence, and Gore

Moderate: Addiction, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Child death, Confinement, Death of parent, Kidnapping, Rape, Physical abuse, and Pregnancy