Reviews tagging 'Murder'

The City of Stardust by Georgia Summers

27 reviews

comebymoonlight's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious slow-paced

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

3.25

This book is difficult to review because I feel very differently about the first hundred pages compared to what follows.

Part 1 of the book is painfully slow. Almost nothing happens in the main plot, and even the nothing that is happening feels disjointed and unimportant, constantly glossed over with time skips or interjected with short chapters of (for now) completely unrelated snapshots of things happening elsewhere. Rather than break up the tedium they just made the nothing drag on. This author desperately needs to learn better pacing.

Parts 2-5 I thoroughly enjoyed. All those unrelated snapshots finally pulled together, the pacing picked up, and I happily read the last 200 pages in a single sitting. I am a sucker for good world building, and this was excellent, though darker than I expected. That said, it wasn't the book I thought it was when I picked it up. I was expecting a sort of Theseus-descending-into-Hades adventure which it very much was not.

[Spoiler-light thoughts on the conclusion]

There were a couple unanswered questions throughout the story that I kept feeling would be ruined by almost any answer we were given, and I was pleasantly surprised that they were left as questions. Similarly, I was pleasantly surprised the will-they-won't-they romantic subplot didn't magically end up with a happily-ever-after that would have strained my suspension of disbelief.

In the end, I really enjoyed the 240-page story that started at Part 2. Do I think reading the first 100 pages to get there is worth it? I don't know.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Body horror, Child death, Death, Physical abuse, Violence, Blood, Murder, and Abandonment

Moderate: Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Torture, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Cannibalism

sdavis422's review against another edition

It was gory and gross and not at all what I expected or thought this book would be about 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Violence, and Murder

drjoannehill's review against another edition

adventurous slow-paced

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

3.0

Nothing happened for the first third of this book. After that, I struggled to be interested. There seemed to me a massive plot hole - perhaps I was confused. It could have been so much more than it is.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood and Murder

Moderate: Child death

aliteraryescape's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark 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? It's complicated

4.25

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Blood, and Murder

Minor: Child death, Sexual assault, and Torture

gillothen's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious 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

4.5

Gripping fantasy, very dark. The central figures struggle with abandonment as well as physical threats and you are not at all sure how it will work out.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Blood, Grief, Murder, and Abandonment

bookish_hollyx's review against another edition

dark mysterious medium-paced

2.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child death, Death, Gore, Blood, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

callistag1's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious sad 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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Death, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Child death and Gaslighting

Minor: Genocide

alanahcw's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark hopeful mysterious sad tense

4.75

I wanted a little more from the climax/ending

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Grief, Cannibalism, and Murder

maresuju's review against another edition

adventurous emotional sad 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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Blood, and Grief

Moderate: Child death, Confinement, Death, Violence, Kidnapping, Murder, and Gaslighting

Minor: Vomit

kestrel_of_the_pages's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional 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? It's complicated

5.0

A gothic globe-trotting urban fantasy with elements of horror and mystery. 

Parts somehow both whimsical and horrifying? Think Pan's Labyrinth vibes, but also completely different. The whole book is a vibe, moody and dark and pushing for answers. Violet struggles, realistically so, after spending a life sheltered and safe. She bumbles stubbornly through her deceptions, navigating secret society, unknown magic, and a family curse on the brink of fruition. This tale is saturated with betrayal, haunted with Violet's childhood memories, but also so full of hope and determination. The world is just a key-turn away. The romance is pretty good too, right person wrong time with a dash of enemies to lovers. I can't really say more without spoilers!

I listened to this via Libro.fm and immediately looked up what other books this narrator has done- this was the first. I'm so excited to hear what projects Kitty Parker does next, her different intonations for each character were SO GOOD. Sexy evil for the big bad, brooding and cautious as Aleksander, challenging and strong willed as Violet, and the poor exasperated and exhausted brothers. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gore, Homophobia, Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Stalking, Murder, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail