Reviews with content warning for Suicidal thoughts - Half Sick of Shadows

Reviews tagging 'Suicidal thoughts'

Half Sick of Shadows by Laura Sebastian

17 reviews

readwithde's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective 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

4.25

I'm still trying to decide how I feel about this book, but maybe that's a good thing.

Let me start with the good parts, the loyalty and camaraderie and love between the main characters, the difficult choices and grey areas of life, the weight of power and responsibility for the future, the interwoven fates of Gwen, Elaine, and Morgana... it was so rich with detail and life and possibly.

As for the not-so-great parts, Elaine became a bit annoying to me.

She is constantly aware that knowing the future can have adverse effects, but she often finds herself steering the group into the wrong paths, the choices leading to a dark and painful ending. While I appreciate how she removed herself from the cycle, she still caused collateral damage, primarily to Lancelot.

I also felt like I needed 2 extra chapters, just to detangle what may have changed, if anything.

I would have loved to get a glimpse of how Arthur and Lancelot survived Camelot without the girls being there to counsel, heal, aid, and generally keep them safe and functioning.

Overall, I love this version of the story, and I love the focus on how the women of Camelot could not be themselves, how Gwen, Morgana, and Elaine spent their entire lives being trained to sacrifice themselves for Arthur's sake.

How they slowly eroded over time, and would have become even worse versions of themselves if not for choosing their own lives over Arthur's.

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bookishkale's review

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adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated

4.25

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aancharski's review

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dark mysterious reflective medium-paced

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

3.25

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cactuscloudsreads's review

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reflective slow-paced

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

2.0

I can see where the author thought she was going with making Elaine’s story (originally by Tennyson) into a powerful feminist retelling. Homie, this was not a feminist book. It was more like an example of why not to let women run things. It was painfully redundant, slow and the ending tells a horrible story to anyone suffering from depression.

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robbiclaire's review

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adventurous dark emotional inspiring mysterious reflective 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

The way that this story is written is so immersive that the reader feels as if they’re on horseback alongside the five heroes of the Arthurian saga. The manipulation of time throughout Elaine’s narrative can sometimes be a challenge to navigate but it serves as a reminder that the future is not set, that things change, that we change. This reclaiming of the character from Tennyson’s poem is fantasy at its finest, full of adventure and romance and all magic. But it is also challenging and breaks the reader’s heart. Beautifully written and captivating.

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katisreading's review

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adventurous dark sad medium-paced

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

3.75

I knew going into this book that there wasn’t going to be a happy ending, it is the Arthur legend after all. I didn’t expect to love all of the characters so much though...that just made it hurt all the more. This was a good read, and I adored the story, especially the fact that it came from a different viewpoint than usual. The women characters got a very refreshing update and were able to be strong and independent and more human, which was wonderful! The writing style was nothing special and I struggled with the repeated phrases throughout a bit.

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mdelcol's review

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adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad medium-paced

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

4.5

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