Reviews tagging 'Child death'

House of Salt and Sorrows by Erin A. Craig

171 reviews

chloenrogers's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

Gothic horrors crusted in sea salt. Like a scary Little Women set against the dark ocean. Rich, evocative language kept me enthralled through every mysterious twist and lingering kiss. I even lost some sleep, unable to shake the ghostly visions from my mind. While the main character feels somewhat flat and inactive, the story is tumultuous enough to keep things engaging. I shed genuine tears throughout so many points of this mystery. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Fire/Fire injury, Pregnancy, Miscarriage, Grief, Emotional abuse, Death, and Body horror

Minor: Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Animal cruelty, Child death, Self harm, Blood, Forced institutionalization, and Animal death

tays_books's review against another edition

dark 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? No

2.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Blood, Death, Gaslighting, Pregnancy, Mental illness, Grief, Murder, Suicidal thoughts, and Violence

Moderate: Alcohol, Alcoholism, Suicide, Injury/Injury detail, Fire/Fire injury, Animal death, Death of parent, Self harm, and Miscarriage

Minor: Domestic abuse, Vomit, Rape, Infidelity, Sexual content, and Adult/minor relationship

stephanieluxton's review

dark mysterious tense 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? No

4.5

I don't read a lot of YA but this is definitely a good one! The gothic, haunting atmosphere of a castle by the cliffside of an island was *chefs kiss*. This book is equal parts fantasy and mystery, but slides towards horror as the story progresses.

Annaleigh was one of 12 princesses living on the island, but after the unfortunate accidental deaths of a few of her older sisters, and her mother, the townspeople believe her family to be cursed. Annaleigh believes the most recent death was a murder rather than a suicide and begins trying to unravel the mystery, with some help from her childhood crush and a handsome stranger she meets in the market. The plot thickens when the sisters go searching for a portal used by the Gods to travel to other regions in hopes of finding love with people who are unfamiliar with the curse. Annaleigh struggles to unravel the mystery of what's happening. Is there really a curse? Who can she trust? Wtf is going on? Also, there's ghosts.

The world-building was well done in this book. We learn about their religion and customs organically without a ton of exposition. It's definitely a world you can get lost in. The only thing that makes this book YA is the lack of smut, which feels authentic to the time period where marriage came first. One thing that wasn't old-timey was the fashion for the balls that the princesses attend. Everything is described in a beautifully cinematic way. As the book slips further into horror, the descriptions are grotesque and you genuinely feel scared for our characters who we've grown to care about.

I'd recommend this book to people who like gothic, ghostly, psychological horror and don't need smut to enjoy themselves.

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Grief, Gore, Gaslighting, Emotional abuse, Classism, Suicide, Child death, Pregnancy, Blood, Death, Mental illness, Self harm, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Death of parent

This book is more psychological that violent and we generally see the aftermath of violence more than we see violence. There's a few scenes that feel like nightmare sequences that are a bit more intense. The horror sequences were pretty epic for a YA book, but it's definitely not splatterpunk or anything.

roseofphantom's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense fast-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

This was so. deliciously. messed. up!!!  I finished this in less than 24 hours, I couldn't stop!   It was so creepy, eerie, disturbing but it was also exciting! There were so many twists I didn't see coming and when I thought I figured it out, it turned out I was wrong!  It really kept me guessing, I cannot WAIT for the sequel.  I definitely would consider this something akin to a fantastical version of Haunting of Hill House, it was amazing!!!

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Child death, Domestic abuse, and Suicide

The contents of this book is a ghost story, and an extremely dark one at that. Please keep this in mind when reading this book. Lots of discussions about death and the ways people can die. Lots of disturbing imagery too.

nofy's review against another edition

dark mysterious medium-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

3.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gore, Body horror, Murder, and Child death

carrasreadsandthings's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective 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

5.0

This was an amazing book! I loved every chapter and couldn't put it down. It was so unpredictable! I highly recommend 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gore, Grief, Vomit, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Blood, Fire/Fire injury, Death of parent, and Child death

Moderate: Alcohol, Classism, and Fire/Fire injury

sunday_evening's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-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? No

2.0

Abandon all hope of a good book at the halfway point. That’s when things get deranged. This book is like if the author watched Rosemary’s Baby and marathoned through every original Grimm fairytale at the same time. Truly unhinged.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gore, and Child death

Moderate: Suicide

komaedacoffee's review against another edition

adventurous dark sad tense medium-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

2.25

Pregnancy, dance partys, lot of death, no thank you.

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Pregnancy and Child death

Minor: Death of parent, Infertility, Animal death, Mental illness, Abortion, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Animal cruelty, Infidelity, Panic attacks/disorders, Adult/minor relationship, Gaslighting, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide attempt

ahaugen23's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad medium-paced

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

3.5

It is dark - I mean you can probably tell from “sorrows” in the title that it will be sad, but it also gets kinda gross and def needs a TW for sexual assault. The world is great, and the mystery is well crafted.  

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gore, Blood, Sexual content, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Murder, Pregnancy, Violence, Body horror, Child death, Grief, and Vomit

Moderate: Rape

callmesword's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.5

House of Salt and Sorrows started strong, and then it went downhill to the point the ending and explanation fell flat and felt bland. Specially the explanations for the sisters' deaths.

The eerie, twisted atmosphere presented at certain moments (for example, with annaleigh's and verity's visions) was immaculate. The characterization of each sister and how easy it was to differentiate them from each other (even the ones who were already dead) as well.

Unfortunately, the romance, I did not even know the book would include, was extremely rushed and unnecessary. Did not apport anything to the story. Personally, I would have liked more of a consequence to annaleigh, and by that I mean I was rooting for her to die (sorry!).

To sum up, it felt all the darkness was diluted. I had different hopes, I suppose.

In an additional final note, why are all fantasy books terribly straight? 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Child death, Body horror, Death, Death of parent, and Gore

Moderate: Stalking and Pregnancy

Minor: Suicide and Fire/Fire injury