Reviews tagging 'Child death'

House of Salt and Sorrows by Erin A. Craig

176 reviews

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

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Content Warnings

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

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 

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, and Classism

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.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, and Gore

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.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child death and Pregnancy

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

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.  

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Content Warnings

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

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? 

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Stalking and Pregnancy

Minor: Suicide and Fire/Fire injury

readingwithjo's review against another edition

adventurous 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? No

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Death, Gore, Blood, Grief, and Pregnancy

Moderate: Miscarriage and Death of parent

Minor: Infidelity

cerilouisereads's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Sexism, Toxic relationship, and Toxic friendship

eve_reads's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-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

3.25

⁕ The dark fantasy elements of this novel were top notch and surprisingly intense for a YA novel. Craig does not shy away from the more sickening details of death, rot, and ghosts, even though the main characters through which we experience these things are literal children.

⁕ The slow burn romance honestly made me feel stupid giddy. I read this book months ago and I still remember the toe-tingling delight I felt when *the kiss* FINALLY happened. 

⁕  I didn't very much care for the characters as individuals (I felt that they were one-dimensional and stereotypical), but I loved their relationships and arguments as siblings. The jealousy and love between them were very well-written.

⁕ SPOILER: Portions of the plot felt haphazardly thrown together. We spend the entirety of the book trying to solve which friend or family member killed Annaleigh's sisters, only to find that it was largely the work of an evil demon that we didn't even know existed until the last few chapters? Also, the main love interest has magical powers and is related to royalty but doesn't use these attributes to help solve the mystery? Okay....

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Gore, Suicide, Medical content, Murder, Pregnancy, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Death of parent

clarabooksit's review against another edition

While I enjoyed the mystery and horror elements, the constant insertion of romance really took me out of the story and the romances themselves were super cringey. This wasn’t for me.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Grief

Moderate: Body horror, Child death, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail