Reviews tagging 'Death of parent'

Firestarter by Stephen King

46 reviews

monia_czyta's review against another edition

4.0

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Complicated

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Drug use, Racism, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury

mareltor's review against another edition

3.0

dark tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Complicated

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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With government conspiracies, supernatural abilities, and moments of pure horror, Firestarter is a slow burn - until it explodes.

One thing I always appreciate about Stephen King’s writing is his ability to show perspectives from both the “good” and “bad” sides, adding depth to the story. Though Firestarter isn’t considered a horror novel, it still contains eerie, dark, and even gory moments that bring a strong horror influence into the narrative.

The characters weren’t always likable, but they were consistently interesting, which kept me invested. However, the ending left me wanting more. I usually don’t mind open endings, but in this case, I struggled to see how the proposed solution could realistically play out. Maybe that ambiguity is the point, but I still would have liked a bit more closure. Overall, I’d give Firestarter 3 out of 5 stars.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Animal death, Body shaming, Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Gore, Gun violence, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Kidnapping, Stalking, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail

dreaazu's review against another edition

5.0

dark tense 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

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Death, Death of parent

mmadill227's review against another edition

3.25

dark emotional tense fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Animal death, Cursing, Death of parent

laurzj82's review against another edition

4.0

adventurous dark tense medium-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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Death, Violence, Blood, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail

bella613's review against another edition

3.5

dark tense slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Yes

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail

jazhandz's review against another edition

3.5

dark tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: No

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This book essentially has four types of scenes: action, good guys, bad guys, and weird interactions between the good and bad guys. I happen to like these four scenes and think this was done decently well, although the first half was stronger and I would happily chop 70-odd pages out of the middle. It’s fine! Perfectly serviceable King book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Confinement, Death, Gun violence, Violence, Kidnapping, Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Animal death, Torture, Blood, Police brutality, Death of parent, Murder, Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Cancer, Fatphobia, Rape, Suicidal thoughts, Transphobia

- adult/minor relationship insofar as Stephen King-typical adult men having feelings for little girls - eye horror and gore - medical experimentation - police brutality insofar as a government agency threatening civilians; it’s not the actual police but it checks a similar box imo - if you are afraid of snakes think twice about this one - King-typical racism ableism sexism etc throughout. the transphobia is only tagged bc it is, somehow, plot relevant.

superiour_medium's review against another edition

4.0

adventurous dark mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

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She do be starting fires

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Animal death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Gore, Homophobia, Incest, Racial slurs, Sexism, Suicide, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Kidnapping, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury

_marycappiello3's review against another edition

5.0

dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Cursing, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Pedophilia, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail

hyacinthed's review against another edition

2.5

dark 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: Yes

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Complicated feelings on this one.

Strengths:

• Strong worldbuilding (as always)
• Great structure
• Solid development of Charlie/decent development of Andy
• Dude putting on lingerie and jerking it to a garbage disposal. Lit.

Difficulties:

• Literally everything relating to Rainbird. The overt racism in his characterisation (yes it was the '80s, no it has not aged well), the literal pedophilic overtones of how he thinks and speaks about Charlie.
• The homophobia sprinkled throughout.
• The constant fat-shaming of Andy after he blows up on thorazine (we get it, he's fat, you don't have to remind us once a page).
• The lack of resolution of Vicky's death - I was hoping for some kind of reconciliation/closure.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Confinement, Death, Mental illness, Racism, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Stalking, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Body shaming, Fatphobia, Pedophilia

Minor: Homophobia