Reviews with content warning for Blood - The Death of Jane Lawrence

Reviews tagging 'Blood'

The Death of Jane Lawrence by Caitlin Starling

113 reviews

ermw0's review against another edition

fast-paced

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

2.5

I was so exhausted by this book. It seems like Jane goes through a personality change every other page. The magical world was muddled and uninteresting, it felt like nonsense at some points. I was heavily skimming the end because of this. I was on board for the first half, but this quickly became an obligatory finish. I enjoyed “the Luminous Dead” so I thought I enjoy this. So much is crammed into this story and so much of it feels half baked, so I didn’t end up enjoying any of it. I was frustrated by this because if certain elements were the focus (the surgical scenes and more real dynamic between Jane and Augustine were good) it could’ve been great. But the magic world felt confusing and honestly like nonsense and ruined the book for me. I’ve read better gothic horror /magic inspired so I wouldn’t recommend this.

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elanuruysal's review against another edition

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dark mysterious fast-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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animafeline's review against another edition

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challenging dark mysterious reflective 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

4.0

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roniboi's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.75

This book was odder, bloodier, and more disorienting than I thought it would be picking it up. I don't know exactly how to feel after finishing it. I just know it was well written. It was clearly thought out well. Yet I hesitate to say that I entirely enjoyed it. I suppose the events that unfolded in the latter half of the book were not my cup of tea, not meaning the gore or anything. I suppose I am less of a speculative fiction girlie than I originally thought. For someone who enjoys fantasy, I suppose I enjoy it a certain way if that makes any sense. I really can appreciate the grip the story had on me which is why it still gets such a high rating. I don't think it deserves any less.
The best part of the book for me was Jane which was shocking to me because I almost NEVER like the main character. I just felt I could relate to her on certain things and she was honestly just more compelling than most main characters with all her flaws, insecurities, and strengths.

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smylieman's review against another edition

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dark mysterious medium-paced

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

3.5

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mlovesbooks's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense slow-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

It almost lost me near the end but a good read!

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shaunna_elaine's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense slow-paced

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

3.0

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luceeefur's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

All anyone really needs to do to get me to read something is include 'Crimson Peak' in it's description.

I really enjoyed this book. It was a great example of Gothic story telling, and I almost felt as though I was going mad with the characters towards the end. The romance between Jane and Augustin worked well with the plot and the setting. The anticipation of things about to go very bad was there early on in the novel, and ramped up appropriately for the genre.

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dreamofbookspines's review against another edition

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dark slow-paced

3.0

Truly town between 2.5 and 3 stars. It felt like the author did not use enough space to execute her concept, which left most of the meat of the book crammed into the last few chapters. But also, cool concept.

Although. Great Breltain. Really?? 😒 The place names really sucked.

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alienor's review against another edition

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dark mysterious

3.75

The Death of Jane Lawrence feels like a fever dream at times, and the kind of novels one can very easily dissect and unearth bits to criticize. This is why I fully understand the mixed reviews it got, really. In the end however I thought it was weird in a way I personally found delightful, and for me the horror lay more in the loss of agency of its characters than in anything else—even though some parts were disgusting. All in all, a book I'll certainly reread but that I'll have a hard time recommending.

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