Reviews tagging 'Pregnancy'

The Death of Jane Lawrence by Caitlin Starling

28 reviews

mamaowlbear's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense 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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Miscarriage, Gaslighting, Death, Child death, Pregnancy, Drug use, Blood, Medical trauma, Injury/Injury detail, Body horror, and Medical content

buildingtaste's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced

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

2.75

From the first chapter, I always felt like this book was not quite telling me everything I needed to know. Since the setting is an alternate England, I would have expected more direct exposition about the things that make it meaningfully different, and also for these differences to have an impact on the story. As it was, we were soon locked in a country house, fundamentally indistinguishable from an English house (except of course for

the haunted basement

. Though having never stayed in an English country house I guess I can't be sure). Simply setting this novel in a more familiar country, even if in a fictional town or county, would have made this experience much more grounded and improved the contrast of familiar and unfamiliar once things got really weird.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Murder, Pregnancy, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, Self harm, Torture, Death, Abandonment, Mental illness, Animal death, Confinement, Death of parent, and Violence

Moderate: Medical content

Minor: Sexual content and Forced institutionalization

As a gothic horror novel, Jane Lawrence comes in fast with explicit gore. Elements of the magic system involve having something affecting a person's organs/moving inside their body, which

the protagonist

describes experiencing in detail.

illuminatedspace's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Cancer, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Miscarriage, Abortion, Grief, Murder, Confinement, Death, Medical content, Pregnancy, Self harm, Torture, Medical trauma, and Violence

Moderate: War and Gaslighting

Minor: Drug use

naomi_k's review against another edition

dark mysterious 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? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Death, Dysphoria, Miscarriage, Emotional abuse, Gore, Body horror, Confinement, Grief, Medical content, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Torture, and Violence

Moderate: Addiction, Kidnapping, Pregnancy, Toxic relationship, Gaslighting, Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, and Vomit

Minor: Sexual content and Suicidal thoughts

gayghostprince's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad tense medium-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? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Medical content, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, Death, Death of parent, and Gore

Moderate: Murder, Violence, Child death, Chronic illness, Medical trauma, War, and Confinement

Minor: Alcohol, Cancer, Chronic illness, Forced institutionalization, Drug use, Gaslighting, Medical trauma, Miscarriage, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Pregnancy, and Sexual content

morbidanatomy's review against another edition

dark mysterious slow-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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Gaslighting, Medical content, Miscarriage, Pregnancy, Toxic relationship, Drug use, Gore, Vomit, Abortion, and Mental illness

Moderate: Death of parent, War, and Child death

Minor: Forced institutionalization

erandle's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• 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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Blood, Medical trauma, Injury/Injury detail, Gore, Drug use, Death, and Death of parent

Moderate: Confinement, Medical content, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Self harm, Sexual content, Gaslighting, Miscarriage, Pregnancy, and Grief

aardwyrm's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense slow-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

The secondary world element elevates the thing and frees up the story to play with all kinds of spooky occultist stuff without any concern for history (though some of that constructed history is... questionable, and doesn't serve much purpose; everyone deciding to collectively be atheist after a world war is a jarring note that fades into the background as the story goes on). The gothic mystery and tension building and inevitable descent into chaos are all well handled, though honestly I could never care all that much about Augustine, who comes across as a tedious drip at best. Scary and tight enough to be riveting while you read it, though, and the flaws come clear only on reflection. What more can you ask?

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Terminal illness, Self harm, Blood, Body horror, Child death, Death, Medical trauma, Animal death, Toxic relationship, Pregnancy, Chronic illness, Fire/Fire injury, Forced institutionalization, Gaslighting, Gore, Medical content, Miscarriage, Suicide attempt, Abandonment, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Violence, and Suicidal thoughts

acashton's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Blood, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, and Medical content

Moderate: Drug use, Gore, and Violence

Minor: Alcohol, Death of parent, Death, Vomit, Pregnancy, and Child death

house_of_hannah's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious 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

4.0

What a fresh take on the gothic horror genre. This book is definitely longer than it needs to be, as it does drag in the last 150 pages, but it is quite interesting, and left me guessing through the whole story. The summary gives nothing away, so I was surprised at some of the elements included.

One of the things I found odd about the book though, is that it doesn't take place in our world for some reason. The name of the country is Great Breltain, with very English sounding town names, so it was obvious what the area was based on. Just seemed like an uneeded change that actually took me out of the story whenever the country was mentioned.

This also isn't a book that you can just casually read and expect to understand everything. This thing is going to take some thought. There is even a chapter that is written in a purposefully confusing way, which I understand the intention behind it, but man did my head hurt a bit. I'm still not sure if I understand everything correctly.

This was close to being a five star read, but the things I've mentioned previously, plus some little things throughout the story, brought it down to a four for me. For example, I have never seen so many perfectly timed rain storms before in my life. There were just too many perfect coincidences for my taste.

However, I really enjoyed the writing, and I thought it brought to life the imagery so well. I feel like all the characters had value, and no one was a throw-away. The plot is well thought out, which I appreciate so freaking much. Jane is also a fantastic character, and if you're looking for a strong female protagonist who does not scream, "I'm not like other girls", then this book is for you !

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical content, Confinement, Blood, Body horror, Death, Death of parent, Gore, Grief, and Medical trauma

Moderate: Child death and Drug use

Minor: Miscarriage, Pregnancy, Vomit, Abandonment, Alcohol, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Self harm, and War