Reviews tagging 'Violence'

The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August by Claire North

21 reviews

romie_chat's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional informative mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

the way I want to throw this book at everyone but keep it all to myself at the same time:)

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, War, Torture, Violence, Death, Forced institutionalization, Terminal illness, Drug use, and Murder

corriejn's review against another edition

medium-paced

• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Suicide attempt, Violence, Physical abuse, Suicide, Drug use, Murder, Death, Terminal illness, Stalking, Mental illness, Medical trauma, Gore, Torture, Toxic friendship, Forced institutionalization, Suicidal thoughts, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Dementia, Genocide, Child abuse, Vomit, Injury/Injury detail, Self harm, Pregnancy, Infidelity, Gun violence, Child death, Medical content, Alcohol, War, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, and Rape

louisecalder's review against another edition

dark emotional sad medium-paced

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

3.5

Interesting read and very well written. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Violence

Moderate: War and Suicidal thoughts

graceq22's review against another edition

emotional mysterious reflective sad 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Torture, War, Violence, Toxic friendship, and Terminal illness

Moderate: Rape and Abortion

Minor: Cancer

radinsh's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious reflective slow-paced

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

3.0

Fluent writing style that pulls you in. However, plot repetitive beyond measure, even for a time loop.  

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Cancer, Chronic illness, Drug abuse, Forced institutionalization, Murder, Confinement, Death, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Terminal illness, Torture, Violence, Vomit, Rape, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and War

chemmerd42's review against another edition

It could have had potential but there's way too much crudeness in it for me. Things like rape, swearing, disturbing scenes in a psych ward, etc. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual violence, Violence, Cursing, and Physical abuse

Minor: Rape

ladybismuth's review against another edition

adventurous challenging mysterious reflective tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Loveable characters? Yes

5.0

Definitely one of my favourite books. The narrative is exquisite, the characters are complex and intriguing, the plot is original and interesting. After reading it I couldn't stop thinking what I'd do with my lives if I were an ouroboran.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Blood, Torture, Murder, and Drug use

lilifane's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark reflective tense medium-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

Unfortunately, I didn't enjoy this as much as I thought I would. The premise was really cool and interesting, but I struggled a lot with the rest. The atmosphere was quite depressing, and I really didn't like the detailed descriptions of torture, injuries and diseases. If you can think of any trigger, you can be sure it's in the book. I also didn't care for any of the characters, most of them were pretty unlikable. And it probably didn't help that I didn't like the German translation or the German narrator of the audiobook. Kinda wish I'd had access to the English book/audiobook.

There were some things I liked, though. The premise, like I said. But also how the story was structured. You get these random episodes of Harry's lives, and with each one you get a piece of information that explains how living your life over and over again works. All the pros but also cons are explored really well, and I like how they play a big part in the showdown of the story. I think it was cool, how many historical events around the globe Claire North was able to insert in the plot, the research must have been really extensive. Oh, and some of the settings were really cool. 

But all in all it felt too long in some places, too short in others, and the ending really dragged a lot because of so many repetitions. This felt like a 1000 pages book without actually being one. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Cancer, Death, Death of parent, Drug use, Forced institutionalization, Gore, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Mental illness, Murder, Rape, Suicide, Terminal illness, Torture, Violence, and Vomit

georgianadarcy's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

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

5.0

This is probably my favourite book.

The premise is fascinating, the way North explores it is even more fascinating & the characters are intricate & richly woven into the plot.

When Vincent was revealed to be evil I cried & when he tortured Harry & tried to wipe his mind I damn near sobbed.

Go read it. Then cry & force everyone you know to read it too.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Cancer, Death, Death of parent, Murder, Torture, and Violence

Moderate: Rape, Suicide, and Vomit

Harry’s (protag) mother is raped & this is brought up multiple times but discussed emotionally rather than graphically. The torture scenes are pretty graphic too - they do make you squirm but

he can’t die so make of that what you will

bertramshotel's review against another edition

reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Torture, Suicide, Child abuse, Child death, and Violence