Reviews tagging 'War'

The Death of Jane Lawrence by Caitlin Starling

43 reviews

gretelchen's review

adventurous dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

Lovely, haunting book and took several turns I did not see coming!

And I would argue that happy ending was earned after everything Jane and Augustine went through!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood

Moderate: War

ermw0's review

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical content, Blood, Body horror, Child death, Death, and Medical trauma

Moderate: Death of parent

Minor: War and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

elanuruysal's review against another edition

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Medical content, Drug use, and Medical trauma

Moderate: War and Injury/Injury detail

animafeline's review

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Medical content, Mental illness, Murder, and Death

Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, Body horror, and Gore

Minor: Addiction, War, Fire/Fire injury, Miscarriage, Pregnancy, Child death, and Drug use

roniboi's review

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, Blood, Gore, Child death, and Death

Minor: War

mlovesbooks's review against another edition

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Body horror, Blood, and War

Minor: Pandemic/Epidemic

alienor's review

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical content, Gore, and Blood

Moderate: Child death, Gaslighting, and Drug use

Minor: War and Death of parent

enchantressreads's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense slow-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? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Blood, Death, and Medical content

Moderate: Miscarriage, Grief, and Gaslighting

Minor: Drug use, Death of parent, War, and Child death

loujanae's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious

• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

A gothic horror? A gothic romance? A gothic anything should be dripping in atmosphere. It should be flooded with tension and a living, breathing setting. I should have felt dread from the escalating tension of the romance, the mystery, the occult. This didn't have anything in common with a gothic novel. It was all tell, no show. Characters showing up to info dump a plot, and disappearing when no longer relevant and useful to the author. Every chapter sat us down and explained more and more without actually saying anything of note. Overexplained, underdeveloped. I think I'm one of the few people who actually "understood"  what was going on in chapter zero, (if it can truly be understood at all, no shade at all to everyone who couldn't grasp what was going on, I don't blame you!) and that ending was still a confusing and convoluted mess. There were so many ideas here that were SO interesting. But there was absolutely zero follow through on those interesting ideas.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Drug use, Medical content, Medical trauma, Miscarriage, Terminal illness, Gaslighting, Gore, Pregnancy, Death, Blood, and Body horror

Moderate: War and Death of parent

mirandamoon96's review

dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

5.0

phenomenal.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore and Blood

Moderate: Child death and War