Reviews tagging 'Grief'

The Death of Jane Lawrence by Caitlin Starling

29 reviews

racl'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? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

Adored the beginning, the introduction of the characters was incredible and had me incredibly invested. The middle was rocky for me, but I was pulled back in on the last third by

the blending of science, mathematics, and magic fueled by faith.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Death, Drug use, Gaslighting, Gore, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Medical trauma, and Mental illness

Moderate: Child death, Death of parent, Miscarriage, and War

smitinghedgehog's review

challenging dark mysterious 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

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Confinement, Death, Gore, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Mental illness, Miscarriage, and Self harm

Moderate: Drug use

Minor: Death of parent

jerusha's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious tense slow-paced

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

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Confinement, Death, Drug use, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Medical trauma, Miscarriage, Panic attacks/disorders, and Vomit

Moderate: Child death, Death of parent, Drug use, Gaslighting, and Grief

lillianreadsalot's review

challenging dark mysterious 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

2.75

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Abortion, Blood, Body horror, Death, Gore, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Medical trauma, Panic attacks/disorders, Pregnancy, Self harm, Torture, Violence, and Vomit

Moderate: Gaslighting, Mental illness, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Sexual content

laurajones's review

challenging dark mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

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

3.25

---

Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Drug use, Self harm, Toxic relationship, and War

Minor: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child death, Confinement, Excrement, Terminal illness, and Vomit

mo345's review

challenging dark funny mysterious sad tense fast-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

3.75

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Abortion, Animal death, Blood, Body horror, Confinement, Death, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Medical trauma, Miscarriage, Pregnancy, Self harm, Sexual content, Violence, and Vomit

Moderate: Alcohol and Forced institutionalization

petrolfox'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? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Child death, Confinement, Death, Death of parent, Gore, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Medical trauma, and Miscarriage

Moderate: Drug use, Gaslighting, and War

Minor: Alcohol, Forced institutionalization, Pregnancy, and Sexual content

gingerale06's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense slow-paced

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

3.25

I was loving it at first but then it got really weird and confusing 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Child death, Death, Death of parent, Drug use, Gore, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Medical trauma, Pregnancy, Terminal illness, Violence, and Vomit

booksthatburn'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? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

THE DEATH OF JANE LAWRENCE is slow burn horror of the best kind, built on bridging the gaps between wishes, nightmares, and reality with fevered applications of blood and viscera. 

The setting is technically-not-England, which frees it from being beholden to any exact combination of surgical sensibilities with historical accuracy while still conveying a particular feeling by the sum of its details. A surgeon might know the term “ectopic” while still practicing bloodletting and looking down on anyone so backward as to subscribe to miasma theory. Jane is an excellent narrator, highly reliable in how she conveys her thoughts and observations to the reader, but repeatedly stymied as she is less and less able to trust what she learns from other people. I didn’t much like Augustine as a person but he fits his role in the plot very well and is a great character. I love the plot, the pacing is excellent, a great book all around.

Its ending is immensely satisfying, fitting for the characters and in keeping with the horrors which transpire before. If you like surgical horror with magic and madness, don’t miss this one.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug use, Grief, Blood, Gore, Miscarriage, Medical content, Medical trauma, and Death

Moderate: Alcohol, Panic attacks/disorders, Vomit, Pregnancy, Terminal illness, Mental illness, Self harm, Child death, and Animal death

Minor: Sexual content, Forced institutionalization, and Death of parent