Reviews tagging 'Medical trauma'

The Death of Jane Lawrence by Caitlin Starling

73 reviews

stbyleth's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

I enjoyed this book overall, I think. The prose was extremely well-written and the author did her research into the time period. I had started off with the audiobook and found it was not going as fast as I wanted (even though the audiobook was EXTREMELY well acted and well worth it), so I ended up buying a copy since I can read faster than listen. 

I was put off by the magic at first but after suspending my disbelief it made sense in the narrative. That's what I get for not fully reading the summary. 

The pacing is rather fast. Jane falls in love with Augustine and he, with her, in a matter of a week. I suppose that's par for the course for these types of novels but I think it would have been better if it had leaned more into her wanting to keep it a business relationship strictly (him falling in love with her, however, would still make sense to me; he is very controlled by his emotions, whereas she is very logical and cunning). 

Rest of the review is spoilers. 

"Chapter Zero" was odd, to me. Somehow I still hoped that Elodie was the real Elodie (I was guessing that Jane would offer up her life so that Elodie could live as Jane or perhaps they mix together, and that was what the title meant (the death of the "true" Jane)). I had assumed the rest of the ghosts were not who they said they were from the start, and it only became more apparent when it was shown that Augustine and Jane saw different things out of the same shadows. But the time travel plot seemed very... off, in a way. Perhaps that was the intention. It certainly pulled the narrative together but that was it. I will say, though, that the author was good at giving small hints that, upon looking back, make more sense knowing what we know now. Also, for the longest time, I assumed that it would actually not be any ghosts whatsoever and that there was actually a gas leak of some sort since there was a LOT of focus on the house being piped with gas. But then nothing came of it.

I think it would have been more fun if the concept of the mirror world was played with more. When "Elodie" showed up in the mirror I got excited because for some time I had been thinking that this was a mirrored version of our world, with some key differences, like the names of the locations and outcome of the war. I still don't know why it was set in an alternate reality if this was not the case.

Overall, good book that could have used some fine tuning, but I still think it was worth it. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical trauma, Gore, and Medical content

Moderate: Miscarriage

shaunna_elaine's review

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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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: 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

patchy_at_best's review

dark emotional tense slow-paced

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

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Blood, Gaslighting, Medical trauma, Death, Injury/Injury detail, and Medical content

threeundertwopnw's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense slow-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Child death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Grief, Medical trauma, Miscarriage, Pregnancy, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Death, Death of parent, Drug use, Abortion, and Self harm

shysheepys's review

challenging dark emotional mysterious tense slow-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical content, Medical trauma, and Mental illness

alxjasper's review

dark mysterious tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

A beautifully written gothic horror. Some plot points were prredictable but the sense of tension and horror was well maintained throughout.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Gore, Medical trauma, Body horror, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Pregnancy

Minor: Toxic relationship, Forced institutionalization, War, Vomit, Violence, Self harm, and Gaslighting

huetepl's review

dark tense medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical trauma and Medical content

Moderate: Child death, War, and Death

saurahsaurus's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

3.75

I really enjoyed this book until about 4/5 of the way through, when it delved into

the details of Jane’s magic rituals and mathematical theories.

Until that point, the book thoroughly held my interest and the pacing felt well-suited to the plot. My interest really dipped during the 80-86% part of the book, but did gradually return after that.

The ending was layered, a bit surprising, and intriguing.

It wasn’t a true happy ending, but it was mostly hopeful.

I felt that the ending redeemed the book overall. The main characters and their relationship were compelling, and I found myself really rooting for them.  I especially loved that Jane’s autism is portrayed so lovingly and as the superpower that it is. There isn’t nearly enough autism representation in literature, and the horror genre is no exception, so Jane is a breath of fresh air. (Jane’s autism is alluded to—and not directly described, but the author confirmed this fact!)

I may not revisit this book, but I’d happily read more work from this author!

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Confinement, Grief, Terminal illness, Self harm, Child death, Death of parent, and Drug use

Minor: Vomit, War, Forced institutionalization, Mental illness, Abandonment, Confinement, Fire/Fire injury, Murder, Pregnancy, Toxic relationship, Classism, and Sexual content

simone_elizabeth's review

dark emotional mysterious tense fast-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

5.0

Oh the horror of loving and being loved!!! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Child death, Murder, Torture, Drug use, Medical trauma, Blood, Body horror, Gore, and Miscarriage

Moderate: War, Abandonment, and Confinement