Reviews tagging 'Mental illness'

Une Fenêtre sur les ténèbres by Benjamin Peylet, Rachel Gillig

39 reviews

mari1532's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.5

I have been hearing about this book everywhere and was finally able to get the audiobook through my library after several weeks of having it on hold with Libby. Overall, I was not gripped by this story until the third act and then I was absolutely invested. For the first two-thirds, I was more just going with the flow learning who all the characters were and the world-building facts that Gilling was integrating into the story. 

I am a bit confused by two things throughout the story. First, Ione's whole subplot confused me. How did Ione and Elspeth grow up so close and then diverge so quickly on their paths? Elspeth was a well-constructed character and throughout her motivations were clear, but I have no idea why Ione was making the choices that she was. The game that all the characters play toward the climax of the book did make things slightly clearer, but overall she did not feel fully fleshed out. I hope that she gets a bigger subplot in the next book. 

The second thing that was confusing for me throughout the book and it is possible that I just did not understand this in the text is how many cards there are in total. There are rarer cards that are much harder to find, but some of the cards are quite ubiquitous. The cards seemed to be important for displays of power, but I'm not sure if two different decks are being constructed by the two factions or if one group is ahead in the number of cards that they have. 

I really enjoyed the romance subplot of the book. The dynamics between the characters were fun to watch develop throughout the book.

The ending of this book was absolutely shocking and gripping! I have no idea how Gillig is going to resolve all the loose ends in the next book, but I cannot wait to find out.  

Highly recommend. It starts a bit slow but the plot is worth the wait. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Chronic illness, Death, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Child death

Minor: Sexual content and Toxic relationship

kfkeene's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense fast-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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Genocide, Mental illness, Misogyny, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Police brutality, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

margaret_k30's review against another edition

dark mysterious medium-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Blood, Death of parent, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Mental illness, Sexual content, Police brutality, and Classism

Minor: Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Gore, Infidelity, Grief, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Alcohol

nightknight217's review against another edition

adventurous 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

4.5

I really enjoyed this book -- the setting and lore felt very rich and fleshed out, which allowed me to become invested not only in the characters, but in the world itself!
There were a few moments that where tropy

enemies to lovers, and drama that could have been entirely avoided if characters could just TALK TO EACHOTHER!!!

But even they felt justified for the most part.
I'm looking forward to reading the second!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence and Blood

Moderate: Bullying, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Terminal illness, Abandonment, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Minor: Child death, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Police brutality, Grief, and Death of parent

the mental illness and terminal illnesses depicted arent real-life illness but instead caused by the use of magic - characters experience degeneration, which causes mental or physical illness, includingone character hearing a voice in her head

danyaverra's review against another edition

dark mysterious medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Mental illness, and Sexual content

Moderate: Child death

The book focuses a lot on the sad state of the world. There is also 1 page of an explicit sex scene on page 310-311

lisavandonselaar's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Mental illness, Violence, Blood, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Child abuse, Sexual content, Abandonment, and Sexual harassment

sirpandacat's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence

Moderate: Chronic illness, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Suicidal thoughts

coastal_moonlit_garden's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.25

This was a unique (at least to me) read that was gothic, mysterious and a fun read! It starts off slowly but really picks up about halfway through and got more interesting. The ending wasn’t what I expected and I’m looking forward to book 2!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Violence, and Blood

Moderate: Mental illness, Torture, and Xenophobia

gauriraut's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• 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: Child abuse, Chronic illness, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Gore, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Religious bigotry, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Grief and Death of parent

pinkandpurple44's review against another edition

adventurous dark hopeful mysterious relaxing fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Probably my favorite book I have read so far

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Cursing, Mental illness, and Abandonment