Reviews tagging 'Violence'

Le Village perdu by Camilla Sten

49 reviews

odrib's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• 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: Ableism, Death, Mental illness, Violence, Blood, Religious bigotry, Murder, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Rape, Suicidal thoughts, Medical content, Suicide attempt, Pregnancy, and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Cancer

onemorepagecrew's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.0

 

The Lost Village, written by Swedish author Camilla Sten and translated to English by Alexandra Fleming, helped solidify my enjoyment of Scandinavian horror and suspense novels. In this story, a documentary filmmaker returns to an abandoned mining town where her grandmother’s family disappeared from long ago.  She has brought a few friends along to help make the film and while they are there, strange things begin happening and they suspect they are not alone.  I don’t want to give away too much of the plot or characters, so I’ll leave it there. 

 

This novel had the right level of suspense for me and enough mystery that I was never quite sure if I was dealing with supernatural powers, which I enjoyed.  There is violence and there is suspense and I’d classify it as psychological tension more than outright fear.  The author weaves in religious cults, mental health, and there is reference to suicide so read with care.  My only small issue was the notion that a whole town could disappear a remain a mystery for decades and when they reveal what happened (no spoilers, promise) it seems that it would have uncovered long ago. 

 

When researching this author I found that her mother is also an author with many published novels and Camilla herself has a new novel coming out in 2022.  It’s called The Resting Place and I’m looking forward to reading it as well as perusing her prior novels.  Side note – if you’re enjoying the television series Yellowjackets I think you will like this novel! 

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Content Warnings

Minor: Sexual violence, Suicide, and Violence

bookishgoob's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced

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

3.75

the atmosphere of this book was definitely chilling. there is mention of sexual assault & in another part it is hinted that a character was sexually assaulted. the ending made me feel like there should have been a bit more. it felt a little empty but it was enjoyable and creepy nonetheless 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Chronic illness, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Hate crime, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, and Injury/Injury detail

jet_nebula's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence

Moderate: Rape, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide attempt

Minor: Sexual violence

mooniemushi's review against another edition

sad medium-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? It's complicated

1.0

this is the worst book ever lmao 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Body horror, Child death, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Violence, Blood, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Abandonment

marissamally's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad tense slow-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? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence

Minor: Suicidal thoughts

mongoose's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

2.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, and Suicide attempt

amandas_bookshelf's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• 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: Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Suicide attempt, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

Moderate: Physical abuse

Minor: Rape

archaicrobin's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense fast-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

1.0

I have a real pet peeve about publishers marketing books incorrectly. This novel was described as a mix of Blair Witch and Midsommar and all I can say is how? There was nothing paranormal about this book at all, nothing creepy or eerie, it’s just another mediocre “crazy” cult book. I figured out the twist less than an hour into the audiobook, so the whole reading experience was me hoping I was wrong because the “twist” is dumb.  I was so excited to read this one, and despite some disappointing reviews I decided to still give it a try, I shouldn’t have. 

Alice is attached to this old village where her grandmother grew up. Alice heard all these stories and is enthralled with figuring out what happened to everyone in the village. Who stoned this lady to death? Where did everyone go? Why? To answer these questions Alice gathers a film crew made of friends and acquaintances with limited experience to travel to this town and film a documentary trying to figure out what happened. 

Weird but mundane things start happening, none of the characters are like able or even  seem like actual people. Alice is also absolutely the worst,  no redeeming qualities at all in my opinion. As the gang bumbles along they start to realize they might not be alone.  The story jumps back and forth between Now and Then. You see how this town starts to turn into a cult, kind of. It’s more like everyone wakes up one day and decides to just be psychos. The author tries to create a scenario where this whole cult thing makes sense, but it’s just too weak. “They all lost their jobs and this new hot guy says he’ll be their hot priest so now they’re a cult” isn’t really a good set up for me…

I did not enjoy this, I was disappointed and just kinda irritated honestly. Positives? The audiobook was great, very well done and the writing was also great. It was just everything else that sucked. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Body horror, Death, Mental illness, Violence, Blood, Grief, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Abandonment, and Alcohol

kathkas's review against another edition

dark mysterious medium-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Torture, Violence, Religious bigotry, and Murder

Minor: Rape, Sexual assault, and Sexual violence