Reviews tagging 'Confinement'

Dead Voices by Katherine Arden

4 reviews

dogearedbooks's review against another edition

adventurous lighthearted mysterious fast-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Minor: Child death, Confinement, and Death

maeverose's review against another edition

fast-paced

3.0

This is a somewhat generous 3 star.

I have mixed feelings. I really liked the premise, and I liked some things here and there, but overall it was very meh. It had a bit of a meandering plot. A lot of the things I disliked you could say are just because it’s middle grade. (Some predictable plot twists, not very scary, the very tidy ending.

Though I will say, Seth’s reaction to when Coco saved Ollie at the end was very satisfying

). Some of the things I disliked are very nit picky - mainly just weird wording here and there (taxidermy is filled with cotton, not formaldehyde…?). It really bothered me that Brian was so neglected in this book. This felt like Ollie and Coco’s story, with him as a background character. They’re the only two we get a pov from. He was even completely absent for the vast majority of the actual ‘game’, and even when he was there I don’t remember him ever doing much besides what other people told him to. Considering he’s the only black character, that doesn’t sit right with me. I also wanted to know Gretel and Gabe’s backstory, and found it a bit odd that we didn’t get that.

But again, it’s middle grade so maybe I’m being too critical.

Side note: I still think Coco is autistic. Examples:
1. She’s an anxious person
2. She has unique special interests
3. She has very strong emotional reactions to things
4. She’s excessively clumsy in a way that kinda suggests dyspraxia imo

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Animal death, Confinement, Fire/Fire injury, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Death of parent, and Grief

Minor: Fatphobia

Minor spoilers for the first chapter:

they almost get into a car crash

Multiple brief mentions of a fatal plane crash. A note on the animal death: there are taxidermy animals that come to life in a zombie-like way

emily_mh's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.25

This book was like a middle-grade “The Shining”. It had INCREDIBLE atmosphere. However, it didn’t feel super captivating, and the character development was lacking. I kind of wish the whole thing had been engineered to be told from only Coco’s POV so that there was a deeper dive into her character.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death

Moderate: Violence, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Child abuse, Child death, and Animal death

Minor: Car accident, Abandonment, Confinement, and Suicide

HP reference. Minor warnings for plane crash and epidemic.

cristy's review

adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced

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

3.75

Creepy fun sequel that builds on its predecessor. Sometimes, books for kids nail the scary factor better than adult ones. Thumbs down for HP references.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Confinement, Child abuse, Child death, and Grief