Reviews with content warning for Slavery - The Violin Conspiracy

The way Brendan Slocumb writes whenever Ray picks up the violin is utterly enchanting. You could omit the words ‘Ray picked up the violin’ completely and know just by the way the words pick you up and start dancing around you. I listened to the audiobook, which has violins playing between each part. It is a wild story; parts of it were hard to believe, and other parts were rather predictable.

Content Warnings

whatcassiedid's review against another edition

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challenging emotional mysterious reflective 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

5.0

I've been thinking about this all day since finishing it, it's going to stick with me for a while. It's very interesting to me that while the inciting incident of the story is the theft of the violin, it sets off a chain of events and back and forth in Ray's history that by the time the story got back to the stolen violin, I almost didn't need to know the whodunnit of it all because it was such an intricate story. Interesting stuff on property and ownership that I don't really have the words to discuss. There are a couple instances of police brutality as well as a very brief but graphic scene of violence towards slaves, so read with care

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keato's review against another edition

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challenging emotional tense 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? No

5.0

I usually hate when there’s music in an audiobook, I loved it in this book. It did physically pain me that I couldn’t hear Ray play. So much talk of how great he was and I just wanted to hear it for myself 😭. The book started a bit slow but once the flashbacks started I was hooked. I have not felt the type of all encompassing cold fury that

the Marx

made me feel in sooooooo long. I wanted to cry. The narrator did such a great job making them hateable, and honestly just did a killer job in general. This book took over my entire life and I could not stop thinking about it. My only couple critiques are that

the ending was a bit anticlimactic (but I’m so glad it wrapped up well and seamlessly without causing more stress lol) and the MC was almost too perfect. Always said and did the right thing, and was 200% unaffected by fame

. A good plot with hateable villains GETS me though.

Content Warnings

msennflinn's review against another edition

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challenging emotional mysterious reflective 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? No

4.0

Content Warnings

ukponge's review against another edition

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mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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