Reviews tagging 'Alcoholism'

A History of Wild Places by Shea Ernshaw

35 reviews

kristie_deaver's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

4.5

I could not put this book down. I loved the mystery slowly unfolding, yet the book never feeling slow. My only confusion was timeline. There where times when I felt confused about when we were with Calla, Theo and Bee. Overall, I would have loved to see more diversity called into the book. This story is a chilling tale that will take you into the world of Pastoral; the only way out is through. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Toxic relationship, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Suicide

Minor: Pregnancy, Blood, Infidelity, and Gun violence

foldingthepage_kayleigh's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense slow-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

The History of Wild Places gave me Twin Peaks meets The Sun Down Motel and Tana French. Not my favourite, I thought there would be more flashes through time. Instead, this book mostly focused on the setting of Pastoral. But even the purpose of focusing so much on a setting, such as building a sense of dread, or even giving us time to connect with the characters and community, were missing. If you enjoy cultish elements and slow burn plot-focused books, then this is for you!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Gaslighting, Ableism, Medical content, and Pregnancy

Minor: Child death, Alcohol, and Alcoholism

jazhandz's review against another edition

dark mysterious slow-paced

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

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Gaslighting

Moderate: Alcoholism, Medical content, Pregnancy, and Sexual content

Minor: Blood

No child death occurs but there is a plot point about a baby being sick. Additional warning for a cultlike situation and

memory loss and modification.

krys_kilz's review against another edition

dark mysterious slow-paced

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

3.5

The first 100 pages of this book were so slow and drawn out. This coupled with the redundant and excessive description made it difficult for me to get into the story. 

About halfway into the book, things began to pick up and there were a lot of surprising twists and turns. The commentary on Levi's violence and how the entire community was responsible for it reminded me a little of Hannah Arendt's analysis of authoritarianism and power.

Overall, the book wasn't as exciting as I hoped it would be from the description. I think pared down, it would have made for a much more compelling book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Death, Toxic relationship, Gaslighting, and Murder

Moderate: Pregnancy and Alcoholism

Minor: Gun violence

lenareads75's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious relaxing tense slow-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

Moderate: Murder, Religious bigotry, and Gaslighting

Minor: Suicide, Alcoholism, and Toxic relationship

ehm's review against another edition

dark mysterious slow-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fire/Fire injury, Drug abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Toxic relationship, Abandonment, Addiction, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Blood, Death, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Infidelity, and Suicide

kenzieb1's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Misogyny, Toxic relationship, and Confinement

Moderate: Murder and Alcoholism

Minor: Pregnancy, Gun violence, Murder, Infidelity, and Domestic abuse

elliez's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

Review to come after I process my thoughts on the book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Pregnancy, and Violence

Moderate: Alcoholism, Blood, Gun violence, and Suicidal thoughts

Minor: Sexual content

maregred's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Gaslighting

Minor: Alcoholism, Death, and Toxic relationship

lisakate1126'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? Yes

4.5

This book had me waiting to find out what really happened the whole time. It was compelling and even though I figured out the general sense of what was going on before the end, I didn’t figure out the specifics. And I did enjoy how it all ended. Definitely will read this author again! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence and Murder

Moderate: Alcoholism