Reviews tagging 'Murder'

Tripping Arcadia by Kit Mayquist

9 reviews

nithya_natalya's review

dark mysterious tense medium-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

4.0

This was a very fun novel, and once I got into it, moved very quickly. Very dark and bitter, and a satisfying portrayal of the decay beneath the glitz of capitalism and celebrity.

The only reason that I didn't give this five stars is because I wanted it to go further than it did. While the atmosphere and general mood of the novel felt gothic, the climax and resolution didn't feel grisly and tragic and destructive enough. It felt like eat the rich, except we only got the appetizer before the novel was over.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide attempt, Suicidal thoughts, Blood, Medical trauma, Emotional abuse, Death, Death of parent, Chronic illness, Child abuse, Addiction, Abandonment, Gaslighting, Drug abuse, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Grief, Ableism, Medical content, Vomit, Self harm, Murder, and Confinement

kumquats87's review

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug use, Classism, Child abuse, Alcoholism, Drug abuse, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Addiction

Minor: Murder, Medical content, Emotional abuse, and Toxic relationship

anxiousnachos's review

dark emotional mysterious tense

5.0

Fucking glorious. This book has slithered its vines into my head and completely consumed me. It haunts my soul. This bisexual hedonistic Gothic botanical horror has such exquisite vibes and such a wonderful pitch that I was a little worried it could never live up to what I wanted it to be - and then it did?! Iconic. It reads like a Baz Luhrmann film: somehow hazy and dream-like (or nightmarish), everything in slow-mo or reverse, I close my eyes and I can see scenes play out on my eyeballs so perfectly it has been carved into me. Poisons and sex parties and discussions of classism and murder and bisexuals and a sapphic relationship and a self-destructive man who longs for death ARE YOU KIDDING ME. 

This book was painful. It will cut you and carve itself into your soul and it will hurt. I loved every inch of it. 

Content warnings: drug use and addiction, alcohol use and addiction, chronic illness, chronic pain, non-consensual drug use including use of date-rape drugs, self harm, violence, blood, suicidal thoughts, suicide attempt, murder, attempted murder, classism

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Classism, Drug use, Alcoholism, Chronic illness, Murder, Suicide attempt, Alcohol, Drug abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Addiction, Blood, and Self harm

our_bookish_reads's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense fast-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

What an amazing debut novel! Bravo Kit Mayquist, bravo! 👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼

The events that transpire are so well written that they're believable. Even the characters were believable! My favorite character was Jonathan, I just felt for him and he seemed the most real in this. I was so sucked into this book that I had to force myself to peel it away from my eyes! I was shocked by some of the twists in here and did NOT expect the last few bombshells!  I can kind of get how this is compared to The Great Gatsby in that it compares the filthy rich to the absolute poor.... it also had a slight mysterious ambience while still staying in the Psychological Thriller genre. 
I could go on and on about this book all night, I really could, but I don't want to give away the whole story!

Drug abuse, alcohol, suicide ideation and attempt are very heavy in this, so if that is a trigger, I'd advise you to skip this one.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Blood, Cursing, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gaslighting, Medical content, Alcoholism, Addiction, Murder, Vomit, Death, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide attempt

Minor: Abandonment

jenbianca's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense slow-paced

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

3.0

ok this one is marketed as like a gothic thriller with a Great Gatsby vibe. it's very "eat the rich" lol.

Lena gets hired to work for a rich family as their physician's assistant - who comes to hate the family + seeks out revenge for wrongs done. i like the concept and vibe of the book but the main character was annoying and unrealistically vengeful. she becomes homicidal like 30% into the book and it just doesn't make sense. the book drags on wayyyyyy too long because of the quick escalation. and the ending is simply confusing - i'm still not sure what happened.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse, Drug use, Medical content, Murder, Alcohol, Death, and Alcoholism

Moderate: Chronic illness

booksofdahlia's review

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse and Drug use

Moderate: Vomit, Medical content, Death, Alcohol, Suicide attempt, Suicidal thoughts, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Gun violence, and Alcoholism

caseythereader's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-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

3.75

Thanks to Dutton Books for the free copy of this book.

 - TRIPPING ARCADIA is quite the ride! Blending gothic horror with modern nightmares and a heavy dash of queerness, it's visceral and gripping at every turn.
- I found myself quite invested in the Verdeaus in an unexplainable way just as Lena was.
- Some of the plot machinations were a bit tidy and predictable, but I still quite enjoyed the trip. I'll be interested to see what Mayquist does next. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Cursing, Drug use, Gore, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Vomit, Addiction, Alcoholism, Blood, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Drug abuse, Death of parent, Gun violence, Murder, Violence, and Death

e_l_bee's review

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

3.5

i found the first half of this book a little slow, but then i read the second half in two sittings. a brilliant plot with a lot of twists that i didn't see coming and very morally grey characters. a fun gothic poison book that had a lot to say about class. i think it could've used another round of edits though as i found the writing on the sentence/paragraph level to be a little repetitive in ways that could easily have been edited out. (though absolutely stellar use of metaphor and simile and some beautiful descriptions throughout) 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Blood, Body horror, Chronic illness, Classism, Drug abuse, Drug use, Medical trauma, Medical content, Murder, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Violence, and Vomit

Moderate: Injury/Injury detail

blackmetalblackheart's review

dark mysterious reflective slow-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

2.5

 Tripping Arcadia was full of a lot of ups and downs for me, ultimately leaving it balanced smack dab in the middle of good and bad, mediocre. I enjoyed the writing style. The narration by the protagonist was well written and engaging. Though many of the characters are not likeable (by design), there are interesting aspects to them that drew me in as a reader. I mean, who doesn't like a bacchanal or two?! That being said, I was thrown off by a number of things. The romance felt out of place and unnecessary. The ending seemed ludicrous. And the motivations of the characters fell flat for me. That is not a great way to be left feeling after a story. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Blood, Sexual content, Murder, and Vomit