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sarahtombrck's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
3.0
Graphic: Death, Murder, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, and Suicide attempt
Minor: Addiction, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Blood, Body horror, Drug use, and Grief
christinereichard's review against another edition
- 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
3.5
The last quarter of the book did a bit of a nosedive -- I didn't have any trouble finishing it, but the characters' problems seemed unrelated to the rest of the story. The only takeaway from the final quarter was that I hated all of them except maybe Richard himself (though he's on thin ice). The
Moderate: Alcohol, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Grief, Gun violence, Incest, Medical content, Murder, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Toxic friendship, and Toxic relationship
Minor: Blood, Death of parent, Homophobia, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Rape, and Sexism
leepc's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Incest, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Mental illness, Medical content, Gun violence, and Gaslighting
Moderate: Animal cruelty
Minor: Body horror, Vomit, Violence, Racism, Racial slurs, Physical abuse, Outing, Misogyny, Homophobia, and Grief
Expect every possible trigger you could associate with a story about college students with access to alcohol, drugs, and money.saraoona's review against another edition
- 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? Yes
4.75
Graphic: Alcohol, Animal death, Blood, Body horror, Death, Mental illness, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicide, Toxic friendship, and Violence
Moderate: Incest
scripturient's review against another edition
- 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? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Vomit, Toxic relationship, Suicide attempt, Suicide, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Gun violence, Grief, Drug use, Drug abuse, and Death
Moderate: Body horror, Bullying, Emotional abuse, Incest, Sexual content, Homophobia, Car accident, and Antisemitism
renjamin's review against another edition
- 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? It's complicated
4.0
Graphic: Death, Violence, Blood, Body horror, Grief, and Murder
Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Suicide attempt, Incest, and Drug use
Minor: Domestic abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Rape, and Racial slurs
misrah's review against another edition
- 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
3.0
Graphic: Alcoholism, Blood, Death, Murder, Racism, and Xenophobia
Moderate: Addiction, Cursing, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gun violence, Homophobia, Incest, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Suicide, and Suicide attempt
Minor: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Antisemitism, Body horror, Car accident, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Self harm, and Suicidal thoughts
not_machiavelli's review against another edition
- 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? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Blood, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gore, Incest, Misogyny, Murder, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Toxic relationship, and Violence
Moderate: Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Antisemitism, Body horror, Homophobia, Islamophobia, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Religious bigotry, and Sexual violence
Minor: Biphobia, Cannibalism, Car accident, Chronic illness, Cursing, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, and Gun violence
anubhaghoshal's review against another edition
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
"The Jacobeans had a sure grasp of catastrophe. They understood not only evil, it seemed, but the extravagance of tricks with which evil presents itself as good. I felt they cut right to the heart of the matter, to the essential rottenness of the world."
I finished this book half an hour ago and I feel compelled to write this review without delaying it so as to not loose the intrigues it presents, and thereby the essence of the book.
I didn't realize how dark and dramatic this read is going to turn out to be. By the time I finished this book there was deep, dark feeling in the pit of my stomach making me feel nauseous. The writing was so realistic and powerful that I feel I have witnessed all the events occurring right in front of my eyes.
How it honestly can be summarized in my opinion is a bunch of elite narcissists thinking they own the world, drunk driving and killing rashly, remorselessly. To stay out of jail, and hide their tracks, they kill furthermore.
If Camilla was not even written about, wouldn't have missed her. She was completely irrelevant expect they need her for the bacchanal. She trusted Henri? He gave alcohol to Charles plus those medicines.
Charles and Francis were okay, they had their flaws but they were not too revengeful and even emotional after their intended kill.
Bunny seemed most moral, black mailing isn't but he didn't say it out aloud that he was doing that. The others themselves tried to placate him because as and when Henri said no to his whims and fancies, he didn't threaten to go to police. He didn't hold anything against them but condemned them and wished he never was a part of this. He always used his friends for money and favors, even before the ritual so it wasn't blackmail but what others felt because of their own guilt. His ill mental state by the end spells out that he couldn't and didn't want to keep the information to himself anymore no matter what the consequences. Also, he knew that Richard wasn't associated with the ritual yet still insulted him and was rude by the end, even to his own gf. Richard just wanted to make an excuse to support Henri and the others when it came to killing Bunny. If someone is rude to everyone, it was clear that person doesn't have any personal bias, so Richard should have understood his mental state.
This brings me to the question why was Richard even lying at all? Everyone knew he was poor and he didn't see eye to eye with his parents. Why blatantly lie when you don't have much to hide anyway. And Richard's romanticization of the whole deal is disgusting and disturbing. Instead of holding any ethical values, he becomes an accomplice to brutality just so he could "fit in" and impress. You can't blame anyone but him for playing a fool's game, very well knowing the background he had, he was destined to be doomed.
About the ritual of Ballachan, I still do not understand the whole situation. The innocent man was sacrificed at the most since the description of the stomach and steam from it doesn't hint at a normal car accident. But who was the fifth person with them? It can't be a god as they said, and was it Julian with them but they were too drunk and wasted to realise? Guess will never know.
By the end I can confidently say that dark academia ain't my cup of tea, I love the intellectual element, the literary one too. I enjoyed watching the Enola Holmes tremendously but I can't help but feel it's Eurocentric, racist, homophobic, lacks any diversity and ruthlessly vain.
Enjoyed the writing though.
My favourite quotes from the book-
"Why does that obstinate little voice in our heads torment us so? he said, cooking round the table. Could it be because it reminds us that we are alive, of our mentality of our individual souls - which, after all, we are too afraid to surrender but yet make us feel more miserable than any other thing! But isn't also pain that when makes us most aware of self? It is a terrible thing to learn as a child that being separate from all the world, that no one and nothing hurts along with ene's burned tongues and skinned knees, that one's aches and pains are all one's own. Even more terrible, as we grow older. to learn that no person, no matter how beloved, can ever truly understand us
Our own selves make us most unhappy, and that's why we're so anxious to lose them, don't you think? Remember the Erinyes!"
"Because it is dangerous to ignore the existence of the irrational. The more cultivated a person is, the more intelligent, the more repressed, then the more he needs some method of channeling the primitive impulses he's worked so hard to subdue. Otherwise those powerful old forces will mass and strengthen until they are violent enough to break free, more violent for the delay, often strong enough to sweep the will away entirely. For a warning of what happens in the absence of such a pressure valve, we have the example of the Romans."
"It's a very Greek idea, and a very profound one Beauty is terror. Whatever we call beautiful, we quiver before it. And what could be more terrifying and beautiful, to souls like the Greeks or our own, than to lose control completely? To throw off the chains of being for instant, to shatter the accident of our mortal selves? Euripides speaks of the Maenada: bead thrown I back, throat to the stars, more like deer than human being. To be absolutely free! One is quite capable, of course, of working out these destructive passions in more vulgar and less efficient ways. But how glorious to release them in a single burst To sing, to scream, to dance barefoot in the woods in the dead of night, with no more awareness of mortality than an animal! These are powerful mysteries. The bellowing of bulls. Springs of honey bubbling from the ground. If we are strong enough in our souls we can rip away the veil and look that naked, terrible beauty right in the face; let God consume us, devour us, unstring
our bones. Then spit us out reborn."
Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Blood, Body horror, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gore, Gun violence, Homophobia, Hate crime, Incest, Physical abuse, Religious bigotry, Self harm, Sexism, and Violence
Minor: Animal cruelty, Domestic abuse, Mental illness, Medical content, and Racial slurs
tori214's review against another edition
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Antisemitism, Cursing, Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Homophobia, Incest, Physical abuse, Religious bigotry, Self harm, Toxic relationship, Xenophobia, Violence, and Islamophobia
Moderate: Body horror, Chronic illness, Gun violence, Suicide, Islamophobia, and Incest
Minor: Animal death, Body horror, Cancer, Chronic illness, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Excrement, Grief, Gore, Gun violence, Panic attacks/disorders, Rape, and Violence