Reviews tagging 'Medical content'

A History of Wild Places by Shea Ernshaw

10 reviews

thatsssorachael's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Confinement, Medical content, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Pregnancy

brianna_moye's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional 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? No

3.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Pregnancy, Medical content, Injury/Injury detail, Alcoholism, Alcohol, and Gaslighting

kayelina's review against another edition

mysterious slow-paced

• 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? No

3.5

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Content Warnings

Minor: Murder, Confinement, Blood, Medical content, Pregnancy, Violence, and Gaslighting

anarchist_al's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense slow-paced

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

3.75

A pretty disorienting read—we begin with a narrator whose storyline is simply abandoned for basically the rest of the book. It eventually makes sense, but was kind of a head scratcher for the majority of the book. I really liked the setting of Pastoral, with beautiful descriptions of trees and forest and darkness. I was really intrigued by Travis’s ability to read after images of an object’s history, and was disappointed that it wasn’t explored or explained more. It was very very light magical realism. Also,

the idea of a charismatic cult leader works really well, and that he could lead a community to believe existential falsehoods is totally realistic. However, the whole thing being hypnosis was kind of a stretch. If it had been another bit of magical realism special ability thing, I would have liked it more and it would have mirrored Travis/Theo’s ability.

Overall, cool concept and setting, cool mystery, interesting characters—an entertaining listen. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Medical trauma, Murder, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Religious bigotry, and Torture

anni_swanilda's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Grief, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Physical abuse, Torture, Toxic relationship, and Violence

Moderate: Ableism, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Medical content, Pregnancy, and Suicide

gm_vak's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious tense medium-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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Gun violence, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Grief, Violence, Ableism, Infidelity, Medical content, Murder, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Torture, Emotional abuse, Alcohol, Blood, Body horror, Confinement, Death, and Medical trauma

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.

brittishliterature's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious relaxing tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

Wow, this book wasn't quite what I expected and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I was hesitant to read it, but I'd seen good reviews and wanted to branch out a bit from my usual genres. This was an atmospheric, emotional, reflective, slow-paced thriller set in a rural/forest landscape. At first, I was worried it might get too creepy/disturbing for me, but it never did and I liked that (I'm not much for media that leaves me scared to be home alone at night in the dark or constantly thinking someone's gonna be in my house to murder me lol).

It was dark and twisty with a touch of magical realism and beautiful imagery. I thought some of the plot twists were more clarifying than shocking but still very good. I enjoyed the flow of the narrative and where the journey took me as a reader from beginning to end. I definitely would recommend this book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder and Gaslighting

Moderate: Toxic relationship, Pregnancy, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Infidelity, and Medical content

Minor: Confinement, Fire/Fire injury, Gun violence, and Suicide

marinable_books's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Alcoholism, Blood, Death, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Murder, Pregnancy, and Toxic relationship