Reviews tagging 'Child death'

The Diviners by Libba Bray

11 reviews

hardbackhoarder's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense 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

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Racism, Gore, Body horror, Abandonment, Sexual harassment, Blood, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Religious bigotry, Fire/Fire injury, Death, Child death, Toxic relationship, Suicide, and Murder

Moderate: Slavery, Grief, Death of parent, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, Ableism, and Domestic abuse

Minor: Drug abuse, Terminal illness, Abortion, Sexual violence, Racial slurs, Police brutality, Misogyny, Sexual assault, Vomit, Confinement, Deportation, Xenophobia, Colonisation, Rape, Cannibalism, and Homophobia

annakh16's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.0

A fun book that I got through surprisingly quickly. Great audio narration and great storytelling.  

I really appreciated the diversity of settings and characters, and learning about their struggles. It greatly strengthened  the historical element of the story for me. 

The characters themselves were lovable - well, mostly. Evie had me po-si-tutely annoyed sometimes, but she grew on me, and I also think her behaviour is actually realistic for a teenager in her position, which was refreshing. (But yes: too much slang. I agree with everyone on this). 
I also absolutely loved the different friend/sibling/family dynamics. Theta/Henry and Memphis/Isaiah have my heart.

I do think it was a shame that Mable was kind of dropped 3/4 through the story. It didn’t make sense, and I also just liked following her pov. Hope this gets remedied in the next book.

 

Regarding the ending,

I did think the final fight was surprisingly quick. It felt a bit anticlimactic.

Regarding the romance,

is it really meant to be romance? I think it’s very clear Jericho likes Evie. I think it’s also clear she just sees him as a distraction, with a bit of shared scary experiences/teenage horniness to sort the sexual tension. Will be interesting to see how this develops. Definitely think we have a love triangle incoming.

 

Overall a fun read. Almost too spooky for me. But looking forward to the next book. 

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Child death, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, and Religious bigotry

Minor: Animal cruelty, Sexual assault, Suicide, Animal death, Grief, War, Abortion, and Racism

guessgreenleaf's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced

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

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Blood, Cannibalism, Classism, Racism, Alcoholism, Animal death, Violence, Child death, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Homophobia, Murder, Grief, Suicide, and Sexual assault

trippalli's review

dark funny lighthearted mysterious 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? It's complicated

5.0

A funny adventurous book about a murderous ghost set in a roaring 20s plus occult and individuals with specific powers, like seeing memories in touching an object or seeing glimpses of the future, becoming unseen temporarily... But I never thought I'd let l laugh so much while a serial killer is trying to be stopped. I loved all the very diverse cast and I wanted them to all be safe! They are so quirky, using their ability to pick pockets or make party games and sprinkled constantly with the 20s slang of the lead character, a girl who wants to party and turns detective and PR for her academic uncle's museum of the occult she is so sassy, spontaneous and friendly... All the characters are very vivid and unique and the world is fabulous. I have the first 4 books and am eager to read the next one!

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Gore, Gun violence, Religious bigotry, Sexual harassment, Murder, Physical abuse, Stalking, Torture, Abandonment, Animal death, Death, Alcohol, Xenophobia, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Animal cruelty, Racism, Child death, Confinement, and Domestic abuse

Moderate: Ableism and War

cdpow's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious 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

4.25

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder and Death

Moderate: Child death and Domestic abuse

Minor: Racism

davidrb's review

adventurous dark funny slow-paced

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

3.0

Just Okay. I think I'm just never gonna get into a YA fantasy, but the setting and lore both appealed to me! I'll probably continue the series, seeing as some characters (namely Memphis, Henry, and Sam!?) didn't have much of a presence in the story when it came to the main plot. (Poor Mabesie too!)

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Ableism, Addiction, Alcohol, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Cannibalism, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Confinement, Death, Death of parent, Dementia, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Mental illness, Misogyny, Murder, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Police brutality, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Religious bigotry, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Slavery, Terminal illness, Torture, Toxic relationship, Vomit, and War

This book is much more graphic than I was expecting, especially when it comes to the child death, sexual and domestic abuse, and animal death. Watch out!

er1nmoore's review

adventurous challenging dark mysterious tense 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

4.5

TO BE WRITTEN

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Abortion, Alcohol, Animal cruelty, Antisemitism, Blood, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Gore, Grief, Misogyny, Murder, Racism, Rape, Religious bigotry, Sexism, Suicide, Terminal illness, Torture, Violence, War, and Xenophobia

katherinek's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.0

The first half was good, but a bit slow. The second half was excellent. It wasn’t too predictable and kept me wondering what could happen next. I wanted more of Sam.

Jericho being a robot was kind of random?? It just didn’t really fit the vibe of the book in my opinion. Jericho and Evie as a couple was also kind of weird but I didn’t hate it.

Mabel reminds me of Penny from Hairspray. I could totally see this book as a TV series!! Bray is a great writer!

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death

Moderate: Alcohol, Animal death, Fire/Fire injury, Torture, Suicide, Rape, and Medical content

Minor: Gun violence, Vomit, Racism, and Grief

genny's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense 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

4.5

The audiobook is fantastic, one of the best I've ever listened to. I still cannot believe there's only one narrator - January LaVoy is so skilled that it sounds like you're listening to a full cast! If you like audio at all and are interested in this story, do yourself a favor and go with the audiobook. Anyway, this was so much fun! I felt immersed in the 1920's setting and loved the main cast, though we didn't see enough of Mabel or Henry (fingers crossed for character development in the next books). Evie is a darling protagonist, and I find her blossoming relationship with

Jericho

sweet, though it's pretty obvious we'll be getting a

love triangle with Sam, which I'm not mad about as he and Evie are adorable together

. The "mystery" was fine, just the right amount of spookiness, though I admit I cared less about it than getting to know the characters. Even side characters appear to harbor secrets of their own; I look forward to seeing how they're all connected as the series progresses.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Blood, Child death, Confinement, Death, Gore, Kidnapping, Racism, and Suicide

Moderate: Abortion, Misogyny, and Sexual violence

Minor: Animal death and Death of parent

mishi543's review

adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced

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

4.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Death, Gore, and Murder

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Racism, and Torture

Minor: Abortion, Alcoholism, and Rape