Reviews tagging 'Gore'

The Diviners by Libba Bray

25 reviews

k_galloway's review

adventurous dark emotional funny inspiring mysterious reflective 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? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Religious bigotry, Torture, Body horror, Xenophobia, Violence, Gore, Blood, Death, Grief, Hate crime, and Murder

Moderate: Kidnapping, Physical abuse, Stalking, Abandonment, and Alcoholism

Minor: War

danielle2121's review

adventurous dark mysterious slow-paced

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

2.75

*2.75 STARS*

Okay first of all, I loooove the idea of this plot! Do I think it was pulled off in the best way possible? Unfortunately not…

The first 300 pages were so unbelievably slow and some chapters just completely unnecessary and yet after all that, somehow I still don’t feel like the characters were fleshed out or interesting enough even after hearing chapter after chapter about them.
I loved Evie, Theta and Henry though, I truly feel like I knew them by the end of the book. Everyone else fell a little flat for me, especially Memphis and Mabel’s characters (although I love Jericho’s back story, that was very interesting) 

Some parts were creepy which I loved but just not creepy enough! (The whistling will haunt me..) I’d love to have seen more creepiness instead of many chapters about Evie going to speakeasies or talking about clothes… I understand the author needing to emphasise this was set in the 1920’s but I can set the scene myself…

I felt a little lost in places, the plot wasn’t super easy to follow for me sometimes, maybe due to the fact I didn’t care enough for the characters that were in the scenes.
The ending was well wrapped up though, with just the perfect amount of questions remaining about what might come next.
Unfortunately I don’t think I will be continuing with the series though.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, and Gore

Moderate: Domestic abuse

lenaricharz's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Murder, and Gore

Moderate: Fire/Fire injury and Blood

glens's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional informative inspiring mysterious sad tense slow-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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Alcohol, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Racial slurs, Racism, Blood, and Murder

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Grief, Misogyny, Religious bigotry, and Medical content

Minor: Abortion, Antisemitism, Death, Vomit, Animal death, and Rape

r1dh4's review

adventurous dark informative mysterious 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? Yes

4.25

For the time that I read The Diviners, I was almost completely transported into its world. The setting really came off the page for me, and I really enjoyed the author's writing style. I will say that Libba Bray seems to really like long-winded descriptions and discussions; however, I did not find it boring here and instead thought it was important in order to fully visualize the world she is trying to show. That being said, I feel like it's important to know this and have the right mindset going in, because I definitely wouldn't have been able to read this so quickly or deeply had I read it earlier last year since I wouldn't have had enough focus at the time.

The characters were also all really well-developed in my opinion. Even minor characters that did not show up for very long felt like real people. At times it did feel like there was just a lot of information on the character's backstory coming in at once, but considering the rest of Bray's writing style it didn't feel that out of place to me and it didn't hinder my enjoyment of the book at all.

Additionally, the plot doesn't really pick up speed until about halfway through the book. However, even though the plot started a bit later, I still enjoyed the beginning because it provided some good exposition and allowed the reader to become familiar with the characters and their motives/personalities. When the plot actually does get underway, I found myself really wanting to know what happened next. Not only does the book feel rightly creepy, but there's a lot of movement between places and characters that was handled well and prevented me from feeling bored.

Along with this, the story itself also felt really well-crafted; you could tell the author had taken a long time to research and write this book, and you could see the carefully laid threads that allowed this book to finish completely while still leaving some great material for the next few books. The only thing I didn't like about this book was the romances; each felt either forced or too fast. I feel like some extra development would help this out, which I'm looking forward to seeing in the next few books.

Honestly, since I've heard that the subsequent books are better than the first, I definitely will be reading the next few, and I'm looking forward to continuing the series! I would also recommend this book to anybody, as long as they feel up to the longer page length and have checked out the content warnings (because there are quite a few). Overall, a great book to start off 2022!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder

Moderate: Alcohol, Blood, Body horror, Death, Domestic abuse, Gore, Grief, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, and Sexism

Minor: Sexual assault

emilyplun's review

adventurous dark funny lighthearted mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Gore, Murder, and Religious bigotry

Moderate: Abortion, Alcohol, Fire/Fire injury, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Rape, Terminal illness, Violence, and War

Minor: Abandonment, Gun violence, Medical content, Police brutality, and Racism

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

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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

lindseyinthelibrary's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore

Moderate: Rape

vanesst's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Animal cruelty, Animal death, and Death

Moderate: War, Xenophobia, Medical trauma, Racism, Suicide, Abandonment, Abortion, Alcohol, Blood, Cannibalism, Gore, Grief, and Religious bigotry

Minor: Racial slurs, Classism, Fire/Fire injury, Gun violence, Homophobia, Death of parent, Misogyny, and Rape

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.

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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