Reviews tagging 'Death of parent'

Between Two Fires by Christopher Buehlman

25 reviews

robotfanclub's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional sad tense fast-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? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Violence, Cursing, Child death, Body horror, Blood, War, and Death

Moderate: Alcohol, Sexual violence, Child abuse, Death of parent, Torture, Antisemitism, Vomit, Sexual content, and Religious bigotry

Minor: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Cannibalism, and Fire/Fire injury

hamstringy's review against another edition

dark emotional 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

4.5

Unexpectedly really emotionally resonant! Pitched via Twitter as medieval Black Plague horror, and it’s definitely horror but a much quieter and disturbing horror rather than a nonstop onslaught of Big Events. Also somehow still very vulnerable and three-dimensional when approaching characters who have lived some contradictory and not-so-great choices. 

It’s also a particularly humanizing portrayal of a pandemic & a deeply religious response to that pandemic. It’s interesting to me that a lot of the attitudes around *somehow still living during horrible times* match very closely with the COVID-19 pandemic. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Violence, Blood, Body horror, Cursing, Death, Death of parent, Alcohol, Animal death, Gore, Torture, Homophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Pandemic/Epidemic, and Religious bigotry

Moderate: Infidelity, Alcoholism, Antisemitism, Grief, and Xenophobia

swansreina's review against another edition

Not for me. I usually enjoy books with similar themes/plots but I found the book too crude and not very engaging. I wasn’t a fan of the writing style either. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Gore, Violence, Sexual assault, and Rape

Minor: Death of parent

emilyplun's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious reflective 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Death, Religious bigotry, Alcoholism, Body horror, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Child death, Death of parent, and War

Moderate: Grief, Rape, Sexual assault, Vomit, Torture, Animal death, Antisemitism, and Pedophilia

jomojobo's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Religious bigotry, Sexism, Gore, Pandemic/Epidemic, Torture, Violence, War, Death, Murder, Xenophobia, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Alcoholism, Blood, Body horror, and Death of parent

Moderate: Antisemitism, Rape, Sexual violence, and Sexual content

Minor: Homophobia, Pedophilia, and Infidelity

garrettcz's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful tense medium-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

4.25

I liked it, but it felt longer than necessary and the ending was pretty confusing. I kept having to reread parts of the end over again before I really understood what was going on. The last 15% could have been tightened up. 

The characters and dialogue were the best parts. 

It had a lot more horror tropes than I expected. Very dark in places. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Sexism, Torture, War, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Animal death, Antisemitism, Blood, Body horror, Addiction, Biphobia, Violence, Vomit, Bullying, Chronic illness, Classism, Cursing, Gore, Murder, Child death, Confinement, Death, Excrement, Grief, Homophobia, Infidelity, Misogyny, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Moderate: Alcohol, Alcoholism, Death of parent, Grief, Pandemic/Epidemic, Antisemitism, Bullying, Cursing, Death, Murder, Animal death, Blood, Body horror, Child death, Gore, Hate crime, Infidelity, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Pedophilia and Rape

darkpizza's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful inspiring 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content, Alcoholism, Blood, Body horror, Cursing, Death of parent, Medical content, Misogyny, Murder, Violence, Classism, Death, Gore, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Pandemic/Epidemic, and Religious bigotry

Minor: Animal death, Torture, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Sexism, Rape, Physical abuse, Pedophilia, Homophobia, Excrement, War, Vomit, and Misogyny

flintk's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense 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? It's complicated

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Incest, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Gore, Excrement, Emotional abuse, Death of parent, Sexual content, Sexism, Animal cruelty, Child death, War, Religious bigotry, Rape, Misogyny, Vomit, Violence, Torture, Suicidal thoughts, Racism, Blood, Antisemitism, Alcohol, Racial slurs, Pregnancy, Pandemic/Epidemic, Medical trauma, Islamophobia, Abandonment, Genocide, Adult/minor relationship, Medical content, Child abuse, Grief, Animal death, Alcoholism, Body horror, Sexual violence, Physical abuse, Murder, Homophobia, Death, Cursing, Classism, Cannibalism, Hate crime, Confinement, and Chronic illness

narsere's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark reflective sad slow-paced

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

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual violence, Violence, Alcoholism, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual assault, and Body horror

Moderate: Animal death and Death of parent

mori431's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Antisemitism, Religious bigotry, Alcoholism, Murder, Homophobia, Blood, Body horror, Death of parent, Gore, Cannibalism, Cursing, War, Grief, Torture, Vomit, Child death, Death, Injury/Injury detail, and Violence