Reviews tagging 'Suicide'

Библиотеката на Въглен връх by Scott Hawkins

141 reviews

jlandie's review against another edition

4.0

Really enjoyed this one. Deeply fucked up, original fantasy. 

The chapters revolving around Carolyn and the other librarians were the best, and the chapters focused on Erwin should have been cut. Not nearly as interesting or endearing as the author thought. Points off for awkward dialogue at times. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Rape, Sexual violence, Suicide, and Child death

j_o600's review against another edition

4.5

Ok. First, excellent book. If you read it, you’re not going to understand what’s going on for awhile and that’s by design. 

I think there’s some amazing ideas at work, this is in many ways a meditation on trauma/PTSD and the way it shapes people. The structure is very different as a result, and I really like that instead of having a big superhero ending, the book has a weird, reflective ending instead. It feels like a more mature ending to the ideas the book plays with.

All that said, I’ve seen reviews that genuinely confuse me. It’s ok if you like a book or not, but, as an example, I saw someone mention pedophilia and be angry about it and to the best of my memory, that never happened. 
I saw someone else claim the point of the book is that extreme suffering is good actually, because it makes the best version of a person—and no. No, I’d even argue that the book is almost the exact opposite of that. It’s arguably more about accepting how trauma can turn you into essentially a completely different person. 
As someone with a lot of trauma, I found how this was handled to be moving and empathetic. Not perfect maybe, but I don’t think anyone writing about trauma can be perfect.

I will caution that if abuse is a hard trigger for you, you probably don’t want to read this book yet. I’ve tried to include trigger warnings for what IS in the book. Take them seriously. 

Also, I see a lot of people getting upset about a POV chracter named Erwin who is your hardened older army type. He is a complex character who has multiple functions in the story. I think he needs to be there, and while he wasn’t my favorite character, he fits into the themes of PTSD (I think for obvious reasons). I don’t think the author intended him for any type of propaganda and the book intentionally stays away from anything political. I think the government and military are not idealized by any means in this story. But I see that he’s triggering people, and I understand that a military POV character could be a trigger so, if you’re upset reading this review, again, avoid book.

That said, I do think this is original and I really liked some of the bigger reveals near the end and how they developed Carolyn and Steve specifically. And the lions are amazing, best characters.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Child abuse, Child death, Torture, Violence, Gore, and Suicide

Moderate: Rape and Sexual violence

Minor: Animal death and Death of parent

kenleyneufeld's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny mysterious fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Bullying, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Gore, Murder, Torture, Violence, Death, Rape, Self harm, and Suicide

valjeanval's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark tense slow-paced

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

4.0

Bizarre, bloody, and a serious page turner. A dark tale of what and why are humans with lots to say on the nature of power and vengeance. The violence and gore are too much for me at times, but still a great book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Emotional abuse, Murder, Animal death, Animal cruelty, Injury/Injury detail, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Violence, Medical trauma, Physical abuse, Suicide, Child abuse, Child death, Death, and Torture

Moderate: Sexual violence, Kidnapping, Toxic friendship, Drug use, Gaslighting, Medical content, Rape, Self harm, Confinement, Grief, Sexual assault, Vomit, Alcohol, and Gun violence

literarybitch's review against another edition

dark mysterious

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix

0.75

HEY, NO THANKS??
The central idea is inventive and captivating, I was fascinated to know more, and I vehemently disagree with the ending so hard that I simply cannot recommend it. To the point that actually, I'm just going to say it:
This book makes the argument that horrific cruelty & abuse are justifiable means to motivate someone to achieve their full potential.
I think that's simply so awful that it's not worth reading the rest of the book.
Against the dark landscape of slaughter and pain and rape and torture and killing and resurrection and killing again, there are oddly funny moments, joking lines that have absolutely no hope of landing. Any goodwill the interesting premise created curdled, soured, and died.

In fact, this book has caused me to rethink my standards for audiobooks. I listened to this for free and I still want my money back.

Fuck this/10

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide attempt, Violence, Child death, Rape, Suicide, Death, and Torture

Moderate: Bullying, Animal death, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual violence, Rape, Death, Child abuse, Violence, Suicide attempt, Suicide, Sexual assault, Death of parent, and Child death

liv74's review against another edition

dark medium-paced

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

1.0

This book struggled with major editing and refinement issues. Plot points (like

Father’s enemies Liesel or Barry O’Shea, the mysterious tentacle arm disease??

) were introduced but never developed at all. The climax of the plot is way too early, followed by a drawn-out and far too detailed resolution. It also seemed like

Father was the main antagonist to Carolyn and Steve was the main protagonist? But then with a very brief explanation David is supposedly Carolyn’s “monster to kill”

. This book definitely needed a lot more editing and reworking to achieve the highly imaginative and fantastical world Hawkins set out to write. There didn’t seem to be a limit/any kind of rules/laws (of physics, universal, societal, etc.) to

Father or Carolyn’s

capabilities. As a final criticism, I absolutely hated

Erwin

and struggled to make it through their pov chapters. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child abuse, Death of parent, Gun violence, War, Rape, Vomit, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Suicide, and Animal cruelty

googolplex33's review against another edition

dark emotional funny 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Suicide, Animal cruelty, and Sexual assault

soupqueen's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious 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

4.5

A very slow start. I didn’t really care about Steve’s chapters to begin with, but as the story started coming together everything started feeling more interesting. The epilogue was perhaps unnecessary, but it still felt like it added a little something to the end.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Violence, and Blood

Moderate: Rape, Sexual assault, Death of parent, Child death, Cursing, Fire/Fire injury, Death, Drug use, Gore, Gun violence, Murder, Physical abuse, Suicide, Suicide attempt, and Animal death

jet_nebula's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Drug use, Gun violence, Animal death, Violence, Animal cruelty, Murder, Child death, Child abuse, Death of parent, and Suicide

Moderate: Rape and Alcohol

aeglaeca's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious reflective sad tense 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? Yes

4.0

I've never read a book quite like this before. Highly recommended if you aren't put off by dark stories. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Torture, Rape, Suicide, and Animal cruelty