Reviews tagging 'Torture'

Библиотеката на Въглен връх by Scott Hawkins

162 reviews

jebowman123's review against another edition

adventurous dark slow-paced

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

3.25

It takes a long time for the plot to actually come together. There is a lot of perspective switching chapter to chapter. Something about the way this book is written feels vaguely sexist. I don’t like that we never get another perspective from a sibling and don’t even learn about all of them. I know it’s a fantasy book but there were a lot of liberties taken. For the first couple of chapters I couldn’t tell if this book was marketed to children or not and then later realized how much brutality it contained. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Emotional abuse, Gore, Rape, Suicide, Torture, and Blood

whizzbee87's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny mysterious tense medium-paced

• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

Pretty sure I just read the result of a bad acid trip and I loved it

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse and Torture

Moderate: Animal cruelty

charjaun_'s review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious reflective tense fast-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, and Blood

goblincharms's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious tense 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? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Rape, Torture, and Violence

ghostpuff's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense fast-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

4.75

A delicate mix of humor, horror and fantasy. It's refreshingly different, I can't think of another book to compare it to. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Death, Gun violence, Suicide, Torture, Blood, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Sexual assault

dana_naylor's review against another edition

fast-paced

5.0

Absolutely batshit insane.
I loved it.

Trigger warnings galore. The gore and torment is intense.
I doubt I’ll reread it, but it was a wild journey. Definitely not for everyone.

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Physical abuse, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Car accident, Death of parent, and Murder

gondorgirl's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective 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? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Mass/school shootings, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, and Injury/Injury detail

nicole_night1092's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious reflective medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Death, Physical abuse, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Blood, Murder, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

nookandcrannyseattle's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark funny 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

5.0

That was wild. I like how none of the "big twists" felt like "big twists" because the whole thing was so unhinged that I was prepared to take pretty much anything in stride. A bit like the characters themselves, I guess, which is a little unsettling. Also, this is the first book I've read in recent memory that has an epilogue that doesn't actively detract from the rest of the work. Unnecessary, but not unwelcome to revisit a favorite side character (albeit one I did not want to like as much as I did). 

I will say that this was GORY. Some scenes were very hard to read (see CW - rape, child murder, animal death) and I'm glad I was reading it in print so I could do some strategic skimming. So probably won't read again, but it was a spectacular one-off!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Grief, Suicide attempt, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

onlyincursive's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious sad tense fast-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 wild ride from start to finish. This book is for the readers who grew up on stories about kids with powers (e.g. Animorphs, Percy Jackson) and who want the adult version. The type of book that I would recommend to everyone - if only the content warning list wasn’t so long!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicide, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Kidnapping, Mass/school shootings, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Addiction, Confinement, Cursing, Drug abuse, Rape, Suicidal thoughts, Xenophobia, Car accident, Toxic friendship, and War

Minor: Bullying, Mental illness, Misogyny, Xenophobia, Police brutality, Islamophobia, Pregnancy, and Classism

This book is hard to warn for. Be especially aware that there is torture and murder of children

(many of whom are effectively immortal and experience this torture and murder multiple times)

, as well as a lot of animal death

(including many, many dogs)

.