Reviews tagging 'Drug abuse'

Sundial by Catriona Ward

44 reviews

annie_reads_books's review against another edition

dark emotional tense fast-paced

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

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Animal cruelty, Death, Child abuse, Death of parent, Toxic relationship, and Torture

Moderate: Drug use, Confinement, Pregnancy, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Murder, Miscarriage, Medical trauma, Injury/Injury detail, Domestic abuse, Death, Drug abuse, Infidelity, and Gore

keen's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Body horror, Emotional abuse, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Death, and Domestic abuse

Moderate: Child abuse, Infidelity, Miscarriage, and Murder

Minor: Drug abuse, Self harm, Trafficking, and Child death

feainnewedd's review against another edition

dark emotional sad medium-paced

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

5.0

This is my second Catriona Ward book after The Last House on Needless Street, and once again, I am STUNNED.

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, and Child abuse

Minor: Death, Miscarriage, Drug abuse, Drug use, and Addiction

bxnnny's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

another crazy ass book by catriona ward that i will be thinking about for a long time. if you've read the last house on needless street, you know how nutty her writing is, but it's such a ride. this book goes back and forth between the past and the present, slowly piecing everything together. it becomes pretty clear at a certain point the major, key details but how it all came to be might not be what you expect. i couldn't tear myself away from this one, i was just truly enthralled in this story. the ending will leave you much like how you might have felt at the end of inception. please keep in mind there are A LOT of heavy trigger warnings in this (mainly animal cruelty/abuse/death and domestic abuse but there's many more so please check them all). i likely wouldn't have read this if i didn't already know catriona ward's writing previously to prepare myself mentally or hadn't been so interested in the story to be willing to push through.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Addiction, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Drug abuse, Infidelity, Trafficking, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Child death, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Self harm, Suicide attempt, Toxic relationship, Gaslighting, Violence, and Pregnancy

racl's review

challenging dark emotional medium-paced

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

4.25

Heavy subject matter all around, but I really enjoyed the way the story unraveled, revealing the truth bit by bit in ways that never felt out of the blue. Every revelation feels right rather than done for shock value.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Blood, Domestic abuse, Gore, Medical trauma, Grief, Mental illness, Animal death, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Miscarriage, and Emotional abuse

Moderate: Confinement, Suicidal thoughts, Abandonment, Child abuse, Child death, Self harm, Pregnancy, and Infidelity

Minor: Drug abuse and Drug use

elle_e_d_light's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense 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

4.5

Like Ward's other books, this book is DARK. If you are sensitive to animal cruelty or domestic abuse, you should probably stay far away from this book because it has both of those throughout the whole story. 

If I had to categorize this book, I'd say it best fits into Psychological Horror. Emphasis on the "horror". I won't say I enjoyed reading it—I hate animal cruelty—but I thought it was very well written and very good for the genre. I think I liked "Little Eve" a bit more than this, but that's because I loved the more gothic feel of it. I can't decide if I think this one is slightly better written. I liked "Little Eve" and "Sundial" far more than "Last House on Needless Street", which I didn't much care for. From the other reviews I've seen, it seems to be that the more someone likes "Needless Street", the less they like "Sundial" and vice versa.

While I thought this book was good, it's really not the type of book that one recommends to people. At least not without several content warnings. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Gaslighting, Infidelity, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Violence, Murder, Emotional abuse, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Drug abuse and Medical content

Minor: Pregnancy, Adult/minor relationship, Kidnapping, Miscarriage, and Trafficking

Part of the plot deals heavily with the MKUltra experiments—specifically the remote controlled dogs part. It was animal cruelty of the highest order. But anyway, the animal cruelty and testing in this book is based off of real-life events.

dale1997's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense 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

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Animal cruelty, Domestic abuse, Child abuse, Child death, Blood, Violence, Pregnancy, Drug abuse, Addiction, Animal death, Toxic relationship, Confinement, and Emotional abuse

backfrompluto's review

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

Took me a while to read but I got it done. I really enjoyed it and the themes explored, as well and the ending. The best part about Ward's books is how she builds up plenty of mysteries (even if you don't know there is one) and one by one draws light on each near the end. Definitely will look into Little Eve

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Drug abuse, Animal cruelty, and Domestic abuse

Moderate: Drug use

othersociologist's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence

Moderate: Addiction, Miscarriage, Child death, Child abuse, and Drug abuse

bookishloz's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-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

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Gore, Pregnancy, Physical abuse, Murder, Miscarriage, Grief, Domestic abuse, Animal cruelty, Medical trauma, Medical content, Death of parent, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Addiction, Child death, Abandonment, Kidnapping, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Gaslighting, Toxic relationship, Mental illness, Drug abuse, Drug use, Death, Cursing, Confinement, and Blood