Reviews tagging 'Torture'

Sundial by Catriona Ward

15 reviews

rosemaryslibrarian's review

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• 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, Blood, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Self harm, Torture, Animal cruelty, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Gore, Abandonment, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, and Murder

bumblebeefarts's review

dark 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Mental illness, Child death, Torture, Physical abuse, Miscarriage, Death, Death of parent, Murder, Violence, and Animal death

Moderate: Child abuse and Sexual violence

daire's review against another edition

challenging dark tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• 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

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Self harm, Sexism, Toxic relationship, Animal death, Torture, Animal cruelty, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Suicide attempt, and Stalking

mfallon3491's review

dark mysterious sad tense medium-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? No

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Addiction, Animal cruelty, Blood, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Torture, Animal death, Emotional abuse, Self harm, Child abuse, Child death, Domestic abuse, Gun violence, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Suicide attempt, Violence, Gaslighting, and Gore

constellation_library's review

challenging dark sad tense medium-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

2.5

This book just was not for me, and that is okay! Horror is subjective and not for everyone.

Here are my CAWPILE ratings:

Characters--4: the characters in this novel were one of the weakest parts for me. I did not like the MC—I felt as though she was illogical and made really horrible choices. Her POV was grueling to read, and I did not connect with her or her plight whatsoever. The side characters were somewhat better, but even their motivations for things seemed flimsy at best. I wanted to root for someone, but I honestly, other than the children in the story, I did not care whether any of the adults lived or died. 

Atmosphere--6: this was the one thing that stood out to me. The atmosphere was tense, uncomfortable, and chilling. I felt the mood intensely, and was genuinely afraid for the characters, even though I didn’t really care for them. 

World-Building--6: This was another strength of the novel, specifically in relation to Sundial itself, and how the narrator describes the place. I could envision it easily in my mind’s eye, as well as the events that took place there. 

Plot--4: while this wasn’t my favorite part of the novel, a lot of the decisions made sense given the circumstances of the tale. I also really didn’t care for the ending, and that can make or break a story for me. Of the two surprises at the end, one of them was satisfying, while the other was too convenient. I can’t give more detail due to spoilers, but I had just got done praising one in time to roll my eyes at the other. 

Intrigue--4: This was so-so for me. While there were moments where I was genuinely interested and couldn’t put it down, there were things that completely took me out of the story. For instance, our MC is writing a novel, and most of the characters, if not all, are named after people from her life. I think that the way she is telling her story gives hints to the true nature of characters in the overall novel, but not enough for me to feel that this aspect was necessary. I don’t feel like I learned anything that wasn’t already obvious in the larger story, and it often took me out of the tension and suspense of what was happening. I think it could be omitted entirely. 

Logic--4: the logic did and didn’t logic logically for me. Sometimes I was like, “okay, I’ll buy that” while other times, I couldn’t help but laugh at the absurdity of some decisions made by the author—particularly in the relationships she created between characters. And, again, some things were just SO convenient and clearly a means to an end plot-wise, that I felt a bit cheated as a reader. 

Enjoyment--3: With everything else considered, I just did not have a good time. Apart from the issues listed above, I do not enjoy some of the themes in this book (child abuse/death, animal abuse/death) on a personal level. This type of horror is just far too real for me, and I do not enjoy reading about it at all, especially when it has no supernatural elements to it and is instead people doing these horrible things. Both of those were central themes of this novel, so bear that in mind when going in to read this one. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Child death, Animal cruelty, Body horror, Death, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Gore, Infidelity, Mental illness, Murder, Child abuse, Animal death, Miscarriage, Blood, and Physical abuse

Moderate: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Confinement, Drug abuse, Pregnancy, Trafficking, and Torture