Reviews with content warning for Death - Andnöd

Reviews tagging 'Death'

Andnöd by Amy McCulloch

32 reviews

ameliaj_adams's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious 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

4.25

I read this entire book in one sitting! The setting is so unique which makes for a really interesting read - are people dying due to difficult conditions or are they being murdered? Are certain characters crazy or are they being affected by altitude sickness? - which definitely kept me on the edge of my seat. The writing was brilliant, with a really tense climax, some great characters and a super engaging plot overall! I’ll definitely be reading more of her books!

Just thought I’d add a note that I read the book alongside Amy McCulloch’s Manaslu climb recap which is on her Instagram in her highlight reel! I would recommend doing this (particularly if you’re not a climber) as it definitely helped me visualise parts of the route and equipment described in the book and it was interesting to see the real life journey that the book is based on - her Instagram is @amymccullochbooks

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savvyrosereads's review against another edition

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adventurous mysterious 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

3.5

Rating: 3.5/5 stars

Cecily Wong is a journalist hoping to get the interview of a lifetime by summiting Manaslu, an eight-thousand-meter peak, alongside potential world-record-breaker Charles McVeigh. But she may uncover a story of a different kind when people start dying on the mountain.

I adore a winter thriller and an And Then There Were None trope, so I was pretty excited for this one. And while I definitely didn’t hate it, I was ultimately and unfortunately a bit disappointed. I’d seen reviews that called this a slow burn, and it definitely was—I expected so much more action and adventure from a book about death-defying mountaineering, but a huge portion of the prose was dedicated to technical explanations of how to climb a mountain—fascinating, but not really the stuff a gripping thriller is made from. And, while I don’t always mind some predictability, I figured out the entire whodunit (and the major secondary twist) extremely early on, which left me with a very small payoff from a very steep trek (see what I did there?)

That said, Breathless was *incredibly* atmospheric (it genuinely made me cold while I was reading it) and it is SUPER cool that the author is an actual mountaineer who has summited Manaslu and other mountains!

Recommended if you like: slow burn thrillers; lots of atmosphere; locked-room-but-in-the-wilderness

CW: Death/murder/injury; grief/PTSD

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aus10england's review against another edition

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adventurous dark tense medium-paced

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

2.5

Pretty underwhelming! I like my thrillers tense, and didn't really get that from this. The setting was cool, but wish it was explored more with descriptions of their surroundings.

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hazelgirl21's review against another edition

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adventurous mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.5

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jess_westhafer's review against another edition

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adventurous 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

4.0

There were so many things I liked about this book. It was suspenseful, enthralling, and informative. But I found the ending to be a bit of a let down. After spending so much time carefully setting up 95% of the book the resolution ended up seeming too convenient.

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blackcatkai's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
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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lilifane's review against another edition

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adventurous mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

I really liked the atmosphere and all the descriptions of the scenery and the climb. The writing was good, and I liked the characters and their dynamics. There was not much happening besides climbing for the majority of the book, though, and the thrilling part came mostly towards the end. I didn't mind, because I was enjoying following the climb so much. It was also really obvious to me from the start who was doing what and why, still there were a few minor twists I was surprised by.
It's probably not the best thriller out there, but as a book about climbing one of the highest mountains in the world with some thrilling elements, it totally worked for me.
Also, I found out the author did the climb herself and this is what inspired her to write the book, which makes a lot of sense and explains why the descriptions felt so authentic.

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