Reviews tagging 'Violence'

The Screaming Staircase by Jonathan Stroud

26 reviews

theirgracegrace's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-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? No

4.0

Recommended by a friend, I enjoyed The Screaming Staircase quite a lot. The setting of this alternate London is similar to our own, but coloured by the supernatural in a way familiar to fans of the Bartimaeus trilogy - which I read ages ago but remember fondly. Not only do the trio of Lockwood & Co. have to deal with the unquiet (and often grotesque and violent) dead, but also the political machinations of the British gentry and the attempts of rivals to close down their agency. The story progresses like a horror-filled Sherlock-esque mystery, and the ending is incredibly satisfying.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Bullying, Child abuse, Fatphobia, Blood, Mental illness, Body horror, Toxic relationship, Violence, Fire/Fire injury, Body shaming, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Murder, Misogyny, Abandonment, Classism, Confinement, Death, Gaslighting, and Torture

Moderate: Death of parent

Minor: Cursing, Forced institutionalization, and Vomit

ecurtin222's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Death, Blood, and Violence

Moderate: Suicide and Abandonment

Minor: Death of parent, Grief, Stalking, Medical content, Addiction, Injury/Injury detail, Alcohol, Bullying, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Body horror, Child abuse, and Toxic friendship

atalea's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder and Death

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Child death, Fire/Fire injury, and Violence

rae42's review against another edition

adventurous dark

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

3.0

Really liked the book however the writer is clearly fatphobic, Seriously dude you don't need to continually call a character pudgy or pugley 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Violence, Child death, and Murder

Moderate: Fatphobia

saurahsaurus's review

adventurous mysterious medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Blood, and Fatphobia

Moderate: Death, Bullying, Injury/Injury detail, Child death, Fire/Fire injury, and Murder

Minor: Cultural appropriation, Classism, Child abuse, Death of parent, Physical abuse, Domestic abuse, Sexism, and Violence

hannahjay's review against another edition

adventurous funny mysterious 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Fatphobia and Violence

labothways's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark informative mysterious sad fast-paced

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

4.0

-REREAD-
Still an entertaining, fast-paced read. However, there are some character decisions that don’t make sense upon a second read. (

For example: Lockwood keeping his suspicions about Fairfax to himself, why they kept working their way through the house after they were in a safe area after the Red Room, why they left via the celler.

) My first instinct was to let these issues slide because of the intended age group. However, these books are deeply creepy and tackle much darker themes than the average MG book, so logic gaps like those listed above stand out all the more. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Domestic abuse, and Child death

Moderate: Suicide and Violence

currerbellz's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Minor: Suicide, Murder, and Violence

cdo499's review against another edition

adventurous 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? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

bro this author hates george so much it is unreal

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Suicide attempt, Violence, Misogyny, Kidnapping, Fatphobia, and Suicidal thoughts

starsnstitchin's review against another edition

adventurous medium-paced

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

3.5

What i enjoyed: the mystery is tied into the plot quite nicely and the transitions flow very smoothly, making it easy to want to keep reading and play along with the characters. Twists and surprises aren't jarring and can be figured out, but its still subtle enough to be enjoyed.
What I didn't enjoy: the characters didn't always seem like real people and it's a bit obvious that Lockwood is supposed to be like Sherlock Holmes. Despite the set up for the setting and age of characters it wasn't quite played right to feel like it was actually an alternative world where children were the heroes. Some events that should have had consequences didn't and vice versa. One major thing that granted on me the more it kept happening was how one main character has different strengths and weaknesses than the other 2, but is always described as incompetent and fat and it's outright stated as well as implied that him being fat is part of why he's incompetent and inferior to his peers. The other characters get plenty of descriptors and traits, but all he gets is various ways of saying he's fat and inferior. 
Overall though, it was an enjoyable read! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Panic attacks/disorders, Violence, Murder, Body shaming, Classism, Fatphobia, Death, Suicide attempt, Suicidal thoughts, Child death, Confinement, Cultural appropriation, and Sexism

Moderate: Cursing, Death of parent, Gun violence, Kidnapping, Confinement, Animal death, Medical trauma, Body horror, Bullying, Colonisation, Grief, Abandonment, Domestic abuse, Gaslighting, Gore, and Physical abuse