Reviews tagging 'Death'

The Changeling by Victor LaValle

34 reviews

adiajamille's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

5.0

I really enjoyed this book, because you never really knew where you were headed next. The story is thrilling, heartbreaking, engaging, mysterious, and so much more. It touches on the real life and how we engage with people when they’re at their lowest, and makes the fantastical horror even more terrifying by how easily it all started, in a realistic way. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Vomit, Child death, Emotional abuse, Death of parent, Death, Abandonment, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Violence, Gore, and Misogyny

ehmannky's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

3.5

A modern fairy tale of the horrific variety following Apollo dealing with the apparent murder of his baby at the hands of his wife. It's a wonderfully written book, with a lot of twists and turns (truly did not expect the ending creature) and it is beautiful. I did think the pacing was a bit off, and it felt like the book was a bit longer than it really needed to be. But it is a really interesting take on the changeling mythos and the fears of modern parenting and the lingering damage we can do to children. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Grief, Child death, Death, Violence, Kidnapping, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Child abuse

Minor: Death of parent

eequalskt's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional reflective medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, and Grief

lovequartz's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad 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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Child death, and Death

sarah984's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional 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? It's complicated

5.0

I really liked this book. The writing is really charming (which feels weird to say with this type of content) and the fairy tale atmosphere worked really well for the most part. New York and its history were well utilized. There is one plot point in the middle of the book that I thought was kind of silly

(the part at Rikers - considering later discussions that was all absurdly easy and felt kind of pointless)

but overall fantastic.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Grief, Child death, and Pregnancy

Moderate: Kidnapping, Racism, Violence, Child abuse, Stalking, Abandonment, Death, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Self harm, Alcohol, Confinement, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Suicide attempt, Vomit, Animal death, Domestic abuse, Colonisation, Gun violence, Misogyny, and Police brutality

cosmicreader90's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious slow-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Stalking, Suicidal thoughts, Grief, Murder, Violence, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Death, Gaslighting, Pregnancy, Kidnapping, and Child death

sup3r_xn0va_maya's review

adventurous 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? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

 

The Changeling is a very interesting story and I honestly am not sure how to rate it. This is my first time reading a full length dark fairy tale and I'll say that I enjoyed it for the most part. I enjoyed the first half of the book more than I enjoyed the second half, probably because at the 3/4th mark in the book it gets a little bit confusing and is a little hard to follow.

I don't want to say too much because this is one of those books where the reader should start reading this with as little information on the book as possible. Overall I'll say that this was really creative and I really enjoyed LaValle's writing style. I felt creeped out a few times so this is the perfect read for spooky season! This wasn't my favorite book and I didn't feel completely fulfilled by the ending, I do however respect and appreciate the creativity that went into this story.

I'm going to give this 3.5 stars out of 5
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Gore, Grief, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Stalking, Blood, Body horror, Physical abuse, Racism, Bullying, Child death, Death, Death of parent, Violence, Vomit, Kidnapping, and Murder

ksuazo94's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark sad tense slow-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Suicide attempt, Death, Abandonment, Violence, and Child death

Moderate: Pregnancy

badmom's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious 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? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.25

A fascinating look at contemporary society through the lens of a Black father in Manhattan. The narration moves from relatively benign storyteling - observations of people’s lives, how they connect to others - into a dark, chaotic exploration of gender roles, societal expectations, & postpartum depression. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Abandonment, Medical trauma, Violence, Blood, Child death, Pregnancy, Gore, Death, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Grief, Gaslighting, Stalking, Suicide attempt, and Self harm

caidyn's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.5

Wow, what a good book! I do think it could have been shorter, but it was still excellent and kept me going.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Death, and Mental illness

Moderate: Schizophrenia/Psychosis and Suicidal thoughts