Reviews tagging 'Confinement'

A History of Wild Places by Shea Ernshaw

34 reviews

blissofalife's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.5

I spent most of the book confused, and the twists and explanations felt like a reach but a very original plot and like-able main characters. “The Village (2004)” vibes.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gaslighting, Confinement, Murder, Toxic relationship, and Death

Moderate: Blood, Alcohol, and Body horror

Minor: Injury/Injury detail, Pregnancy, Torture, Gun violence, Murder, Violence, Child death, Fire/Fire injury, and Gore

kayelina's review against another edition

mysterious slow-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? No

3.5

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Content Warnings

Minor: Murder, Confinement, Blood, Medical content, Pregnancy, Violence, and Gaslighting

hillbilly_heroine's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.5

It’s a fun page-turner but relies on some weird old chestnuts to move the plot forward, e.g. that visually impaired people have super-human hearing. The big reveal was oddly disappointing. That said, the characters are well-written and I was invested in what happened to them. I’d read more by this author, particularly if she ventures outside the mystery genre. Not bad at all. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Toxic relationship, Murder, Pregnancy, and Death

Minor: Confinement, Gaslighting, and Alcoholism

marpaige'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? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Gaslighting, Blood, Emotional abuse, Confinement, and Death

Minor: Drug abuse and Suicide

torturedreadersdept's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Death, Alcohol, Blood, Murder, Pregnancy, Toxic relationship, Injury/Injury detail, Gaslighting, Gun violence, Fire/Fire injury, and Infidelity

anarchist_al's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense slow-paced

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

3.75

A pretty disorienting read—we begin with a narrator whose storyline is simply abandoned for basically the rest of the book. It eventually makes sense, but was kind of a head scratcher for the majority of the book. I really liked the setting of Pastoral, with beautiful descriptions of trees and forest and darkness. I was really intrigued by Travis’s ability to read after images of an object’s history, and was disappointed that it wasn’t explored or explained more. It was very very light magical realism. Also,

the idea of a charismatic cult leader works really well, and that he could lead a community to believe existential falsehoods is totally realistic. However, the whole thing being hypnosis was kind of a stretch. If it had been another bit of magical realism special ability thing, I would have liked it more and it would have mirrored Travis/Theo’s ability.

Overall, cool concept and setting, cool mystery, interesting characters—an entertaining listen. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Medical trauma, Murder, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Religious bigotry, and Torture

bookwhisperer's review against another edition

dark mysterious medium-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? It's complicated

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Gaslighting, Gun violence, Murder, Pregnancy, and Suicide

Moderate: Death of parent, Cursing, and Death

Minor: Confinement and Drug use

anni_swanilda's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Grief, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Physical abuse, Torture, Toxic relationship, and Violence

Moderate: Ableism, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Medical content, Pregnancy, and Suicide

sydoodle's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious tense medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Kidnapping, Gaslighting, Grief, Murder, Alcohol, Blood, Confinement, Death, and Fire/Fire injury

laurenleigh's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective 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? It's complicated

4.0

While I think this was a great story written well, I cannot believe they had not one, not two, but three TERRIBLE narrators. It makes me wonder if the direction is to blame, because they all had such a flat, lifeless, weak tone. I’m referring to the three main characters, who do 90% of the book. The first narrator who does just the first chapter was amazing and totally got me hooked. If it wasn’t for that stellar opening, I would not have kept on. This reading experience was a practice in separating narrator from text, because the work itself was quite good. It was an interesting plot, especially in this time, and I can’t help but compare the characters’ fear of Rot with our fears of Covid. Not that they are the same by any means, but it was a thought-provoking read.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pregnancy

Moderate: Murder, Blood, Confinement, and Xenophobia