Reviews with content warning for Classism - The Last Heir to Blackwood Library

You need to sign in or sign up before continuing.

Reviews tagging 'Classism'

The Last Heir to Blackwood Library by Hester Fox

9 reviews

kalebd_2125's review

Go to review page

funny mysterious tense medium-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

3.5

I read this for a sci-fi and fantasy book club. The concept is intriguing and plot done well enough, but the fantasy elements weren't very strong. It felt more like magical realism than full fantasy. I also figured out the plot twist of

Arthur plotting to steal the books very early on. He was the only outsider that seemed really interested in the library so it felt like a dead giveaway. I also figured out the stable boy would be the lover around the same time

I didn't hate it, but won't be one I'd recommend or spend much time thinking about after the book club meeting. The narrator on the audiobook also spoke very slow, I had to turn it up to x1.5 for it to be tolerable.

Content Warnings

amberinpieces's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

Content Warnings

beepbeep101's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous dark mysterious tense 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? Yes

2.0

Intriguing enough to finish, but the more I think about it afterwards, the less it makes sense.

So, this was a very intriguing premise, but the way the unreliable narrator is executed just makes it confusing.

Once you get to the end, it finally makes sense that Ivy was losing her memories and didn’t remember things that are now revealed at the end as having happened. I figured out much earlier that she was losing her memories, of course, as that’s what she discovered was the method of the library, but there were far too few hints throughout that she had forgotten things. The repeated conversation with the maid was good, but otherwise we mostly just had Ralph being annoying by never answering her when she tried to ask what was going on. Instead he just maddeningly only said, “Oh, you know,” and then, seemingly inexplicably got mad at her when she didn’t, in fact, know. When he and the rest of the staff were finally willing to help Ivy and reveal more information at the end, it felt more like they were suddenly nice than that Ivy had suddenly regained memories.

I’m honestly not sure how this could be done better. Maybe multiple points of view? Maybe epistolary and her letters/entries contradict themselves? Something. Again, I liked the premise, but the bulk of the time it felt like vague writing rather than the protagonist questioning her reality.

No dragons, unless the library ate them and I forgot about them

Content Warnings

mrsasimmons11516's review

Go to review page

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense medium-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

5.0

This book is not what you think, but kind of in the best possible way. It was unhinged in parts, it was sweet, haunting, creepy, devastating.... its a Rollercoaster but also a form of mystery I've never encountered before and it was a good time.

Content Warnings

yruss972's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous dark tense medium-paced

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

3.5

Content Warnings

displacedcactus's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark mysterious medium-paced

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

This book had all of the basic components for a Gothic:

Orphaned young woman of meager financial means.
Crumbling manor on the moors.
Servants who know more than they're letting on.
A handsome, charming, wealthy suitor who is definitely up to no good but the heroine doesn't notice.
A rough, gruff man of meager financial means who is clearly soft on the heroine but she doesn't notice.
Spooky shenanigans.

You might think that surely, the author would do some interesting things with these tropes and archetypes, this being 2023 and the Gothic being a well-worn genre. But no. Everything basically turns out how you would probably expect it to if you have ever read a Gothic or watched a Gothic movie.

I was cruising right along with this book, not really loving it but not disliking it enough to DNF, and hoping it would maybe surprise me in the end, but then at around 80% in it just got so over-the-top, the writing seemed to decrease in quality, and I just got completely annoyed.

If you have never read a Gothic before, OR you enjoy the genre and specifically want a predictable version of it, you'll probably enjoy this. But if you're looking for someone to innovate or turn tropes on their head, don't bother picking this up.

Content Warnings

nadia_luq's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

3.5

Content Warnings

tamara_joy's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous dark mysterious tense fast-paced

Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

Every trope you could wish for in a good gothic thriller is there. It has it's own engrossing premise, a fun read.

Content Warnings

latelygrace's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark mysterious slow-paced

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

2.0

I don’t know how I keep ending up with the weirdest books, but here we are again. What a whirlwind, and not in a good way. It has a promising concept, and took me by surprise by taking a swift left turn into an attempt at a modern gothic narrative. Then it became increasingly clear that it was written by an American who knows just enough about English aristocracy to totally misuse it and in her rush to include so many different elements and plot devices the author felt like she was alternately lost in her own story and then rushing ahead of herself. The “magic” builds up for 3/4 of the book, only to be resolved unsatisfactorily in the course of a few pages. The literary trend of dual storylines spanning history was clumsy and not fully developed. The characters of the past more literary device than developed characters though the reader is clearly supposed to feel some connection toward them. Not to mentioned the rushed romance squeezed into the last chapters. Threads that were tied off were done so too quickly and haphazardly and several others were left to dangle as the author completely shifted focus in the end. Anyway, not at all what I expected and tbh I don’t really know what to rate it so I’m going to go middle of the road again with 2.5 ⭐️ or maybe a straight 2 for making me read the last few chapters of “romantic” nonsense.

Content Warnings

More...