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

Reviews tagging 'Death'

The Last Heir to Blackwood Library by Hester Fox

20 reviews

prairieraven's review against another edition

dark tense slow-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

3.5

Finished in a sitting. Good Gothic Academia vibes with some sinister magic. Pacing and Flow was a bit of a struggle after the halfway point however after finishing it made sense. I found some of the secondary characters as frustrating as the FMC did. Good character growth. Struggled to read this one without the reader warnings for myself.

good fit for readers who enjoy historical fiction with alchemical touches, books set after WW1, FMC, a little bit of magic, books about book, manuscripts and libraries and Thier caretakers.

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bzliz's review

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dark mysterious tense 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

3.75

This was so close to 4 stars for me, because I did have a good time with this book, but it’s held back by its own premise. The concept is so fun and the vibes were exactly perfect, however a character who becomes an unreliable narrator with a failing memory lends itself to a lot of telling and retelling of events, which is a challenge to navigate and the author doesn’t quite nail it here.

I don’t mind the gaps in the story where Ivy forgot things but I did feel a little gaslit about events with the love interest at the end. Like, he has got some nerve giving her a hard time about her lack of memory, like it’s her fault. (Side note: I absolutely love that Ivy

doesn’t automatically get all her memories back after the climax. That would have felt so cheap to me.)

Also Arthur gives off big Prince Charming pretending to be human Shrek vibes to me and that does in fact make the whole thing funnier.

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thalia16's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious 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? No

3.0

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kalebd_2125's review

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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.

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