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

Reviews tagging 'Gaslighting'

The Last Heir to Blackwood Library by Hester Fox

20 reviews

tink's review against another edition

dark mysterious 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

3.75

I enjoyed this gothic mystery.
The main character waivered between being very strong and sure minded, to being quite weak. I would have liked to read more of the romance.
Spoiler

I feel like much, much more could be done with the female 'monk' storyline. It felt like it was briefly introduced then wrapped up. This storyline could have been developed a lot more.

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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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alessandradle's review against another edition

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mysterious tense 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? No

3.75

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amberinpieces's review against another edition

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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

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decie's review against another edition

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3.5

it's not bad. it's just the exact plot of Mexican Gothic but in England.

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chelbelle122's review

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challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.0

Olympic medal in mansplaining and gaslighting.

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beepbeep101's review against another edition

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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

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