Reviews tagging 'Death'

How High We Go in the Dark by Sequoia Nagamatsu

277 reviews

melvin02's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad tense fast-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

3.75

This book is composed of multiple short stories, many of which we published independently before the release of this book. Keeping that in mind, I can only describe the connections between each stories characters to be a writing marvel. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Terminal illness, Death, Death of parent, Pandemic/Epidemic, and Child death

Moderate: Fire/Fire injury

maddie_can_read's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• 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

5.0

Very unique book, really enjoyed it. Author was really good at getting you to care for the many characters. Lots of interesting speculative fiction and science fiction ideas. 

The first few chapters were a lot sadder than I expected and I cried 3 times and I don't normally cry for books.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pandemic/Epidemic, Death, Child death, Chronic illness, Death of parent, Grief, and Medical content

Moderate: Animal death

Minor: Suicidal thoughts, Racism, Infidelity, and Suicide

I found the ends of chapter 2, "city of laughter" and chapter 4 "pig son Incredibly sad. Chapter 2 involves the death of a terminally ill child and chapter 4 involves the death of a terminally ill pig- hybrid who is child-like

shannonlipp's review against another edition

dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Pandemic/Epidemic

torismazarine's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful reflective sad fast-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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Chronic illness, Death of parent, Cancer, Confinement, Death, Pregnancy, Child death, Grief, Pandemic/Epidemic, and Medical content

Moderate: Confinement, Animal cruelty, Animal death, and Dementia

Minor: Abandonment, Pregnancy, Classism, and Murder

clairewick4's review against another edition

dark reflective medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child death, Pandemic/Epidemic, Chronic illness, Death, Death of parent, Suicide, and Terminal illness

ktia11's review against another edition

emotional reflective slow-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? It's complicated

3.5

A poetic book, with a plot promise that I truly enjoyed. Some chapters were much better than others however, and the lack of consistency made the book feel quite long to me. The very last chapter kind of saved the book for me, but I believe the way the story ends would not be everyone's cup of tea, even if it does wraps things up nicely. But sometimes we do like some mystery left to our imagination, don't we?

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Terminal illness and Death

erika102's review against another edition

hopeful mysterious reflective fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Pandemic/Epidemic, Child death, Chronic illness, and Terminal illness

Moderate: Grief, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide

arlaubscher's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Blood, Cancer, Child death, Death, Pregnancy, Terminal illness, Pandemic/Epidemic, Animal death, Chronic illness, Death of parent, Body horror, Medical content, and Suicide

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Classism, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Cursing, Medical trauma, Miscarriage, Dementia, Confinement, Mental illness, Gore, and Infertility

nere's review against another edition

really compelling. but it centers a pandemic and i’m really not in the headspace to read something like this right now 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Terminal illness, Death, and Child death

angievansprang's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful reflective sad slow-paced

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

4.0

The writing in this was absolutely beautiful. Nagamatsu has a way of creating an extremely atmospheric setting while discussing profoundly sad ideas, yet still rounding out every chapter with a sense of hope among utter bleakness. The only reason this didn’t get a 5 star from me is because I’m not so much into the technology/space sides of sci-fi and I feel like several chapters incorporated those aspects. Would recommend if this sounds like it’s up your alley!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Moderate: Terminal illness