Reviews tagging 'Death'

How High We Go in the Dark by Sequoia Nagamatsu

291 reviews

billiekate's review against another edition

dark sad medium-paced

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

3.5

Good audiobook! Had trouble pushing myself to the end because of the amount of unlikeable characters. Each chapter is a different main character but the stories get connected over time. I enjoyed the chapter with the pig and with the rollercoaster. Nagamatsu is a really talented author in painting a scene and a character so realistically with just a few details.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Terminal illness

Moderate: Child death, Death, and Pandemic/Epidemic

adusablon's review against another edition

challenging emotional reflective sad 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, and Pandemic/Epidemic

yogomagpie's review against another edition

dark medium-paced

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

2.0

I loved the first story, but after reading a few more stories I began to feel very fatigued. I grew bored reading so many similar stories over and over again and became desensitized to all the deaths and grieving. But maybe getting desensitized is the point. Anyway, my fav chapter is the one with the pig. It was so messed up and sad.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Cancer, Child death, Death, Medical content, Death of parent, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Moderate: Alcoholism, Animal death, Body horror, Vomit, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

definestrange's review against another edition

challenging emotional mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

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

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

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

Moderate: Animal death

Minor: Infidelity, Racism, Suicidal thoughts, 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: Cancer, Child death, Chronic illness, Confinement, Death, Medical content, Grief, Death of parent, Pregnancy, and Pandemic/Epidemic

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

Minor: Murder, Pregnancy, Abandonment, and Classism

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, Chronic illness, Death, Suicide, Terminal illness, Death of parent, and Pandemic/Epidemic

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: Death and Terminal illness