Reviews tagging 'Drug use'

The Devil and the Dark Water by Stuart Turton

3 reviews

rochelleisreading's review

informative mysterious medium-paced

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Rape, Misogyny, War, Fire/Fire injury, Sexism, Blood, Animal death, Toxic relationship, Torture, Slavery, and Religious bigotry

Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Drug use, Classism, Death of parent, Confinement, Death, Murder, and Colonisation

Minor: Physical abuse and Alcohol

claresbookshelf's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark informative mysterious tense medium-paced

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

5.0

5 out of 5 stars.

This was genuinely such a fun book to get through. 

I knew going into it that it was going to be slightly different than Turton's first novel (The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle), but his writing style was so unique in that book that I knew that it would slip through to this novel as well. And I was right. Despite it not following the perspectives of as many characters, the narrative flowed in such a natural way that it kept the pace of the story consistent throughout.

There wasn't a single moment in this book where I felt like things were dragging or taking too long. And most importantly, I couldn't figure out the mystery. I had my suspicions on certain characters, but not clear motive or means. So when everything was explained at the end, it was a surprise and yet it all made sense.

Also, I loved the little nod to Evelyn during the explanation. Very cute touch. 

To be fair, I know Turton has stated that he likes writing stand-alone novels with new characters but if he really wanted to he could use that to create a pretty cool little connected universe.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Blood, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Classism, Death, and Emotional abuse

Moderate: Misogyny, Murder, and Physical abuse

oliverlang's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense 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? Yes

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal death, Blood, Body horror, Confinement, Death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Excrement, Grief, Gore, Infidelity, Misogyny, Murder, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, and Vomit