Reviews tagging 'Misogyny'

The Devil and the Dark Water by Stuart Turton

35 reviews

genny's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious slow-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? No

3.0

I finished this quite a while ago so I can't say much other than it was...okay. I found it slow and a bit of a chore to get through, even though I liked Arent and Sara. For some reason it didn't really feel like a mystery? The reveal was a bit confusing, I just remember that I ended up hating

Sammy 🙄 Him trying to joke around after revealing everything pissed me off

. Haha. I currently have Evelyn Hardcastle on loan from the library so hopefully I'll like that better.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Misogyny, Domestic abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Death, Blood, Murder, Animal death, and Sexism

Moderate: Confinement

diana_raquel's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

"Cleverness is a type of strength, and they won't accept a woman who's stronger than they are. Their pride won't allow it, and their pride is the thing they hold dearest."

 Mystery thrillers are not my cup of tea. My reading tastes tend to be directed toward classics, fantasy, and contemporary. However, I loved the previous book of Turton.

After The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle, I had an idea of what I would find in this book: a murder mystery full of details that wouldn't make sense until the final chapter, with an influence of speculative fiction.  Well, I didn't get my speculative fiction influence. And that's okay. What I got was so much better. What I got was a murder mystery (somewhat) historical full of details that only made sense in the final chapters. 

This was a really good book, with a solid structure. The characters were well developed and you never really know what they're thinking and what they might do next, which only made the narrative more compelling. And, as usual, my theories were all wrong, but then only made the narrative more interesting. 

I think that the only thing that I wasn't a fan of was the pacing in the early chapters. They seem to be dragging and dragging. I understand the need to set the scene and the characters in a murder mystery but I think that this part could be done in fewer stages/pages.

Overall, I liked it and recommend it to murder mysteries lovers!

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny, Murder, Sexism, Violence, Animal death, Death, Gore, and Blood

Moderate: Racism, Religious bigotry, Domestic abuse, and Toxic relationship

Minor: Rape, Slavery, and Infidelity

horationelson's review against another edition

mysterious slow-paced

• Diverse cast of characters? No

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, and Violence

Moderate: Classism, Animal death, Domestic abuse, and Gore

Minor: Body horror, Colonisation, Confinement, and Religious bigotry

tamara_joy's review

adventurous dark mysterious tense

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Loveable characters? Yes

3.75

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Blood, and Death

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, and Death of parent

Minor: Pregnancy, Rape, Colonisation, Excrement, Animal death, Genocide, Alcoholism, Grief, Misogyny, and Infidelity

bc288's review

challenging dark mysterious 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

4.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Murder, Physical abuse, Racism, Sexism, Sexual harassment, Toxic relationship, and Violence

Moderate: Fire/Fire injury, Animal death, and Death

arce's review against another edition

adventurous dark inspiring mysterious reflective medium-paced

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

4.5

Very good book, at every point of the story I kept wondering what would most likely happen next, sometimes I was right, and it still managed to surprise me.
The explanation is not farfetched and seems reasonable, but I am not completely satisfied with the ending.

Sammy/Hugo doesn't seem to feel anything? Gives me strong psychopath vibes...
Also, what happenes with the other passengers on the island? Do they sail to Amsterdam afterwards?
And I'm definitely not a fan of Sara's solution. I liked neither of the options, but don't have any better on my mind. Vigilante justice is not the right way. Creesjie and Sammy/Hugo shouldn't go without punishment.

I would be interested in the more horror endings Stuart Turton mentioned in the interview at the end of the audiobook.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Excrement, Misogyny, Murder, and Sexism

Moderate: Blood, Medical content, Injury/Injury detail, Animal death, Colonisation, Gaslighting, Genocide, and Alcohol

Minor: Sexual content, Rape, War, and Pregnancy

tallbox's review

adventurous mysterious fast-paced

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

2.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Animal death, Gore, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Death of parent, Sexism, Sexual assault, Misogyny, Colonisation, Child death, and Vomit

Minor: Pregnancy

literaryrevisited's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious fast-paced

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

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Death, and Blood

Moderate: Rape, Misogyny, and Murder

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

shinsoukoku's review

slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot

2.25

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Domestic abuse, Misogyny, and Sexism

Moderate: Physical abuse, Rape, Emotional abuse, and Violence

Minor: Excrement, Child abuse, Vomit, Child death, War, Animal death, Confinement, Genocide, Injury/Injury detail, and Torture

set in the medieval era, there is a brief scene of sara having to fulfill her "obligations" with her abusive husband and multiple threats of assault leading up to a character suggesting they, the men, use the women of the ship as they wish, willing or not.