Reviews tagging 'Terminal illness'

Full Dark, No Stars by Stephen King

3 reviews

megbroache's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

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laurenvoice's review against another edition

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dark emotional sad medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.25

Full Dark, No Stars is a collection of four novellas and one bonus story. All five stories centre around the theme of death, and the four main novellas focus on themes of murder, guilt, violent crimes and justice. Full Dark, No Stars has to be one of my favourite collections of short novellas, a close second to Different Seasons!

1922
⭐⭐⭐⭐.5

1922 was a great start to this collection, told through a letter from the POV of a killer. Our killer Wilf turned out to be a maybe unreliable narrator, and for some reason, I believe there is more to the story. 1922 was a dark, grotesque and sad read; the addition of rats provided a spooky touch.

Big Driver
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Big Driver was my favourite story in this collection. There were many twists and turns, and I knew Ramona couldn't be trusted as soon as she entered the story. Tess was bad*ss and served justice to that awful family that subjected her and many other women to a horrendous and sickening fate. Big Driver was dark, heartbreaking and emotional. But also addictive.

Fair Extension
⭐⭐⭐

Fair Extension was extremely dark and messed up. This one was the shortest story in this collection, not including the bonus story, and was not my favourite. Streeter was an awful human and never felt guilt for what he did to his best friend.

A Good Marriage
⭐⭐⭐⭐.25

A Good Marriage is from the POV of a wife that just discovered her husband is a wanted serial killer. It was interesting to go through the thought process as she digested what she found in the garage and to see her thought process when she decided to serve justice for the victims and her family. A Good Marriage was dark and hard to read, but it was addictive, nonetheless.

Bonus Story:
Under the Weather
⭐⭐⭐⭐.25

Under the Weather was quite an emotional and sad read. A husband wasn't ready to let go of his dead wife and kept her alive through his imagination, just like he promised her he would. The ending is left open, but we can assume that his dead wife is about to be discovered. Under the Weather was a short yet impactful read. 
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readyourbookshelf's review against another edition

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dark emotional funny mysterious tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

This book contains 4 novellas/short stories and so it's hard to rate the book as whole, so let's break it down.

1922: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Big Driver: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Fair Extension: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

A Good Marriage: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

I gave the book 5 stars overall and 3 of the 4 stories got 5s from me too. The only one I gave a 4 to was Big Driver. It was the longest of the bunch, dragged a tiny bit in the middle, and the ending was a kind of sad I don't like, true to life, but sad. 

The other three were all five stars in my opinion. This book has a LOT of difficult subject matter, so be sure to check content warnings before reading if you have any specific triggers.
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