Reviews tagging 'Child death'

Daphne by Josh Malerman

14 reviews

brookebatesratesbooks's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Violence, and Police brutality

cwgonzales's review

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

3.0

A supernatural murder mystery of sorts playing out around a high school girls basketball team. 
The monster murderer side of things is fun, chilling and gruesome, but I’m pretty tired of characters needing to overcome trauma as a key point of a story. 
You can do anything with your BARE HANDS, got it? 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Death, Gore, Panic attacks/disorders, Violence, Blood, Grief, Stalking, Car accident, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

faye_grace's review

dark mysterious reflective tense fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, and Cannibalism

Moderate: Violence

Minor: Alcoholism and Drug use

arianamadison's review

dark mysterious tense slow-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Body horror, Child death, Blood, and Murder

devynreadsnovels's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Panic attacks/disorders

Moderate: Alcoholism, Body horror, Child death, Cursing, Death, Mental illness, Torture, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Cannibalism, Stalking, and Murder

Minor: Bullying, Confinement, Drug use, Gun violence, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, and Car accident

louisegraveyard's review

challenging dark emotional informative mysterious tense medium-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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Violence, Kidnapping, Cannibalism, Car accident, and Death of parent

desana75's review

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Gore, Panic attacks/disorders, Cannibalism, and Murder

Moderate: Child abuse, Blood, and Stalking

Minor: Car accident

unsarahble's review

dark 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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Gore, and Murder

daviddiamond's review

dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

2.75

This story was definitely giving off some serious "A Nightmare on Elm Street" vibes almost to the point where I thought "Does the estate of Wes Craven have grounds to sue?"
But I digress...
This story about a myth that comes to life to stalk the all-girls high school basketball team has way too much basketball in it especially for someone who doesn't like basketball.
It also felt weird every time the girls refer to their fellow teammates as "ballers"...that happened a lot too.
So in short, some scary moments, some clunky writing and a storyline that didn't fully make sense.
Unpopular opinion, I know. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Gore, Stalking, and Murder

jourdanicus's review against another edition

dark reflective fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• 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

Hmm, this book was more interesting than scary or horrifying to me. I don't have a very vivid visual imagination so the gory character deaths didn't do much to me. But the metaphor of the monster being anxiety, that was interesting to me.

Some of the plot points were a little confusing but maybe that was just me not paying close enough attention. I also felt like the ending was a bit rushed, maybe for the sake of tension, but that fell through as I didn't feel that much tension had been built up to that point.

I'd definitely recommend this to anyone who loves basketball and horror, lol. We love a niche sub-genre. I'm interested to explore more by this author and see if anything else he wrote falls more into my wheelhouse.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Body horror and Panic attacks/disorders

Minor: Child abuse, Child death, Death, Car accident, and Injury/Injury detail