Reviews tagging 'Child abuse'

One Dark Window - Egy sötét ablak by Rachel Gillig

93 reviews

thewarbler's review against another edition

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The plot just did not pull me in and I wasn’t interested in the overall outcome. The premise was interesting, but just not executed well.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Violence

ihonkfordragons's review against another edition

4.5

adventurous dark mysterious slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: No

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Loved this book! The mystery kept me guessing, but at the end I could look back and see all the hints had been there all along. The Providence  Cards, the magic system, and the overall world had great dark fairy tale vibes. I cannot express how much I enjoyed the use of rhyme in this story!! Great change of pace. 🌶🌶 Very mild spice but a very tender romance with a slow, gradual build that felt so natural and right.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Sexual content, Blood, Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Child abuse

kaylaswhitmore's review against another edition

3.75

adventurous mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: N/A

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

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Enjoyed this book and am looking forward to reading the second one! Gillig’s prose is both elevated and easy to follow, invoking something similar in feel to classic Victorian literature with a distinctly modern twist. Her pacing was great—neither slow or fast, and with just enough action to keep readers excited. However, I will say that I felt her world-building lacked a smidgen of severity. While we are often told in the first 2/3rds of the book that it is quite dangerous to be an infected person in Blunder, I think the tension could have benefitted from an earlier example of the King’s brutality (i.e. someone Elspeth knew being taken away, or her witnessing a public execution). In that regard, I do feel as if some of the stakes fell a tiny bit flat due to the lack of “showing” in comparison to “telling.” Despite that, I easily tumbled into the magic of the woods and mist and cards, and thoroughly enjoyed the twists and turns of Elspeth’s journey through such a tempestuous town. Excited to see how this story concludes!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Abandonment, Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Kidnapping, Murder, Alcohol

There is a slight, barely there mention of mind/body control of a man over a woman where it is insinuated to have been a very negative experience for the woman. It doesn’t mention any details about the nature of the mind/body control, but thought it was worth mentioning nonetheless.

mzquirk's review against another edition

4.75

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Terminal illness, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Kidnapping, Death of parent, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Pandemic/Epidemic

laurenbrennan's review against another edition

5.0

adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring mysterious fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: No

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Honestly this book had me completely ENRAPTURED. I felt differently about this book than I’ve felt about ANY book in a LONG time. I can’t remember what twist of fate made me bump it to the top of my TBR on a whim but I feel lucky to have had it!! I feel like it changed my brain chemistry.

It took my breath away, MULTIPLE times. Plot twists, 10/10…never saw a single one coming. The poems? Bone-chilling, jaw dropping, timed absolutely PERFECTLY to just blow your mind and drive home the plot. Goosebumps.

I’m really amazed at the author’s ability to build an insanely intricate world and culture based in a completely unique concept…but it’s not the type of feeling you get with so many other fantasy novels. You know what I’m talking about; when you recommend the book to someone else and you feel compelled to say “welllll…there’s a LOT of world building, but once you get through that, the book is amazing.” It felt like this whole world just…existed. From the very first page.

Usually when I get behind on a current read, I feel upset. Anxious, pressured, whatever that feeling is. With this book, I kid you not, I was completely content, with the knowledge that taking little breaks just meant I got to spend more time appreciating reading the book for the first time. I was savoring it, and I feel like I’ve not done that in a long time. Especially not when there’s another book out to further the storyline waiting for me!

I got chills, my jaw came unhinged; I don’t even know how else to describe this book.

No notes.

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Content Warnings

Minor: Child abuse

thecasestudyofmylife_'s review against another edition

3.5

medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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Content Warnings

Minor: Bullying, Child abuse, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Violence, Blood

emsavors's review against another edition

3.5

adventurous dark mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Hate crime, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Terminal illness, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Police brutality, Kidnapping, Death of parent, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Abandonment, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, Classism

bag_end_library's review against another edition

4.0

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

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child abuse, Death, Emotional abuse, Blood, Death of parent, Murder, Abandonment

karapillar's review against another edition

5.0

dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Confinement, Death, Gore, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Self harm, Terminal illness, Torture, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Murder, Abandonment, Injury/Injury detail

roseleebooks's review against another edition

4.5

adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

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This book has such an enjoyably dark atmosphere and unique magic system. I read the last 75% in one day because I could not put it down! The ending was an excellent setup for the next book.

The reasons I didn't give 5 stars:

Hauth just did not cut it for me as a villain, very one dimensional and predictable. Also, the reveal of the Nightmare's identity was a bit obvious and it seemed like it would have been figured out much earlier by Elspeth.

These were fairly minor but annoyed me quite a bit since the rest of the book was so well done.

I immediately picked up the next book, glad I started this after the sequel was released!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Violence, Death of parent, Abandonment, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Child abuse