Reviews with content warning for Animal death - Pine

Reviews tagging 'Animal death'

fabelfuchs's review

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dark mysterious tense slow-paced

Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

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gaptoothdummy's review

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dark mysterious reflective 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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elysianbud's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced

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

3.5

I tried reading this ages ago and DNF'd it. Picked it up again and gave it another chance and actually really enjoyed myself. Creepy and mysterious.

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a_violentfemme's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious sad 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? It's complicated

2.75

I wanted so much to love this book and the premise sounded just my thing but it feel a bit flat for me overall. I enjoyed the supernatural elements but felt the thriller aspect was rushed and not as well fleshed out as other parts of the story

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lynxpardinus's review against another edition

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dark mysterious reflective tense

4.0

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hannahg94's review

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dark sad slow-paced

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

2.5

It's a hard 'meh' from me. Not terrible, but ultimately boring and meandering with no clear direction.

First and foremost: even though there are supernatural and thriller elements to this book, it is not a horror or gothic novel. And the spotty paranormal bits throughout come across more as sad and frustrating than they do spooky. This book really belongs in the Slice-of-Life genre. And to throw a bone to this author, just know, I generally don't go toward that genre.

The focus of the story is really about grief: Niall struggling to come to terms with the loss of his wife nearly a decade after her disappearance, and his daughter, Lauren, coming-of-age in a world where she does not have her mother, nor even knows much about her. Even so, there is no profound commentary on these themes or much in the way of growth surrounding them. There are just... there.

To echo another reviewer, what is the point?

Two-thirds through, a mystery emerges, and finally the book feels like it's going somewhere... but ends up being... kinda random? The "mystery" is somehow both impossible to solve AND glaringly obvious. Impossible, because there are no clues to follow and our protagonists have neither the information, resources, or the interest to solve it, and yet glaringly obvious because it's pretty easy to figure out purely by process of elimination and one not-so-subtle "throwaway comment". Either way, this is not a mystery novel and the "whodunit" doesn't even seem relevant to what's happening. The big reveal falls flat and the "why" of it all is non-existent.

Why was Christine murdered in the first place? How did the teenagers figure it out and confront the murderer? Why did the murderer confess to the teenagers and take them to her grave? Why is Christine's spirit back now and how are people having physical interactions with it? What's with the "curse" on the house? What's with the random haunted hut in the woods? Why is everyone so uncomfortably linked in this small town with no thought to age-gaps or power-dynamics? Yeesh.

And then the book just ends.

Ok.

Now, Francine Toon does have a nice flow with words and her atmosphere was at times, well-done. The narrative, while feeling dull ultimately, did have some moments of gripping-interest, so the book was not unreadable and moved at a slow, but steady pace. But it wasn't my cup of tea.

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