Reviews tagging 'Addiction'

La biblioteca del Monte Char by Scott Hawkins

18 reviews

azurae's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad tense slow-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

1.5

While I have mixed feelings about this book, I overall really didn't enjoy it. The violence was overdone to the point of being gratuitous, the story didn't flow well, alternating between painfully slow and dropping large storyline bombs quickly, and so many loose ends left unexplored. Many of the characters are never developed at all, for example

Nearly half the librarians were barely mentioned, the enemies were nebulous and barely any info is given on them, many of the mysteries brought up left unexplained etc

The "oh father was the hero all along and had to horrifically torture these kids to make a god, and planned everything out behind the scenes, meaning Carolyn was just a pawn plodding to her destiny" ending was really unsatisfying. The sexual assault scenes were unnecessary and horrible to read, the story would've been better without them. The author himself in interviews has said that he debated heavily with himself on whether to include them, and I feel he made the wrong call. 
However, the writing was really gripping, the library concept was executed well, and I did enjoy some aspects of this book. Dresden & Naga were my favorite characters and the whole lion arc was meaningful and engrossing, albeit sad. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Homophobia, Murder, Self harm, Suicide attempt, Torture, Violence, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, Suicide, Child abuse, Gun violence, Hate crime, Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual content, and Sexual violence

Moderate: Alcohol, Excrement, and Addiction

soaphest's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny mysterious medium-paced

5.0

amazing book. started off super strong & only got better as it went on. all the characters were hugely compelling & the story managed to present something great and unknowing without being difficult about it. very excited about anything else the author will write. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Fire/Fire injury, Sexual violence, Torture, Death, Animal death, and Murder

Moderate: Rape, Sexual violence, Drug abuse, Sexual assault, Drug use, and Addiction

Minor: Death of parent and Child death

4jakers18's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious medium-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Blood, Body horror, Incest, Kidnapping, Medical content, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Child abuse, Child death, Car accident, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Domestic abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Forced institutionalization, Gaslighting, Genocide, Injury/Injury detail, Mass/school shootings, Murder, Terminal illness, Violence, War, Medical trauma, Self harm, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Suicide, Torture, Cursing, Addiction, Animal death, Police brutality, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Suicide attempt, Death, Death of parent, Gore, Grief, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, and Abandonment

molly200's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious 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? Yes

4.5

What the fuck did I just read??? That was incredible. Fucked up, sure, but incredible. I sort of grew to like the characters in a way. Tbh, I think this is the only book where I can safely say my favourite character was a fucking lion.... Holy shit. I don't think I'll ever read anything quite like it. It had the sort of loose ends type feel to it that I love in books. Also, yay for lovecraftian/cosmic horror! And also a bit of comedy? I don't know. This book defies genre, words, classification of any kind. I'd even go so far as to say it's a masterpiece.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Animal death, Blood, and Violence

Moderate: Torture, Body horror, Addiction, Rape, Vomit, War, Violence, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Physical abuse, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Homophobia and Grief

mommarex1221's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• 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

3.0

Do not be discouraged by the 3 ⭐️ rating, this novel is crafted with care and the premise is unique, at least it's unlike anything I've ever read before. I would still recommend it. I did enjoy about half of it, not to say I disliked the remaining half, I just struggled. I was a bit sad about some of the choices made in reference to a certain character, but that's on me and not the book. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Confinement, Death, Death of parent, Violence, Animal death, Blood, Body horror, Fire/Fire injury, Medical content, Murder, Suicide, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Torture, Rape, Sexual content, Forced institutionalization, Abandonment, Animal cruelty, Child abuse, Alcohol, and Gun violence

Minor: Addiction, Alcoholism, Car accident, and Cancer

snivellus's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious fast-paced

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

5.0

This book is 5 out of 5 stars for me, honestly one of the best books I’ve read. The world building was confusingly immaculate. I couldn’t get enough of the plot, it was like a roller coaster I didn’t want to get off of. All the characters were all so incredibly flawed but just a delight to read about and discover more of. A dysfunctional "family" if I've ever read one, but I loved them all (even that one librarian).

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gore, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Suicide, Torture, and Violence

Moderate: Addiction, Drug use, and Grief

Minor: Child abuse, Rape, and Sexual assault

em_bouche's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny mysterious medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Rape, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Death, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Car accident, Gore, and Gun violence

Minor: Abandonment, Death of parent, Murder, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Addiction, and Bullying

egfrith's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense 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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Child abuse, Death, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Gore, Grief, Murder, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Suicide, and Torture

Moderate: Animal death

Minor: Addiction