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nookandcrannyseattle's review against another edition
- 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
I will say that this was GORY. Some scenes were very hard to read (see CW - rape, child murder, animal death) and I'm glad I was reading it in print so I could do some strategic skimming. So probably won't read again, but it was a spectacular one-off!
Graphic: Child abuse, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Torture, Animal death, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Blood, Body horror, Child death, Excrement, Violence, Physical abuse, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Murder, Rape, Sexual assault, and Sexual violence
onlyincursive's review against another edition
- 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
4.5
Graphic: Alcohol, Fire/Fire injury, Drug use, Animal cruelty, Toxic relationship, Suicide, Injury/Injury detail, Animal death, Murder, Gaslighting, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Gore, Blood, Body horror, Child death, Death, Violence, Kidnapping, Child abuse, Death of parent, Suicide attempt, Medical content, Mass/school shootings, Torture, and Physical abuse
Moderate: Addiction, Confinement, Cursing, Rape, Drug abuse, Xenophobia, Car accident, War, Toxic friendship, and Suicidal thoughts
Minor: Misogyny, Bullying, Classism, Mental illness, Xenophobia, Police brutality, Islamophobia, and Pregnancy
This book is hard to warn for. Be especially aware that there is torture and murder of childrenabathur's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
1.5
- the first third of the book kept me wanting to read it
- the lions
Cons:
- the author is a middle-aged guy who is a leg man, and I had to walk away from this book knowing that
- Father (aka Ancient Pedo) rapes, tortures, and murders the kids because they "need" it. the book tells you so, and he is rewarded for it
- Father/Ancient Pedo only ever pits the kids against each other and isolates them from the outside world. what does this with the point above tell you?
- the black character is the main rapist. the asian girl character smells like shit. the plot conveniently has reasons for this, but take this as you will given that the author paints a textbook child abuser as a good guy
- Carolyn is a flat Mary Sue. there is no tension in this book as a result
- random inconsistencies (eg. the kids under Ancient Pedo's care can't dress themselves, but they dress dead people normally without issue)
- nebulous concepts that are never really established (eg. death is banishing someone to the shadow realm, but it's irrelevant because people get resurrected all the time -- except that one time with the lion because reasons). creativity is cool until it just becomes random bullshit
- random bullshit (eg. when Carolyn calls the president. not sure if that was supposed to be funny or something)
- some of the colour book powers or whatever are redundant and some of them are completely useless
- bad plot armour and nonsensical decisions (eg. why did David let Carolyn touch his dong? he's supposed to be the best fighter in the world, and she's his biggest enemy)
Graphic: Gaslighting, Gore, Toxic relationship, Torture, Emotional abuse, Racism, and Rape
storyorc's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
My only complaints are the huge loss in momentum between the last two acts and that the first chapter had me hungry for much more interaction between Carolyn's terminally messed up 'family'.
If you like stories like The Old Guard, the ending of IT, Harrow the Ninth, Wild Seed, and/or Sandman, or have any interest in exploring how abysmally human morals scale when people live too long and get too strong (and can handle some existential dread), pick this up.
Graphic: Animal death, Injury/Injury detail, Rape, Torture, Toxic relationship, and Suicide
Moderate: Drug use
Minor: Police brutality
shelbymarie314's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Moderate: Child death, Suicide, Torture, Animal cruelty, Gore, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, Cannibalism, Animal death, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Violence, Death, Gaslighting, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, and Murder
Minor: Incest
poetsofsweetpea's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Car accident, Death of parent, Addiction, Bullying, Alcohol, Animal death, Blood, Body horror, Drug abuse, Gun violence, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Domestic abuse, Gaslighting, Animal cruelty, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Genocide, Grief, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Suicide, Rape, Sexual violence, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Self harm, Murder, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Mental illness, and Suicidal thoughts
blessjessmess's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
I believe this book would be served better by the genre tag WEIRD FICTION. It's marketed as horror but it's not the type of horror you expect from a horror novel. Anyway, fun read.
Graphic: Murder, Toxic relationship, Suicide, Sexual violence, Fire/Fire injury, Child abuse, Rape, Violence, Emotional abuse, and Animal death
read_bransdon's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Blood
Moderate: Grief, Murder, Sexual assault, Death of parent, Death, Emotional abuse, Drug use, Gaslighting, and Gore
Minor: Rape, Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, and War
librarymouse's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
This was recommended to me as horror, but I can't help but feel that while it is scary and gory, horror isn't the correct genre for this novel. Horror makes me panic at night. I stayed up into the wee hours of the morning reading The Library at Mount Char.
This is everything I could want and more from a book that starts out with the vibes of a post-hayday magic school memoir of sorts.
Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Child death, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Grief, Gun violence, Sexual violence, Toxic friendship, Violence, Confinement, Death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Sexism, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Murder, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Car accident, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Misogyny, Sexual assault, Sexual content, and Sexual harassment
meg_elyse's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.25
Graphic: Bullying, Death, Emotional abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Rape, Animal death, Body horror, Self harm, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Gun violence, Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, Blood, Child abuse, Gore, Suicide, Murder, Physical abuse, and Suicide attempt
Moderate: Death of parent, Sexual assault, Drug use, War, Animal death, Confinement, Excrement, Self harm, Rape, Torture, and Vomit