Reviews tagging 'Torture'

The Girl and the Ghost by Hanna Alkaf

6 reviews

qrschulte's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful informative sad 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

Ugh what a beautiful and emotional book. Had me crying by the end. My suspicions were correct, and the reveal at the end was hard, but perfect. It was definitely horror, but not too much for me to handle. It was scary while still being manageable. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic friendship, Stalking, Torture, Bullying, and Grief

Moderate: Blood, Classism, Death, Slavery, Child death, Injury/Injury detail, Body horror, and Emotional abuse

Minor: Vomit, Death of parent, and Murder

lizgom's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional mysterious fast-paced

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

4.0

This will probably be my favorite middle grade book. I listened to this as an audiobook, and honestly it was great. I feel like it gave the characters more depth than I would've given them if I had read it. I have a habit of liking middle grade books better as audiobooks. This is a great take on mental health and reaching out. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Bullying, and Death

Moderate: Death of parent, Grief, and Blood

Minor: Violence, Murder, and Torture

goizi's review

dark emotional mysterious slow-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death and Bullying

Moderate: Grief and Torture

jay_jade736's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional inspiring lighthearted reflective relaxing sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.5

I decided to bump it to 4.5 ⭐ after giving it a thoughtful reminiscing. It's truly a fun middle grade read.

 I was really fond of Pink and Suraya's friendship. When there was a debale between the two, I found myself being lenient to one over the other when the POV switches. As individuals, I really love them and can see myself being friends with them

 Jing is a fun side character. I do think that she's shallow compared to some other side characters in other books, she still is someone I have a sort of fondness over. She reminds me alot of Mei Mei in Upin and Ipin and I think the author draw inspiration from her

I also noticed a rather intriguing but peculiar writing style the author tends to add. "If you would listened carefully, you would have heard Pink buzz" (Not an actual sentence from the book)
At first I thought it was annoying and ruined the whole vibe of the book but as I read along and eventually being engrossed with the books sequence of events, the more I found it to be engaging. It then felt awkward in the ending parts as it wasn't utilised as much and when it was, it no longer has that nuance to it

Speaking of endings, this one crushed me. While I think it was cliché (the twist to be specific) I still found the departure of Pink and Suraya heartbreaking especially since that was the last time they could be together in the same physical space if that made any sort of sense

Overall, this was a fun read and a bug suggestion if you love to get to know more of Malaysia and it's culture

(Note: This has bullying, medical detail, murder and abandonment way detailed and explicit than what you'd normally expect from a middle grade book so read with caution)

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Blood, Bullying, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Murder, and Torture

Moderate: Child death, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, and Panic attacks/disorders

bexi's review against another edition

dark emotional funny 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying

Moderate: Death of parent, Child death, Blood, and Grief

Minor: Body shaming, Vomit, Stalking, Medical trauma, Misogyny, Violence, Murder, and Torture

mxrumphius's review

adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful mysterious medium-paced

• Loveable characters? Yes

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Content Warnings

Minor: Blood, Body horror, Child death, Death, Death of parent, Grief, Mental illness, Murder, Stalking, Torture, and Violence