Reviews tagging 'Death'

Once There Were Wolves by Charlotte McConaghy

208 reviews

carlytenille's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful informative mysterious reflective sad tense 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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Grief, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

daniellecroll's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious slow-paced

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

3.75

I’m not sure if I liked this book. 

Many parts were beautiful: the description of nature, the twin-sister bond between the main character Inti and her sister Aggie, the exploration of themes of kindness vs violence, and which we as people tend towards in a world that hurts us. The wolves were especially well-written, their beauty captured, their wildness, but they were not glorified even within our narrator’s viewpoint despite her adoration of them. They are wild creatures, and they cannot be viewed through our human lenses. In this, the book was successful. 

However, there were things that did not appeal to me. I liked the emotional push-and-pull between Inti and her love interest, Duncan, dependent on her wavering mental state and lack of trust; I did not like that his job of police chief was unquestioned (given the racist history and present of policing). I recognize the narrative sensibility of literally everything coming to a head in the climax, but the lack of realism that everything really *would* happen all at once took me out of the story. And I had a bit of a sense of biological essentialism in the way Inti’s relationship with motherhood resolved, which, as someone disinterested in motherhood and critical of things just “feeling right” and all conflict working out for women the moment they accept motherhood, did not please me. 

And finally, there were things that interested me. I liked the exploration of conservation; the wolves and how the townspeople react to them are a very important piece of this book, and I felt I learned a lot about people’s pushback to conservation efforts (especially when agreements and coexistence are not supported). I also liked hearing about Inti’s “mirror touch”, her neurological disorder where she physically feels what she sees others physically feel. (This disorder is why I have marked diversity as “it’s complicated”; Inti’s mirror touch is a rare condition that does impact her way of life in a manner at times akin to a disability). 

The prose in this book is lovely; the themes are well-explored; the narrative pacing and placement of events leave a bit to be desired; the character writing is complex and interesting; I approve of some of the messaging but very much disapprove of others. I feel bad potentially bringing down the score of this book—but to me, this is a 3.75 kind of read. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Animal death, Death, Domestic abuse, Sexual assault, and Sexual violence

Minor: Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, and Pregnancy

jessrad505's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Death, Domestic abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Blood, and Injury/Injury detail

oxyaena's review

emotional mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Sexual assault, and Sexual violence

sailorbug's review against another edition

dark slow-paced

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

1.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Death, and Pregnancy

skykutz's review

dark sad tense medium-paced

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, and Toxic relationship

shaunelly's review

dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

• 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? It's complicated

4.5

I truly did enjoy this book, and I know I will eventually change my rating to be higher. 
It was just so deeply and profoundly sad—I cried, sobbed actually, throughout the entire book. Maybe it’s the fault of my own for believing it would be more of a mystery/thriller than a book about conservation of nature, climate crisis, and the human experience that connects us all. 
It was beautifully written but contains graphic depictions of interpersonal abuse and violence, animal death, amongst other uneasily digested images. 
Would not suggest for sensitive audiences. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Death, Domestic abuse, Death of parent, and Pregnancy

Moderate: Mental illness, Rape, Dementia, Grief, and Murder

bamitstamz's review against another edition

challenging dark informative 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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Bullying, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Grief, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, and Injury/Injury detail

racetotrace's review against another edition

dark emotional slow-paced

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

3.0

I wanted to like this book, I did until the second half. I liked the plot lines, but the story turned unbelievable and I was so frustrated with Inti by the end. The whole climax to the story was crazy: while very pregnant and in the winter she 1) drags Duncan's into her car and to a hospital 2) rides a horse into a mountain and magically finds the wolf she thinks attacked people 3)kills it and drags the wolf onto the horse 4)goes into labor 5)loses the horse 6) gives birth in the snow without her water breaking 7) keeps trying to walk home while steadily bleeding 8)falls asleep out there without somehow dying 9)a wolf pack cuddles her to keep her warm during the night. Like what?!?!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Violence, and Murder

Moderate: Death, Blood, Death of parent, and Pregnancy

twin1's review against another edition

challenging dark hopeful 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? Yes

3.5

Lots of time hops and some unexpected twists.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Rape, Sexual violence, Violence, and Murder

Moderate: Animal death, Domestic abuse, Infidelity, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, and Pregnancy