Reviews with content warning for Murder - The Village of Eight Graves

Reviews tagging 'Murder'

The Village of Eight Graves by Seishi Yokomizo

11 reviews

bpryan's review

adventurous mysterious medium-paced

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

4.0

Different from other Yokomizo books I later read in that it is from the perspective of a character, and not just of Detective Kindaichi's character. A good murder mystery with compelling characters, plot, development, and hard-to-guess ending.

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mozumozumozu's review

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dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.5

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tahsintries's review

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3.5

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angela_iseli's review

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adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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atalea's review

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dark mysterious medium-paced

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

4.5

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linguaphile412's review

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adventurous challenging dark mysterious 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? It's complicated

5.0

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snowwhitehatesapples's review

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adventurous challenging dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

3.5

Review can also be found at Snow White Hates Apples.

Unlike The Honjin Murders and The Inugami Curse where tragedy befalls families, we have instead, specific people poisoned to death in The Village of Eight Graves . The story also unfolds differently from the other two. Instead of active participation by Detective Kosuke Kindaichi, the story is recounted from the POV of Tatsuya who found himself unwittingly embroiled in the aforementioned murders which reminds the villagers of the horrific murders carried out by Tatsuya’s blood father (whom he never knew until much later) years ago, and before that, the betrayal and killing of eight samurai (hence the village’s name) in 1566.

In addition to the main plot, we get to read about Tatsuya’s experiences as he navigates his position within his newly-found family, the norms of a remote village and its inhabitants, a hunt for the samurai’s fabled treasure, and romance. Though, The Village of Eight Graves is, on a whole, more mystery thriller with elements of adventure, which differs it from a typical whodunit.

This makes reading the Detective Kosuke Kindaichi series refreshing thus far, because despite some similarities, there are greater aspects that make each unique. Nevertheless, I must admit that my interest waned a few times while reading Tatsuya’s POV. As much as I appreciated the provided details and context throughout, they also made the story long and feeling like an information dump at certain places. Going through all of that felt more like a chore because of Tatsuya’s anxiety and naivety too.

Still, I greatly enjoyed how deceptive and twisty the story is. It’s not easy to guess who is the real culprit is due to the execution, and there were times when I wondered if this book would take on a stronger paranormal route what with all the parallels between Tatsuya’s situation, his blood father’s murders and the legend of the eight samurai. All of this makes The Village of Eight Graves a satisfying read, for sure.

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