Reviews tagging 'Suicidal thoughts'

Sawkill Girls by Claire Legrand

30 reviews

emmaward55's review

dark sad tense

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

4.75

This book is perfect for anyone who loves the Charmed TV series and thought it could be scarier.

When I was on chapter four, my working theory was that the missing girls were being turned into horses by Val and her mum: But oh, it's so much darker than that. I love a good horror film, yet I found myself more creeped out in reading this book than I expected to be. Legrand's writing is evocative, tense, and atmospheric, without getting too bogged down in description. There's plenty of action and moments of good character growth throughout.

I read this book in two days, mostly in three long chunks, as I couldn't drag myself away to focus on anything else! I loved the complex relationships of our three protagonists and their characterisations have to be a highlight for me. Can't lie though, I’m sad that we didn’t get a reunion scene at the end between Marion and her mum. Considering that this is a book about female relationships, it feels weird to not include one of the protagonists interacting with the last present female parent of the trio. 

That being said, the above was my only real complaint. I'd certainly read this book again and I recommend it for anyone with a strong stomach!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Kidnapping, Child abuse, Body horror, Emotional abuse, Blood, Self harm, Child death, Violence, Torture, Animal death, Gore, Death of parent, Grief, Gun violence, and Sexual content

Moderate: Acephobia/Arophobia, Vomit, Medical content, Misogyny, Alcohol, and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Drug abuse, Suicidal thoughts, and Miscarriage

Child death and kidnapping:

All are around 17

Self harm:

The only instance I remember is a character burning something off their skin, but it's done to save themselves and others

Drug abuse and suicidal thoughts:

A secondary character isn't trusted with their prescription medication, as a loved one suspects they might intentionally overdose. Nothing actually happens and it's just a brief mention.

oliverreeds's review

adventurous dark 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? It's complicated

4.0

pretty good. the character relationships were stilted at the beginning. i didnt understand their motivations but it made sense at the end. i just wish there had been more friendship initially. would have provided a better foundation

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Cancer, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Police brutality, Self harm, Mental illness, Murder, Violence, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Grief, Acephobia/Arophobia, Animal death, Blood, Car accident, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Body horror, Child death, Classism, Cursing, Death, Gun violence, Panic attacks/disorders, Vomit, and Toxic relationship

vaguely_pink's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense slow-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

2.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Death of parent, Grief, Misogyny, Murder, Sexism, Violence, and Acephobia/Arophobia

Moderate: Animal death, Suicidal thoughts, Racism, Sexual content, Cursing, Biphobia, Bullying, Blood, and Body horror

Minor: Gun violence, Gore, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

bookedbymadeline's review

adventurous dark mysterious tense fast-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

This book had me from the very first line and I kept staying up late to keep reading until I could no longer keep my eyes open! Which is rare but also bad, because I was freaked out when the lights went out .

I loved the plot, the characters, and their development. I was completely immersed in the world of Sawkill and rooting for the girls! I also really liked the switching POVs. Sawkill Girls was truly an amazing book, and considering I’m a scaredy cat who typically avoids horror novels-I was blown away! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Death of parent, Suicidal thoughts, Death, Murder, Gore, Car accident, and Grief

Moderate: Acephobia/Arophobia, Sexual content, and Sexism

Minor: Child abuse and Domestic abuse

mooandshoe's review

dark emotional hopeful mysterious sad tense 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

4.0

I have really conflicting feelings about this book, I won’t lie. Overall, the themes and symbolism were incredible and the plot kept me wanting to know what happened next. However, the writing at the beginning was a little hard to get into. I won’t go into detail because I don’t want this to be hidden by a spoiler, but my biggest issue with the book was the sexual content with teenage characters. If the characters were adults, I wouldn’t care or even necessarily call it graphic but it was way more than should be written about characters who are underage. So, ethically, I feel a little conflicted about how I want to rate this book. 
However, this book is a beautiful examination of girlhood, patriarchy, good and evil, and how easily those things intertwine. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Toxic friendship, Sexual content, Blood, Gore, and Violence

Moderate: Grief, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Acephobia/Arophobia, Physical abuse, Sexual violence, Vomit, Suicidal thoughts, and Blood

cajesp's review

adventurous dark emotional mysterious 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

4.5

i throughly enjoyed this book! i’m really surprised how much i came to love val after hating her for most of the first 1/2 of the book but now she’s my favourite character. great character development, world-building, just the right amount of horror and the relationships between the girls was a delight to read. i loved every girl so much and i loved their journey throughout the book. it was a surprisingly great read, i would definitely recommend this one but please be aware of the horror elements, some of the descriptions may be graphic for others! also bonus points for being sapphic and having ace representation!! so great to see :)  

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Torture, Body horror, Injury/Injury detail, and Blood

Moderate: Gun violence, Vomit, and Physical abuse

Minor: Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, and Animal death

lovelyannalee's review

dark mysterious slow-paced

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

1.0

I really wanted to like this … I really tried to like this … but I just couldn’t.  Cringey writing, bland boring characters, predictable storytelling, and slow-as-snail pacing cannot be ignored because of the queer representation—and even then, the characters were written so stereotypically that it felt like it didn’t even matter!!  Plus, why the man-hating?!  Why does every feminist novel I read crap on men?? 

I forced myself to speed-read this at midnight and halfway through ended up skimming and I know for a fact that I didn’t miss anything of importance because this novel didn’t contain anything worth reading!! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Gore

Moderate: Acephobia/Arophobia, Suicidal thoughts, and Sexual content

space_bandit's review

adventurous dark mysterious 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: Body horror, Child abuse, Death, Death of parent, Gore, and Suicidal thoughts

Moderate: Acephobia/Arophobia, Vomit, Sexual content, Sexual assault, and Blood

sameehaha's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional 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? No

4.0

This was addicting to read. I wish I had more thoughts to share but that's really all. I spent most of my free time reading this so I think that's a good enough review.  

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Murder, Child death, and Suicidal thoughts

Moderate: Sexual content, Gore, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Mental illness, Injury/Injury detail, Emotional abuse, Domestic abuse, Cursing, Confinement, Bullying, and Animal death

Minor: Sexual violence and Acephobia/Arophobia

_forestofpages's review

dark emotional mysterious 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

3.5

I enjoyed the writing immensely, it was creepy and immersive. I really enjoyed that each character was flawed in their own way and that none of them had a perfect relationship with their parents.

The mystery and the villain were super intriguing and I loved the symbolisms for feminism and the cruelty of man, though sometimes it seemed pretty heavy handed. I also liked that it had a Sapphic relationship, though I couldn't really enjoy it because of the context of the one character and her actions toward the other. Also, one of the main characters is ace and I really appreciated that since that orientation is very overlooked.

Now onto spoilers and why its not a four star read for me:

A big important plot point wasn't mentioned or revealed until act 3 which I find kind of weird. I also felt like the overt amount of feminism was unneeded. The second group of antagonists were all these horrible misogynists that didn't show up until act 3. It just felt really heavy-handed and really late in the story to introduce them. Just the likelihood of every one of those guys having the fact they hate women be the reason they do things the way they do them is unreal. Some of them had to want to do it because they wanted to live, or because they had a hero complex and it was for the "greater good" or something. Why were all of their motivations the same? Because it was convenient I would guess. The ending with that conflict felt rushed to me.

I did like the end and how Marian had grown so much that she was willing to die for them and for all the other girls. That was a great moment and I would say out of the three she was my favorite.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Death, Violence, Grief, Sexism, and Misogyny

Moderate: Vomit, Animal death, Gore, Self harm, and Suicidal thoughts

Minor: Sexual assault