Reviews with content warning for Murder - The Graveyard Book

The story was an interesting idea of what would happen if ghosts and other supernatural creatures in a graveyard raised a small boy. The boy, Bod, is confined to remaining inside the graveyard, where the inhabitants can watch over him and keep him safe. As he grows older, he wants to experience the outside world and gets into all sorts of problems. Bod learns to use powers he gets from the graveyard and, although he gets some help from his friends, he also uses his own cleverness to get out of his difficult situations. The part I liked the most was the relationship between Bod and his guardian, Silas. As the story progresses, Silas (who originally was only in charge of providing food for Bod, since he was the only non-ghost inhabitant) becomes more of a mentor and father figure to Bod.

The reasoning for the main mystery of the story could've been explained more. Other than a heightened sense of smell, the Jacks didn't seem like they had that much magical power, especially since it implied that they'd been doing their business for a while to gain some unspecified supernatural powers.

Overall, I liked reading about the graveyard inhabitants and the world that the author has created.

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pauloleary's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious fast-paced

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

4.0

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vasi83177's review against another edition

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adventurous dark medium-paced

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

3.5

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arlingtonchamberofgay's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional mysterious 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? Yes

4.5

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marianabelher's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional hopeful mysterious tense fast-paced

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

5.0

What can I say. This was a magical experience, and spooky in just the perfect way. Neil Gaiman is slowly but surely becoming one of my favorite authors. I loved the mystery, the ghosts, the beautiful writing and characters. I more than anything had a lot of fun. Yes, there is a lot of tragedy at the heart of this story, but there is also so much love and sacrifice that comes from it. Neil Gaiman is the king of middle grade spookiness in my opinion, and I can’t wait to read more from him.

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xosirenox's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional 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

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surdiablo's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional hopeful lighthearted mysterious sad medium-paced

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

4.0

I didn't really feel or think much about anything for the most part while reading this book (excluding the ending ofc) but now that I finished it, I find myself pondering about everything that happened and how saddening it was overall. Of course, I do the same with every book I read but this feels different, its as if I didn't recognize how meaningful and important some of the moments were to me until now. The writing style is very accessible, elegant and thought-provoking. The story itself has a bit of everything in general and was also rather wholesome, at least more than I imagined it to be, considering the beginning. We see several 'adventures' of Bod as he grows up and these events altogether build up towards a well-written bittersweet conclusion. There were some questions that I didn't get the answers for, but I feel like this is one of those books where it's done well, where some things are best left to the imagination of the reader. It was also my first Gaiman book and I think I can see why he's so well-regarded.

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adorotich's review against another edition

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adventurous dark lighthearted mysterious medium-paced

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

4.5

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