Reviews tagging 'Death of parent'

House of Hollow by Krystal Sutherland

290 reviews

ka_ke's review

adventurous dark fast-paced

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

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Injury/Injury detail, Gaslighting, Gore, Panic attacks/disorders, Abandonment, Blood, Cursing, and Mental illness

Moderate: Fire/Fire injury, Forced institutionalization, Death of parent, Gun violence, and Medical content

of_fantasy_and_fibre's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious sad slow-paced

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

3.75

An interesting take on the folklore surrounding missing children. Will add full review soon 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Child death, and Death of parent

Moderate: Violence, Bullying, Sexism, Sexual harassment, Alcoholism, and Vomit

Minor: Torture

eldane's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny 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

5.0

 I’m in shock. This was so beautiful, so decadent, so harrowing. It’s been a while since I’ve been impressed with a YA book. This does a fantastic job of building tension and solving mysteries until you’re dying (bad pun) to learn what’s going on. I also love how complicated the characters are, in that Grey is obviously not a good person, but she is an eldest sister trying to protect her little sisters. You can’t necessarily blame her for wanting to protect her family, but the fact that she killed innocent girls and stole their identities? Yucky. Bad. And she gets off with no consequences other than losing her family and boyfriend? Actually, maybe those are valid consequences for someone like her. Ugh. So juicy. And the symbolism was immaculate. The skin motif? I’m sobbing, crying, throwing up. And the fact that Iris’s love for Grey is all twisted and corrupted? And the Halfway and the in-betweenness? “A perpetual state of decay”? I’m not okay. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Body horror

Moderate: Child death, Death of parent, Suicide, and Sexual assault

Minor: Sexual harassment

lucdiamant's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious 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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Death, Murder, Grief, and Death of parent

Moderate: Child death

sylvestra's review

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death of parent, and Grief

Moderate: Fire/Fire injury, Alcoholism, and Adult/minor relationship

Minor: Mental illness, Pedophilia, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Blood, Gun violence, and Body horror

bzliz's review against another edition

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? Yes

4.5

Big trigger warning for body horror.

Ten years ago, Iris and her two sisters went missing for a month. Now her eldest sister Grey is missing again and has left clues for Iris and Vivi to be able to find her- or her body- because something from their forgotten past is coming back to haunt them. 

The only reason I can’t give this five stars is because of how easily I was able to predict the two major twists. The imagery was so beautiful and disgusting that I could really feel Iris’ fascination, obsession & revulsion. My favorite character ending up being Cate. Although she is a deeply flawed, haunted woman, I came to understand her controlling tendencies and her big heart. I’m not a mother but I believe only a mother could climb a mountain of trauma and still find love on the other side. 

I spent several hours after I finished this book thinking about it and how I would rate and review it. It’s been a while since I needed to sit with something for a while to gather my thoughts, which is a point in its favor. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Vomit, Gun violence, Sexual assault, Violence, Blood, Body horror, Child death, Injury/Injury detail, Fire/Fire injury, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, and Murder

Moderate: Medical content, Mental illness, Emotional abuse, Grief, and Kidnapping

Minor: Alcoholism, Drug use, Drug abuse, Alcohol, and Eating disorder

I’ve tagged eating disorder as a potential content warning. Although the behavior is caused by a different condition, the Hollow sisters (get it?) do engage in binge eating behaviors. Their continued description of being thin in defiance of how many calories they must consume daily could be triggering for someone struggling with their own disordered eating.

earofthedog's review

adventurous dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Suicide, Blood, Medical content, Death of parent, and Death

Moderate: Gun violence, Violence, Cursing, and Child death

ashadaxa's review

mysterious tense medium-paced

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Murder, Violence, Child death, Blood, and Gun violence

klmreads's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Vomit, Death of parent, Child death, Death, and Murder

Moderate: Child death, Body horror, and Child abuse

Minor: Alcohol

wall0w's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced

3.0

The more I read teen fiction, the more I feel that a key difference between it and adult fiction is just that it's edgier. Hoo boy, is this edgy. This is an edgy fairy tale (source fairy tales often are but y'know what I mean).
The plot twist (despite being increasingly hinted at and then effectively shown) was then told to a character directly which felt entirely unnecessary as it had already been made clear. 
I do appreciate the bond between the sisters and elements of the parent/child relationship but I think it could have been more developed further.
The pacing felt good though and never felt like we were stagnating in the same place for too long, even though in parts the characters literally are.
Overall, it's alright. It is a fun read so if you like edgy fairytale retellings with strong family relationships, give it a shot. Just be prepared for blood and guts.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Vomit, Sexual assault, Violence, Injury/Injury detail, and Death

Moderate: Grief, Body horror, Death of parent, Stalking, Suicide, Child death, and Blood