Reviews tagging 'Violence'

White Horse by Erika T. Wurth

44 reviews

yuyuv's review

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adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective 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


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bambooboy's review

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dark emotional funny mysterious reflective 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

3.75


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ecn's review against another edition

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adventurous dark 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? It's complicated

4.0


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what_karla_reads's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious reflective 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? It's complicated

5.0


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jaimeeslitlife's review

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

2.0

White Horse was not quite what I expected. I've seen many glowing reviews so maybe this is a case of my getting my hopes up way too high? 

Note: White Horse read as more mystery than horror to me (which did not impact my rating, it just seems like a good thing to point out). 

The premise of White Horse seemed promising, but the clunky pace had me working pretty hard to get invested in the story. There was quite a bit of repetition, and lots of moments where information was being withheld from the main character for flimsy reasons (ie it felt like I could feel the author trying to slow down the mystery and prolong the big reveal). And the ending was ultimately not worth it to me. Like I said, there are lots of great reviews on this one from others, so maybe I'm missing something. But I'll put my spoiler-filled thoughts below:

The ending to this one really ruined it for me. I think that the concept of humans as monsters and exploring the different forms abusive relationships can take has promise, but the ending was so so so icky to me. There was a weird feeling that we were supposed to slightly understand/forgive the child-molester/murderer father? Forgiveness is great, but there are some things that just shouldn't be forgiven. And then there's also Debby's relationship with her husband that seems quite unhealthy but is also forgiven and forgotten at the end. And then everything magically wraps up to this super happy fairytale ending in like five pages. I'm just spilling my train of thought here, but this one just did not work for me.

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localqueerlibrarian's review

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dark mysterious 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

3.75


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ukponge's review

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adventurous dark emotional sad 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

3.75


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theoceanrose's review

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dark emotional 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? It's complicated

5.0


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bandysbooks's review

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challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective tense slow-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

White Horse is a spooky horror novel about a Native American woman trying to find out why her mother went missing many years ago. It's set in Colorado and seamlessly merges Indigenous culture, horror, death metal, and Stephen King references with a suspenseful dark story that will have you at the edge of your seat. 

Kari, the main character, has been sort of operating in the shadows, doing her best to never really stand out. She works as a bartender and spends evenings drinking at her favorite dive, The White Horse. Though she's talked about buying it, she's never actually applied for a loan. Outside of her handicapped father and her cousin, she doesn't have much of a social life and she mostly ignores the disappearance of her mother when she was a child. She is at once likeable and frustrating. You simultaneously want her to live up to her potential and also understand the fears and anxieties that are holding her back.

There is a sort of magical realism element to this story that involves Kari having visions upon handling some of her mother's old jewelry. I really liked how this was incorporated and thought it was a bit more unique than just the typical haunting. My only critique of this aspect is that I wish it was tied a bit more into the ending. 

All in all, I really enjoyed this story. The creepy vibe increases at a nice pace and the who dunnit kept me engaged with the story. I also really enjoyed the focus on Indigenous culture and the overall development of the character.

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teatimewtrisha's review against another edition

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4.0


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