Reviews tagging 'Violence'

White Horse by Erika T. Wurth

44 reviews

maryellen's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional sad 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Death, Drug abuse, Murder, Violence, Gore, Gun violence, Child abuse, Drug use, Grief, Alcohol, Incest, and Injury/Injury detail

adriso's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny mysterious reflective 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? Yes

5.0

I really enjoyed this book as a decompressing read, from lore and the mysterious atmosphere to the characters. Kari James is my favorite and an iconic resemblance of a woman I aspire to grow into. The puzzles and trials she goes through to uncover what happened to her mother while facing her past are inspirational and tense though watching her heal along the way is extremely rewarding.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Alcohol, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Grief, Murder, and Drug use

Moderate: Body horror, Car accident, Cursing, Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Domestic abuse, Mental illness, Murder, Pedophilia, Sexual content, and Violence

Minor: Toxic relationship and Suicidal thoughts

infinitezest's review

adventurous 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Violence, and Murder

Minor: Xenophobia

cc_shelflove's review

adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.0

This book was such an unexpected surprise. Justice is served! Kari James’s mother disappeared when she was just two days old. Now in her thirties, she becomes determined to uncover the mystery of what happened to her mother. There are a lot of messy friendships in this book that come with a lot of heartbreak… but in the end, those heartbreaks simply lead to growth. This was an entertaining read complete with some Indigenous lore. It wasn’t too scary, and I think I would market this as being ‘thriller’ rather than ‘horror.’ I would recommend this Book of the Month selection.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual violence, Violence, Drug use, Drug abuse, Alcohol, Gun violence, Alcoholism, Rape, and Child abuse

apworden's review against another edition

challenging dark funny 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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Addiction, Alcohol, Suicide attempt, Grief, Toxic relationship, Drug use, Xenophobia, Death of parent, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Colonisation, Sexual harassment, Violence, Pedophilia, Murder, Misogyny, Alcoholism, Police brutality, Gun violence, Child abuse, War, Racism, Cursing, and Emotional abuse

teaandtales1's review against another edition

mysterious reflective slow-paced

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

2.5

𝐏𝐥𝐨𝐭: Kari James discovers a mysterious family heirloom bracelet and starts being haunted by visions of her mother, who disappeared when she was only a few days old. 
𝐀𝐮𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐫: Erika Wurth
𝐏𝐚𝐠𝐞𝐬: 300
𝐆𝐞𝐧𝐫𝐞: Marketed as horror, but is really a family mystery
𝐖𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐡 𝐚 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝: No
𝐁𝐞𝐜𝐡𝐝𝐞𝐥 𝐭𝐞𝐬𝐭: Yes
𝐓𝐢𝐦𝐞 𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐨𝐝: Contemporary 
𝐒𝐩𝐨𝐨𝐤𝐲 𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠:👻
𝐑𝐞𝐯𝐢𝐞𝐰: ⭐⭐1/2

The mystery of Kari's mother and connection to Lakota and Apache traditions was actually really interesting, and the reason I ended up finishing this one. Unfortunately the author packs so much other needless stuff into this story that it gets bogged down in endless filler. Kari's cousin and best friend, Debby, is super annoying, plus there's a whole other side-plot of the White Horse bar that the novel is named after (which after reading, seems like a really odd choice).

I did listen to this on audio book, which always makes things seem far longer, but this book seemed like it was never going to end. I literally sewed an entire quilt while listening to it, and frankly it could've just been a novella. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug use, Alcohol, and Addiction

Moderate: Child abuse, Violence, and Suicide attempt

wren_rainbow's review

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism and Drug abuse

Moderate: Violence

Minor: Pedophilia

cranewife's review

dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Alcoholism, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Child abuse, Death, Death of parent, Addiction, Drug abuse, Gore, Murder, Pedophilia, Racism, Sexual assault, Suicide attempt, Car accident, Grief, Drug use, Gun violence, and Violence

careinthelibrary's review

dark mysterious medium-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Blood, Gun violence, Murder, Death of parent, Suicide attempt, Violence, Alcohol, Death, Drug abuse, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Colonisation, Racism, Chronic illness, Incest, and Sexual violence

Minor: Gaslighting and Car accident

archaicrobin's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

3.0

White Horse is a creepy mystery with indigenous folklore, family secrets, and some drama. I really enjoyed the unique voice in this novel and the supernatural elements were truly eerie. However, there were several subplots in this one that felt unnecessary and forced, like they were thrown in to meet page count or something. This is made the second half of the novel a slog for me to get through and I felt like the twist was very obvious. 

If you’re a horror fan or want to read more indigenous fiction I would definitely recommend White Horse, but if you’re looking for something ground breaking or truly terrifying look elsewhere.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Car accident, Colonisation, Emotional abuse, Incest, Child abuse, Cultural appropriation, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Sexual assault, Suicide attempt, Toxic relationship, Abandonment, Grief, Drug use, Racism, Rape, Violence, Alcohol, and Blood