Reviews tagging 'Violence'

House of Salt and Sorrows by Erin A. Craig

37 reviews

onthesamepage's review against another edition

Go to review page

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

4.0

The Thaumas family is cursed. Everyone says so. What else could explain the sudden deaths of four of the twelve daughters? But the last death feels suspicious to Annaleigh, and she's determined to find out if her sisters were murdered.

This is a retelling of the Twelve Dancing Princesses, and it is pretty dark. The author's writing is very atmospheric, and I was easily sucked into the story. Thinking back on it, the pacing was probably a bit slower than it needed to be, but I barely noticed. I was invested and creeped out and curious to see how everything would play out.

That said, this book is not without flaws. The explanation at the end throws several incidents that happen earlier on into question, because in hindsight, they don't make much sense.
Why did we have a love triangle at all when Fisher was never real? What was Kosamaras's purpose in doing that?
There's also no way to really guess at the outcome; the foreshadowing is much to sparse for that, and I do think that's a drawback. 

There's some really weird characterization of the father, and his personality seems to undergo a radical change out of nowhere. It mostly felt like a way to move the plot along. The main romance is also very insta-love. The world isn't explained much either--there are apparently deities, and they walk among humans at least part of the time, but we don't get much more information about them or about how religion and magic work in this world. Last but not least, the ending wraps up a bit too nicely and definitely makes the book lose a bit of impact.

I really enjoyed the writing however, and I appreciate this type of horror, so I'll definitely pick up more by the author.

Expand filter menu Content Warnings

zoepagereader's review

Go to review page

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

This book was a wild time, and not in a good way. An author has to know when there are too many plot points in a book and I’m sorry, but a Twelve Dancing Princesses murder mystery retelling set in a newly created fictional world with many murders and ghosts as well as new gods and a (maybe) love triangle with a Monday’s Not Coming styled semi-twist at the end is too much. Way too much. 2.75⭐️

Expand filter menu Content Warnings

hummingbird0525's review

Go to review page

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

I really enjoyed this!!! I really liked Annaleigh’s character and I think the premise is really interesting. Highly recommend!!

Expand filter menu Content Warnings

econcomics's review

Go to review page

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad fast-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

4.75

Really good, but really sad and emotional book.

Expand filter menu Content Warnings

megloveswords12's review

Go to review page

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

5.0


Expand filter menu Content Warnings

jojo_'s review

Go to review page

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

3.5


Expand filter menu Content Warnings

mreno5's review

Go to review page

dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5


Expand filter menu Content Warnings

katrinarose's review against another edition

Go to review page

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

3.5

This was a solid enjoyable spooky read! I liked the unreliable narrator, atmosphere, and premise. The romance fell a bit flat for me, though. This book isn’t ground-breaking or incredible, but it was fun

Expand filter menu Content Warnings

hala13's review

Go to review page

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0


Expand filter menu Content Warnings

thecatconstellation's review

Go to review page

dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.25

This is a creepy story with a decent pace. There is some character development and a wide variety of character personalities. Some fantasy elements and some plot twists. Kept me engaged.

Expand filter menu Content Warnings