Reviews tagging 'Death of parent'

House of Salt and Sorrows by Erin A. Craig

121 reviews

hcgambrell's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.25

A retelling of the twelve dancing princesses with a sprinkling of Edgar Allan Poe set in a gothic maritime locale. I loved it. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death and Death

Moderate: Death of parent

sweetchocolatez's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Gaslighting, Death, Pregnancy, Body horror, Grief, Blood, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Body horror, Torture, Murder, Violence, Miscarriage, and Death of parent

Minor: Animal death, Vomit, Suicide, Child death, and Panic attacks/disorders

bree_h_reads's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.75

What an amazing read. Genuinely, amazing.

The way it tackled themes of madness and grief were striking and left me confused in the way one should be when reading from the perspective of someone that’s trapped between illusions and reality. The conclusion actually remedied a lot of the issues I had with the earlier parts of the story. On top of that excellent execution, the characters and world felt very striking and realistic. Sibling dynamics and how they all reacted to things rarely caught me off guard in the sense of being unrealistic. Each character felt very real and alive. Seeing how they interacted with their world and its beliefs was also very interesting. On top of the world building itself being fascinating.

Really my only issue was the ending as it made me so mad I dropped it from 5 stars. (And this only applies the to epilogue/seven months later portion.)

Overall it was an amazing book and retellings that still capture the original while being so distinct and unique are a favourite of mine. It is, however, an extremely dark book and I highly recommend looking at content/trigger warnings before reading it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gaslighting, Alcohol, Blood, Child death, Death, Body horror, Miscarriage, Gore, Mental illness, Pregnancy, Grief, and Death of parent

Moderate: Animal death, Murder, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Fire/Fire injury, and Stalking

Minor: Domestic abuse, Infidelity, and Emotional abuse

weyrdkat's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gaslighting, Suicidal thoughts, Death, Child death, Pregnancy, Blood, and Grief

Moderate: Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, and Murder

Minor: Suicide and Death of parent

girrllie's review

dark emotional mysterious sad medium-paced

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

5.0

Very good read but be prepared for child death. I didn’t realize this is a horror book for awhile, usually not something I like to read. But it’s horror light, an interesting story, and good writing. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Death of parent, Child death, Domestic abuse, Grief, Pregnancy, Blood, and Body horror

memurrell's review against another edition

dark mysterious slow-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Death of parent, and Death

daniellereadslikealot_'s review

adventurous mysterious medium-paced

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

4.0

I’ve had this book on my TBR for so long and I’m so happy I finally read it! It’s probably one of the most atmospheric books I’ve ever read. I felt completely swept up in this eerie world of salt, sea and glittering dresses. I thought it was a pretty excellent take on the Twelve Dancing Princesses story with plenty of twists and turns I didn’t see coming. I really enjoyed all the characters, especially Annaleigh and Verity. I did have a little bit of a hard time keeping track of the sisters, but that’s was definitely a me problem. It did move a bit slower at times, but I still found myself intrigued and interested in where the story was headed. I happened to read this during a very rainy week which really enhanced my experience with this book so I recommend that for extra atmosphere. I very much enjoyed this story and I’m excited to read the next book! 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Child death, Fire/Fire injury, and Death of parent

deebsdan's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious medium-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

read this back in like.. 2021 and loved it then, love it still now. i love me a retelling of my favorite barbie movie, in fantasy thriller version even, which is the best i could’ve gotten 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Death of parent, and Death

moendchen's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad 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

3.0

The idea was better than the execution. 
Leaned more into fantasy than supernatural. Truly a pity

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Grief, Pregnancy, Murder, Death, Blood, and Child death

Minor: Alcohol, Death of parent, and Fire/Fire injury

winterhartarts's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring 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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual harassment, Toxic relationship, Miscarriage, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Vomit, Panic attacks/disorders, Violence, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Mental illness, Child abuse, Drug abuse, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Animal death, Child death, Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Self harm, Sexual content, Stalking, Suicide, Body horror, Bullying, Death of parent, Dementia, Addiction, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Blood, Domestic abuse, Gaslighting, Infidelity, Misogyny, and Sexism