Reviews tagging 'Child abuse'

The Library at Mount Char by Scott Hawkins

142 reviews

zsanc's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny informative mysterious tense fast-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: Animal death, Murder, and Violence

Moderate: Child abuse, Child death, Domestic abuse, Rape, and Vomit

chrispy_mac's review against another edition

dark sad tense 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

2.5

I saw/heard only positive reviews on this book and I don't really get it. The real life mentions of actual famous people really took me out, and found the characterization of most characters quite shallow, and there was way too much exposition in the dialogue. I understand what's happening, you don't need to explain it again by the characters talking about it. There were some really dumb parts involving the unnamed

president of the united states

in an urban fantasy.. and the fantasy elements were interesting but never explained at all. Basically just don't worry about it.

There were also just some weird, gross moments in this book that felt really unnecessary.

I'll give it this, it was entertaining and was a fairly quick read, so if you just want to not think about the fantasy elements or characters too deeply, and want an entertaining time, you might like this book. I think it's competently written for the most part, for my personal taste I just wish I'd have skipped it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Sexual content, Child abuse, War, Sexual assault, Violence, Injury/Injury detail, Child death, Homophobia, and Suicide

ana_vargas's review against another edition

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? Yes

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Child abuse, Suicide attempt, Suicide, Child death, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Murder, Emotional abuse, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Animal cruelty, Gore, Blood, Torture, Body horror, Bullying, War, Violence, Animal death, Mental illness, and Physical abuse

blue_guitar's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense slow-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

4.0

 I read this as part of the 2024 r/fantasy Bingo – Prologues and Epilogues. 

The Library at Mount Char has been floating around my "to read list" for a while now and I'm glad I got the chance to go into completely unaware of what I was setting foot into. 

Mount Char is a dark and mysterious dive into a strange reality where the mundane world collides with the supernatural. The only book that I think I can compare it to is American Gods by Neil Gaiman. However Mount Char lacks the human belief element - the things in Mount Char don't care what you believe. The Librarians, of which the main character is, exist totally unaware of - and indifferent to the human beings around them. 

The best way I can describe it is a battle between otherworldly powers, trying to gain the ability to govern reality as they see it. 

On the experience of reading it, I have to say, this is a unique work and I found myself enjoying it. That being said, some things didn't work for me. I had trouble following the goals of the characters. It wasn't always clear why they were doing the things they did. A couple times they seemed so confused they were asking each other what was going on and someone would say, "forget it, you wouldn't understand." 

As a result, it was hard to get invested in their struggles because it wasn't always clear what was at stake. Also, by the same token, the lore and world building seemed really interesting but we never really got much understanding of it. It would have been great to know more about the catalogues and the other librarians - towards the end it only seemed like a few of them mattered to the story.

Things that I thought were quite evocative, like the horror elements, were really good. The brazen bull, the dogs, the healing and "magic". All really impressive.  

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse and Violence

Moderate: Sexual assault

helenleone's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny mysterious tense fast-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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Bullying, Torture, Murder, Gun violence, Death of parent, Blood, War, Medical content, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Child abuse, Child death, Animal death, Suicide, Sexual violence, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Rape, and Drug use

Moderate: Toxic relationship, Mental illness, Confinement, Child death, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Car accident, Police brutality, Grief, Alcohol, Animal cruelty, Cursing, and Fire/Fire injury

syddevo's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

A common review I've seen about this book is that you can't really describe it in a good enough way, you just have to read it. Now that I have finished the book, I understand this statement entirely. I would HIGHLY recommend reviewing content warnings if you have any strong stances on topics you do not wish to read about.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Violence, Gore, Animal cruelty, Blood, Murder, Animal death, Injury/Injury detail, Death of parent, Body horror, Child death, Fire/Fire injury, Child abuse, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Rape, Sexual content, Alcohol, Sexual violence, Drug use, Grief, Sexual assault, Gaslighting, and Medical content

Minor: Abandonment and Car accident

amandaajane's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Rape, Child abuse, and Sexual assault

floressius's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious medium-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? Yes

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Child abuse, Violence, Animal death, Murder, and Child death

Moderate: Rape, Injury/Injury detail, Animal cruelty, Drug use, and Physical abuse

ahoyitsjoy's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

Such a good book. Very confusing, but everything comes together well in the end. I found the librarians, and especially Carolyn, so fascinating. The book almost never explicitly tells you what's going on with her, but there's so much between what's said and unsaid that makes her one of the most interesting characters I've ever read about. The writing is so good at effortlessly moving between brutal violence and horror, absurd humor, and brief moments of quiet contemplation of what it means to be human. I'll be thinking about this one for a long time.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fire/Fire injury, Murder, Emotional abuse, Child death, Animal death, Blood, Violence, Child abuse, Bullying, Injury/Injury detail, Gore, Gun violence, Animal cruelty, Physical abuse, and Death

Moderate: Toxic relationship, Misogyny, Alcohol, Suicide, Mental illness, Rape, and Body horror

Minor: Genocide, Car accident, Vomit, Excrement, and War

pinkyoshi's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense medium-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? Yes

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Kidnapping, Misogyny, Murder, Sexism, Suicide attempt, Torture, Toxic friendship, Animal cruelty, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Violence, War, Blood, Domestic abuse, Grief, Gun violence, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicide, Emotional abuse, Mass/school shootings, Animal death, Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, and Mental illness

Minor: Car accident