Reviews tagging 'War'

The Library at Mount Char by Scott Hawkins

47 reviews

libristella's review against another edition

dark medium-paced

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

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Emotional abuse, Gore, Violence, Suicide, Rape, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Murder, War, Body horror, Death, Sexual violence, Gun violence, and Injury/Injury detail

pep_puterova's review against another edition

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No

0.25

I don't know where to start...

Everyone seems to love this book and everyone says how weird this book is. I was very excited to read it. I love weird, unhinged fantasy.

As soon as I started reading it, it was painfully obvious the book was written by a man. So now I'm cursed with the knowledge the author is a leg man.

Moreover, the book is extremely, painfully American, both in terms of tone and how it treats the outside world. Plus it is somewhat republican-coded. I would like to ascertain the whereabouts of the author on January 6th.

For a book that has SO MUCH going on, it manages to be really boring for a big part of it. There's definitely bad pacing issues, and what could have been a very interesting plot suffers.

Not a single character is even remotely likeable. Except the lions, of course, but they always feature in the most boring parts of the book.

The whole book features too much gratuitious violence, and violence towards women, and then it's excused as 'oh she needed to become who she's meant to be' and extreme violence is good, actually. 

All I can say is that I like the idea of this book, but this book is one of the worst things I've ever read. I almost DNF-ed it multiple times, but the only thing that kept me going was trying to understand why does this book have such positive reviews. I genuinely don't understand the praise it receives. It's not like with other books where I could just admit okay it's not for me, but whatever, could be someone else's thing. The praise for this book concers me.  

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Torture, Animal cruelty, Violence, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Murder, Self harm, Child abuse, and Sexual violence

Moderate: War, Fire/Fire injury, and Gun violence

liv74's review against another edition

dark medium-paced

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

1.0

This book struggled with major editing and refinement issues. Plot points (like

Father’s enemies Liesel or Barry O’Shea, the mysterious tentacle arm disease??

) were introduced but never developed at all. The climax of the plot is way too early, followed by a drawn-out and far too detailed resolution. It also seemed like

Father was the main antagonist to Carolyn and Steve was the main protagonist? But then with a very brief explanation David is supposedly Carolyn’s “monster to kill”

. This book definitely needed a lot more editing and reworking to achieve the highly imaginative and fantastical world Hawkins set out to write. There didn’t seem to be a limit/any kind of rules/laws (of physics, universal, societal, etc.) to

Father or Carolyn’s

capabilities. As a final criticism, I absolutely hated

Erwin

and struggled to make it through their pov chapters. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child abuse, Death of parent, Gun violence, War, Rape, Vomit, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Suicide, and Animal cruelty

googolplex33's review against another edition

dark emotional funny 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? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Suicide, Animal cruelty, and Sexual assault

rahrahjay's review against another edition

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Animal death, and War

Moderate: Rape

mochikochicken's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark funny mysterious medium-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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Torture, Murder, Violence, Gun violence, War, Animal death, Body horror, Death of parent, Suicide, Car accident, Cursing, Death, Alcohol, Blood, Medical content, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, and Fire/Fire injury

ohmage_resistance's review against another edition

dark mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Murder, Vomit, Animal cruelty, Body horror, War, Animal death, Violence, Kidnapping, Physical abuse, Suicide, Torture, Blood, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Child abuse, Child death, Death of parent, and Self harm

Moderate: Drug use, Rape, and Incest

Minor: Addiction, Cannibalism, Cancer, and Car accident

avilareads's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.25

i have never read a book that follows a main character with such corrupt morality. this novel truly delves into the psyche of someone who seeks the power of a god, and what that does to a human being. it was dark and brutal, and deeply insane at some parts. 

i definitely recommend it if you’re looking for a novel that is told mostly from the point of a villain-adjacent character. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Violence, Animal death, Fire/Fire injury, Child abuse, Murder, Animal cruelty, Gore, Rape, Suicide, and Sexual assault

Moderate: Blood, Drug abuse, Body horror, and Genocide

Minor: Death of parent, War, Genocide, and Gun violence

jamie_rich's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious sad tense slow-paced

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

2.0

This book was strange as hell. And needs to have *all* the trigger warnings.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Self harm, Suicide attempt, Child abuse, Death of parent, Car accident, Confinement, Murder, Gore, Rape, Suicidal thoughts, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual assault, Suicide, Torture, Cursing, Death, Gun violence, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Violence, and War

read_bransdon's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood

Moderate: Grief, Murder, Sexual assault, Death of parent, Death, Emotional abuse, Drug use, Gaslighting, and Gore

Minor: Rape, Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, and War