Reviews tagging 'Grief'

The Library at Mount Char by Scott Hawkins

38 reviews

snivellus's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious 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

This book is 5 out of 5 stars for me, honestly one of the best books I’ve read. The world building was confusingly immaculate. I couldn’t get enough of the plot, it was like a roller coaster I didn’t want to get off of. All the characters were all so incredibly flawed but just a delight to read about and discover more of. A dysfunctional "family" if I've ever read one, but I loved them all (even that one librarian).

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gore, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Suicide, Torture, and Violence

Moderate: Addiction, Drug use, and Grief

Minor: Child abuse, Rape, and Sexual assault

odius_hades's review against another edition

dark funny mysterious medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Child abuse, Child death, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, and Suicide

Moderate: Death, Death of parent, Drug use, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Murder, and Rape

Minor: Abandonment, Cursing, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

yavin_iv's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced

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

1.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Death, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Suicide, Torture, Violence, and Homophobia

Moderate: Bullying, Car accident, Drug use, and Grief

printzgirl's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

 Plot: 4/5

Characters: 4/5

Worldbuilding: 3/5

Writing: 3/5

Overall: 4/5

Darkness level: Not very dark. One scary haunted house-esque scene and a description of how a ghost died. However, rated R for some graphic sex scenes

This year, I've been on the lookout for fantasy books that don't follow traditional epic fantasy conventions. No big quests to defeat a world-ending villain. So I was really excited to see a modern fantasy romance book come up as a recommendation for this category. I can count the number of romance books I've read on one hand, which made this book an exciting change for me. Vivienne is a college student studying witchcraft with her aunt and cousin. After her summer fling breaks her heart, she drunkenly curses her ex. Ten years later, Vivienne's ex reappears in her hometown to renew the ley lines that power her family's magic. It turns out that the joking curse she cast on him was a real curse, and now the entire town is going haywire. Vivienne and her ex have to fix the town's magic and resolved their messy feelings for each other. 

This book was very fun. I loved the lighthearted, everyday approach to witches and magic. The characters were memorable and easy to like. My biggest complaint was that there was a lot of lust in this book. I know that it's a romance, but the main characters probably devoted 75% of their mental energy to thinking about how hot the other one was. It was cute/funny at first, but got old after a while. Even people who are in the honeymoon stage of a relationship don't think about each other that much! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Grief, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Medical content, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Murder, and Physical abuse

Moderate: Rape

rachelunabridged's review against another edition

dark 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: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Gore, Grief, Gun violence, Mental illness, Murder, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicide, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Vomit, Cursing, and Drug use

egfrith's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense slow-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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Child abuse, Death, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Gore, Grief, Murder, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Suicide, and Torture

Moderate: Animal death

Minor: Addiction

whatellisreadnext's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark funny mysterious 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

5.0

"𝘊𝘢𝘯 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘬 𝘰𝘧 𝘢𝘯𝘺 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘰𝘯 𝘐 𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥𝘯'𝘵 𝘨𝘳𝘢𝘣 𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘴𝘦 𝘬𝘪𝘵𝘤𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘬𝘯𝘪𝘷𝘦𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘣 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘧*𝘤𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘯𝘦𝘤𝘬?"
𝘊𝘢𝘳𝘰𝘭𝘺𝘯 𝘱𝘶𝘳𝘴𝘦𝘥 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘭𝘪𝘱𝘴, 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘴𝘪𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨. "𝘠𝘰𝘶 𝘮𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘨𝘦𝘵 𝘣𝘭𝘰𝘰𝘥 𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘪𝘯𝘯𝘢𝘮𝘰𝘯 𝘳𝘰𝘭𝘭𝘴."

Carolyn has spent most of her life locked inside an infinite library alongside her adopted siblings. Father gives each of them different catalogs to study, all becoming experts in their given fields. After a turn of events, father is missing, and none of them can reach the library, they need the help of an outsider.

I love this book so much. It has without a doubt cemented it's place in my top 10 favourite books of all time. It is everything I want from a story and more. The Library At Mount Char might be one of the weirdest, funniest and most confusing books I have ever read, but I loved every single second of it. There is something so special about reading the first 30 pages of a book, and just knowing it's going to be one of the best things you've ever read.

This book isn't going to be for everyone, if you like a linear structured narrative that isn't confusing, then this probably isn't the book for you. I spent the first 200 pages, so confused, but I just couldn't tear my eyes away from the craziness that was unfolding. And then the last 190 pages, when it all came together was so bloody satisfying.

I can't really say much without ruining this one. I recommend going in as blind as possible, but if you're into weird, witty, gory sci-fi, then you need this book. I mean you should buy it for Carolyn alone, she is such a fantastic main protagonist.  I love her with my whole heart. You know what is frustrating? The fact that this is the only book Scott Hawkins has written so far. I need more books like this in my life 😭

Thanks to my bookish bestie Kathryn for gifting me this book for Christmas. You are the best, and I never would have picked this up if it wasn't for you

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Blood, Body horror, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Death of parent, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Grief, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Suicide, Suicide attempt, and Violence

Dog attack

jayisreading's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

3.0

I’m not sure where to begin with this book. The Library at Mount Char is weird. A lot happens that will make you experience a range of emotions which, admittedly, tend to be unpleasant. It certainly fits into the horror genre for disturbing imagery, but I wouldn’t necessarily call this a “scary” book (though I’d take my opinion on this with a grain of salt; it takes a lot for me to find something terrifying).

It really wasn’t until the second half of the book that I felt any kind of investment in the novel and understand what was actually going on. Until then, I found the first half incredibly slow and frustrating. The premise of the novel itself was interesting, especially for knowledge seekers who would love to be true masters of one particular topic. The idea that you pour through every imaginable book for that one topic has its appeal to a certain crowd, though the question is at what cost? If Hawkins could have revealed a little more of that at the start of the novel, I think I would have felt more invested from the start.

I felt that there was a bit of deus ex machina happening towards the end of the novel, but not to an extreme that would have made me hate this book. I still had questions even after finishing, but I get the impression that Hawkins wants his readers to sit in that unease in all the strangeness that happened in the novel.

I hesitate to recommend this to anyone, not because it’s bad, but because it’s definitely for a specific audience, which I think I wasn’t exactly part of. If you’re queasy with graphic descriptions of violence, I’d strongly recommend avoiding this one. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Death, Emotional abuse, Grief, Physical abuse, Torture, and Violence

Minor: Drug use, Homophobia, Rape, Sexual assault, and Suicide