Reviews tagging 'Car accident'

The Library at Mount Char by Scott Hawkins

35 reviews

jennramsdell's review against another edition

adventurous dark hopeful mysterious reflective medium-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

5.0

This story is sweeping, creating an entire world and mythology you have to piece together. I really enjoyed how Hawkins laid out information bit by bit for you to pick up, and how gory and descriptive his writing is. Brutal at times, hopeful at times too. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Cursing, Suicide attempt, Abandonment, Death of parent, Murder, Rape, Sexual content, Torture, Violence, Fire/Fire injury, Suicidal thoughts, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, War, Gore, Physical abuse, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Car accident, Mental illness, Blood, Medical content, Suicide, and Gun violence

philomathean's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny mysterious 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Blood, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, Torture, Violence, Child abuse, Suicide, Gun violence, Child death, Death, Murder, and Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Drug abuse, Homophobia, Death of parent, Alcohol, Rape, and Gore

Minor: Car accident

tew_11's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny tense medium-paced

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

4.5

This book read to me like American Gods by Neil Gaiman in the way that larger forces at play manipulate "everyday" people. It was truly one of the most gory books I've read so I would not recommend to the faint of heart. Really interesting and I had a hard time putting it down. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Animal cruelty, Violence, Sexual violence, Suicide, Animal death, Rape, and Sexual assault

Moderate: Fire/Fire injury, Death of parent, Mental illness, Gun violence, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Car accident

4jakers18's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious 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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Blood, Body horror, Incest, Kidnapping, Medical content, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Child abuse, Child death, Car accident, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Domestic abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Forced institutionalization, Gaslighting, Genocide, Injury/Injury detail, Mass/school shootings, Murder, Terminal illness, Violence, War, Medical trauma, Self harm, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Suicide, Torture, Cursing, Addiction, Animal death, Police brutality, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Suicide attempt, Death, Death of parent, Gore, Grief, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, and Abandonment

kermit_the_wrong's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture, Fire/Fire injury, Emotional abuse, Death, Child death, Car accident, Body horror, Violence, Animal death, Death of parent, Blood, Murder, Suicide, Child abuse, and Gun violence

Moderate: Sexual assault and Rape

bookish_bry's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense slow-paced

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

3.75

This book is pretty weird and dark, but overall pretty good. I was able to predict it most of the time, but I don't think the author was really trying to hide anything. The ending was a little eh to me. The climax was very good in my opinion, but it dropped off in a weird way.

I really enjoyed the choice of having a narrator that was intentionally hiding her thoughts from the reader for an in universe reason. That was very fun.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Death of parent, Murder, Rape, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Suicide attempt, Death, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Suicide, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Torture, and Violence

Moderate: Drug use, Alcohol, and Animal death

Minor: Cancer and Car accident

This story is very dark. A character is burnt to death in some detail. A resurrection is done which involves a character putting their mouth on a corpse magots and all.

chrisljm's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious medium-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

2.5

This was a well written story, but it’s not something I enjoyed. The vibes were just so terrible, I wanted to throw up a few times. It was as if Scott Hawkins heard the phrase “until the room stinks” and wanted to literally infuse that into the very core of the book. 

The best part of the book, for me, was the resolution to the mystery of what happened to Father. It seemed like a great conclusion, only to find out I still had ~150 pages left. I know part of the premise is Carolyn finding her humanity again, but since that arch is set after the climax of finding out about Father, the juxtaposition in tone of these two parts seemed very strange to me and made me enjoy the last quarter a lot less. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Cursing, Child abuse, Child death, Blood, Animal death, Toxic relationship, Sexual content, Confinement, Body horror, Injury/Injury detail, Homophobia, Fire/Fire injury, Violence, Gun violence, War, Torture, Suicide, Rape, Murder, and Gore

Moderate: Bullying, Drug abuse, Alcohol, and Death of parent

Minor: Slavery, Car accident, and Cancer

joe_dmh's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious fast-paced

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

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Physical abuse, Rape, Torture, Violence, Toxic friendship, Suicide attempt, Suicide, Sexual violence, Animal death, Sexual assault, Child abuse, Body horror, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Death of parent, Car accident, Racism, Gore, Incest, Gun violence, and Grief

mondovertigo's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny 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? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Fire/Fire injury, Animal death, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Rape, Murder, Suicide, and Violence

Moderate: Gun violence and Death of parent

Minor: Car accident

the_one_krissy's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.5

What the heck did I just read?! This book was nothing like I expected, and it was one of the craziest experiences of my reading year so far. I honestly couldn't put it down, and the plot twists were insane and absurd and, somehow, worked really well all the same. I actually don't want to reveal anything about the plot, because I think this is one of those books you should go into without knowing what's in store for you to get the full experience.

It's a whole bunch of crazy, though. Crazy but the kind of crazy that keeps your eyes glued to the page. Be warned though, this book is entertaining but also stuffed to the brim with sick and twisted cruel things, and those who are particularly sensitive to cruelty against children might want to skip this one altogether. It's very brutal in places.

The characters of this book I really enjoyed, even if some of them - okay, most of them - are totally bonkers. Erwin was my favourite, but the whole cast was excellent. Overall, this book really gripped me and was very close to a five-star read... I'm not even sure what it is that I felt was missing. Some elusive little spark, maybe, that tips the scale from an excellent read to a sublime one. Still, this was an absolutely wonderful book I enjoyed with mixed feelings of slack-jawed admiration and abject horror.

You underestimate linguists and librarians at your own peril. Just saying.

And I'll definitely be keeping my eyes open when this author publishes something new.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse and Child death

Moderate: Violence, Torture, and Gore

Minor: Rape, Physical abuse, Murder, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Animal death, Suicide, Injury/Injury detail, Fire/Fire injury, Emotional abuse, Drug use, Death, and Car accident