Reviews tagging 'Death of parent'

The Library at Mount Char by Scott Hawkins

116 reviews

jodar's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny sad 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

3.75

This is a fantasy novel with a strong science fiction, metaphysical, multiple-universes bent (“there’s no such thing as magic”). Along the way it did feel rather weird and the storyline a little disjointed, but by the end it’s clear why that is. What worried me for quite a while was what appeared to be extreme, gratuitous violence, especially the violence against children. But the rationale for the violence was explained well and is integral to the novel. A novelty to me was having a demiurge as a pivotal character.

I found the characters were well portrayed, the MC relatable (despite getting pretty extreme psychologically), the dialogue flowed naturally and the plot moved along at a moderate pace without bogging down. There’s even some nicely pitched humour, particularly aimed against the foibles and excesses of Americans. The story is well-grounded, too, even though at various times the reader is confronted by a wide-sweeping, multiple-time-and-space viewpoint. I kept wanting to pick up the book again each time, which is a good sign.

Themes that for me lifted this novel above a simple “fun read”: the dark side of power, especially power over others’ welfare and lives; friendship and authentic love; true versus apparent strength; the search for meaning; the ultimate mystery of existence.

An impressive first novel by the author. I’d be keen to read any sequel, as the ending hinted there may be.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Violence, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Cursing, Gore, Rape, Sexual assault, Suicide, Death of parent, and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Vomit and Car accident

jkauffman503's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious reflective tense fast-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Blood, Death of parent, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

dana_naylor's review against another edition

fast-paced

5.0

Absolutely batshit insane.
I loved it.

Trigger warnings galore. The gore and torment is intense.
I doubt I’ll reread it, but it was a wild journey. Definitely not for everyone.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Gore, Rape, Torture, Violence, Blood, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Physical abuse, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Car accident, Death of parent, and Murder

gondorgirl's review against another edition

adventurous challenging 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Mass/school shootings, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, and Injury/Injury detail

onlyincursive's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious sad 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

4.5

A wild ride from start to finish. This book is for the readers who grew up on stories about kids with powers (e.g. Animorphs, Percy Jackson) and who want the adult version. The type of book that I would recommend to everyone - if only the content warning list wasn’t so long!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicide, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Kidnapping, Mass/school shootings, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Addiction, Confinement, Cursing, Drug abuse, Rape, Suicidal thoughts, Xenophobia, Car accident, Toxic friendship, and War

Minor: Bullying, Mental illness, Misogyny, Xenophobia, Police brutality, Islamophobia, Pregnancy, and Classism

This book is hard to warn for. Be especially aware that there is torture and murder of children

(many of whom are effectively immortal and experience this torture and murder multiple times)

, as well as a lot of animal death

(including many, many dogs)

.

chalkletters's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious fast-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? It's complicated

3.0

It's pure coincidence that both my book clubs picked books with 'library' in the title in the same month, and that neither of them actually spend all that much time in a library or doing any reading. Of the two (The Library at Mount Char and The Library of the Dead), this book is far more action-orientated, which is even more surprising for a book supposedly about librarians. (At least in book form; film and TV librarians are quite often action heroes!) 

Scott Hawkins plunges readers straight into Caroline's life after Father (not her biological parent) goes missing, with only brief flashbacks to provide backstory. There's a lot of darkness in both the past and present, and it's interesting to see how it has affected all of Father's adopted children. By midway through the novel, it's obvious that there is a plan being enacted, even if the details of that plan aren't given. The introduction of other perspective characters complicates things. Erwin is even more of an action star than Caroline: a literal war hero who would feel at home in Modern Warfare or could be played by Dwayne Johnson. It makes The Library at Mount Char feel like two very different books smashed together, which certainly keeps things interesting! 

While it's never exactly clear what the 'win condition' of the novel is going to be, Scott Hawkins definitely throws in a late curveball once the titular library is actually reached. Up until that point, the character arcs feel like they're moving in a particular direction. After it, everything is up in the air and the final ending is far more bleak for everyone involved than might have been anticipated. The bleakness in itself isn't necessarily bad — Steve’s ending is beautiful, in a very bittersweet kind of way — but it does feel as though the novel swerved dramatically from the track it previously seemed to be following.

Despite the lack of what I'll call 'library aesthetic', I was never bored with The Library at Mount Char. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Suicide, and Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Bullying, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual violence, Violence, Blood, Death of parent, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Addiction and Car accident

3martini's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Blood, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Drug use, Gun violence, Rape, and Vomit

j_o600's review against another edition

4.5

Ok. First, excellent book. If you read it, you’re not going to understand what’s going on for awhile and that’s by design. 

I think there’s some amazing ideas at work, this is in many ways a meditation on trauma/PTSD and the way it shapes people. The structure is very different as a result, and I really like that instead of having a big superhero ending, the book has a weird, reflective ending instead. It feels like a more mature ending to the ideas the book plays with.

All that said, I’ve seen reviews that genuinely confuse me. It’s ok if you like a book or not, but, as an example, I saw someone mention pedophilia and be angry about it and to the best of my memory, that never happened. 
I saw someone else claim the point of the book is that extreme suffering is good actually, because it makes the best version of a person—and no. No, I’d even argue that the book is almost the exact opposite of that. It’s arguably more about accepting how trauma can turn you into essentially a completely different person. 
As someone with a lot of trauma, I found how this was handled to be moving and empathetic. Not perfect maybe, but I don’t think anyone writing about trauma can be perfect.

I will caution that if abuse is a hard trigger for you, you probably don’t want to read this book yet. I’ve tried to include trigger warnings for what IS in the book. Take them seriously. 

Also, I see a lot of people getting upset about a POV chracter named Erwin who is your hardened older army type. He is a complex character who has multiple functions in the story. I think he needs to be there, and while he wasn’t my favorite character, he fits into the themes of PTSD (I think for obvious reasons). I don’t think the author intended him for any type of propaganda and the book intentionally stays away from anything political. I think the government and military are not idealized by any means in this story. But I see that he’s triggering people, and I understand that a military POV character could be a trigger so, if you’re upset reading this review, again, avoid book.

That said, I do think this is original and I really liked some of the bigger reveals near the end and how they developed Carolyn and Steve specifically. And the lions are amazing, best characters.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Child abuse, Child death, Gore, Suicide, Torture, and Violence

Moderate: Rape and Sexual violence

Minor: Animal death and Death of parent

valjeanval's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark tense slow-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? Yes

4.0

Bizarre, bloody, and a serious page turner. A dark tale of what and why are humans with lots to say on the nature of power and vengeance. The violence and gore are too much for me at times, but still a great book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Physical abuse, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Blood, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Confinement, Drug use, Gun violence, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Vomit, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, and Alcohol

literarybitch's review against another edition

dark mysterious

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix

0.75

HEY, NO THANKS??
The central idea is inventive and captivating, I was fascinated to know more, and I vehemently disagree with the ending so hard that I simply cannot recommend it. To the point that actually, I'm just going to say it:
This book makes the argument that horrific cruelty & abuse are justifiable means to motivate someone to achieve their full potential.
I think that's simply so awful that it's not worth reading the rest of the book.
Against the dark landscape of slaughter and pain and rape and torture and killing and resurrection and killing again, there are oddly funny moments, joking lines that have absolutely no hope of landing. Any goodwill the interesting premise created curdled, soured, and died.

In fact, this book has caused me to rethink my standards for audiobooks. I listened to this for free and I still want my money back.

Fuck this/10

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Rape, Suicide, Torture, Violence, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Animal death, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicide, Violence, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail