Reviews with content warning for Murder - Das Dorf der toten Seelen

Reviews tagging 'Murder'

Das Dorf der toten Seelen by Camilla Sten

57 reviews

archaicrobin's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

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

1.0

I have a real pet peeve about publishers marketing books incorrectly. This novel was described as a mix of Blair Witch and Midsommar and all I can say is how? There was nothing paranormal about this book at all, nothing creepy or eerie, it’s just another mediocre “crazy” cult book. I figured out the twist less than an hour into the audiobook, so the whole reading experience was me hoping I was wrong because the “twist” is dumb. I was so excited to read this one, and despite some disappointing reviews I decided to still give it a try, I shouldn’t have.

Alice is attached to this old village where her grandmother grew up. Alice heard all these stories and is enthralled with figuring out what happened to everyone in the village. Who stoned this lady to death? Where did everyone go? Why? To answer these questions Alice gathers a film crew made of friends and acquaintances with limited experience to travel to this town and film a documentary trying to figure out what happened.

Weird but mundane things start happening, none of the characters are like able or even seem like actual people. Alice is also absolutely the worst, no redeeming qualities at all in my opinion. As the gang bumbles along they start to realize they might not be alone. The story jumps back and forth between Now and Then. You see how this town starts to turn into a cult, kind of. It’s more like everyone wakes up one day and decides to just be psychos. The author tries to create a scenario where this whole cult thing makes sense, but it’s just too weak. “They all lost their jobs and this new hot guy says he’ll be their hot priest so now they’re a cult” isn’t really a good set up for me…

I did not enjoy this, I was disappointed and just kinda irritated honestly. Positives? The audiobook was great, very well done and the writing was also great. It was just everything else that sucked.

Content Warnings

casslibraria's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

Content Warnings

kathkas's review against another edition

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dark 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? It's complicated

3.0

Content Warnings

madarauchiha's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious sad fast-paced

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

3.0

❤️ 🧡 💛 💚 💙 💜 my about / byf / CW info carrd: uchiha-madara 💜 💙 💚 💛 🧡 ❤️

It's a passable horror story. It's not so much supernatural horror as it is religious and human horror. It's definitely tense, with some scary parts. There's more gore-horror than scary-horror, if that makes sense. I felt like it could have used more paranoia inducing stalking / hunting scenes. Otherwise it was pretty satisfactory. The ending was solid and answered every question posed. Despite the content warnings, this isn't too tortureporn-y. The writing and translation was clear and enjoying too.

Content warnings.

minor alcohol use, alcoholism, asphyxiation, blood, bone fractures, cancer, child abuse, confinement, death, emetophobia, infertility, jonestown massacre, mass suicide, miscarriage, murder, pedophilia, pregnancy, rape, self harm, sexual violence, smoking tobacco, suicide ideation, whorephobic language [used twice]

medium ableism towards person with autism, child abuse, childbirth, cults, emetophobia, medical content, mental illness, pregnancy, psychosis, sexual assault, suicide, suicide attempt

major ableism, arson? / explosions, cults, death, gore, murder, religion catholicism

Content Warnings

creepycrawlybookworm's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional mysterious tense 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

4.0

This was a great audio read, that had me hooked quickly. There were some more predictable plot points, but others that I didn't expect too! I became more invested in the characters as the story progressed, even though not all were loveable, that isn't an issue for me particularly, as I'd rather read about flawed, interesting characters, than sugar-coated ones.
There was also a good mix of creepiness and suspense amongst the characters themselves, as well as in the town, and it worked well alongside the group dynamic and documentary parts of the story.

Content Warnings

in_love_with_bookish's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.0

The Lost Village wasn’t a spectacular read by any means but it wasn’t bad either, It just sits there in the middle: decent but average.

It would have been nice to explore the alleyways by myself in this silence, to capture the village as I see it now, this first morning. Dormant and untouched. It's like a living photograph, a relic of a bygone age.

I think this book could work perfectly for readers new to the genre but for others who are well-read when it comes to mysteries or thrillers, I think the book will feel lacking and familiar.

I was really intrigued by the synopsis and I was so excited to start reading the book, It has some of my favorite elements in thrillers like different timelines, a decade-long mystery, and the documentary style. I really expected to fall head over heels in love but I just felt that something was missing for me and that hindered my enjoyment.

Recovered, in recovery, or struggling, we are still people. Sometimes that truth can feel like a fever dream.

I still find the events that happened in the past timeline to be really chilling and unsettling but at the same time predictable. While the present timeline was more suspenseful and fast-paced, I still felt unable to care that much.

I think the main character was better written than the others that came with her on this journey to film the documentary and I think the dynamics between certain characters were also compelling while other dynamics are underdeveloped or overlooked. I actually would’ve liked it if we got to see the POVs of all the characters so we can really witness how the events of the book are affecting them all. I think seeing the events unfold from different perspectives could've added a layer of tension and despair

We perceive women suffering from mental illness with a sort of paradoxical double-sidedness; both victims and monsters, simultaneously infantilized and feared.

This was not a bad book, not at all, I think it had great moments that filled the book with dread and menace but after years of reading thrillers and mysteries, this book just felt too easy, too formulaic for my tastes. But let me just be honest and say that even though the story didn’t work out for me that much, I still really enjoyed the writing style, It was perfect at creating this atmosphere of being trapped with no plan of escape. I think it complimented the story really well. The writing style made it easy to translate the fears and the breakdown of characters as they start to lose control the more intense and scary things get.

The ending however felt strange to me, like it didn’t fit the tone of the story, I also didn’t feel convinced by some of the explanation at the end. I honestly think I would’ve enjoyed a more ambiguous ending than the one we got.

So all in all, this was not a new favorite of mine but still decent enough to recommend to anyone who wants to start exploring the genre.

Content Warnings

rachelunabridged's review against another edition

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dark mysterious sad slow-paced

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

2.5

unfortunately, i thought this book was incredibly disappointing. the story was very predictable, and the characters were very flat and unlikable. i didn't like how the author

didn't want us to feel TOO bad about max dying so she had this inorganic scene where he tells alice that he funded her project to get in her pants? it just felt incredibly contrived and out of nowhere.

i was also disappointed by

how shallow and flat mattias was. she just kinda told us that he was a psychopath from the notes that alice had, but everything he did in the town was behind-the-scenes. the reader is told very little and is shown even less. i hated that.

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_thelitlibrarian's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

4.5

4.50 stars
-
TW; Mental Illness, Murder, Death, Ableism, Violence, Religious Bigotry, Blood, Suicidal Thoughts, Schizophrenia/Psychosis.
-
Silvertjärn has been completely abandoned since 1959, it seems that an entire village has gotten up and just left everything behind - including a body tied to a pole and a baby crying, The story flips between then and now, and in present-day documentary filmmaker Alice wants to uncover the truth as to what happened all those years ago. With an interesting familial tie to what happened, she gathers a group as they plan on scouting the town to uncover hidden secrets.

I was hooked from the start, it was so eerie and gave off the Blair Witch Project vibes. As soon as the crew arrives at the small village some weird and unexplainable things start to happen. Just when you thought you'd figure out everything, something is thrown into the loop to throw you off guard. Once I started this book, I could not put it down as I needed to know what had happened.

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maraharcher804's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious

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

3.5

Enjoyable. Eerie. Predictable. I enjoyed the friendship between Emmy and Alice. I dont think many books include friends that love each other and fight for each other and cry at how difficult it is sometimes to be friends.

I didn't quite understand Birgitta's demeanor and wasn't sure if the way she was written (kinda like a monster) were appropriate for portraying someone mentally ill.

Content Warnings

alexg52's review against another edition

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dark mysterious medium-paced

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

3.0

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