Reviews tagging 'Animal death'

Lavender House by Lev AC Rosen

70 reviews

owliglot's review against another edition

mysterious tense 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: Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, Police brutality, Violence, Grief, Hate crime, Lesbophobia, Suicidal thoughts, Animal death, Death, Homophobia, and Murder

Moderate: Alcoholism

purrson's review

dark emotional funny hopeful mysterious reflective 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? Yes

4.0

Very enjoyable, especially as a series starter. The very beginning is the weakest bit—I wasn’t sure who the character was—but the story finds its feet quickly. Good character development,  I love queer historical fiction and the setting is interesting. Some romantic content—flirting—but the book doesn’t feel prudish. It’s a good setup for the second book in the series, which I’m currently reading and enjoying very much.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia

Moderate: Violence, Police brutality, and Suicidal thoughts

Minor: Emotional abuse, Death of parent, Animal death, Misogyny, and Murder

The animal death is minor:

There’s a short scene where two characters are hunting rabbits

quercine's review

dark mysterious reflective sad 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

4.5

I am not easily surprised in mysteries. I usually have them figured out by the end of the first act. This one kept me guessing. The story focuses on true to reality queer struggles while remaining hopeful and determined. Themes include community versus isolation, queer perseverance, and loyalty. The protagonist is flawed but lovable, and I loved seeing him grow.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Outing, Suicidal thoughts, Confinement, Death of parent, Death, Alcoholism, Hate crime, and Homophobia

Moderate: Animal death, Blood, and Classism

alsira98's review

adventurous dark funny mysterious fast-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia and Violence

Moderate: Animal death, Vomit, Homophobia, and Suicidal thoughts

r_a_bell's review

dark emotional hopeful mysterious sad tense slow-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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Police brutality, Lesbophobia, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Suicidal thoughts, Animal death, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Blood, and Hate crime

urlocalrachael's review against another edition

emotional hopeful mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Hate crime and Homophobia

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Confinement, Sexism, Outing, Murder, Mental illness, Grief, Emotional abuse, Death of parent, Blood, Animal death, Alcoholism, Alcohol, and Abandonment

kal517's review against another edition

dark 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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Police brutality, and Violence

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Murder, and Animal death

Minor: Medical content and Injury/Injury detail

jessiereads98's review

mysterious tense medium-paced

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

2.75

Lavender House is a semi-locked door mystery with an all queer cast. I really loved the idea of a queer take on the classic mystery, but was a bit disappointed in the execution. I would say this story is fine. It’s not the best mystery I’ve ever read, and it’s not the worst. The solution was predictable and underwhelming, but I’m willing to give another in the series a try (as the door for this to become a serial was clearly left open at the end). 

The characters here really weren’t fleshed out. We get a peak at each one, and they each seem to be interesting. Unfortunately, we really never get more than an interesting peak before they’re flattened back out and left unexplored. The main character is a recently-outed gay former cop. The story attempts to grapple with his complicity in oppressing his own community a couple times, but ultimately this, like all other character development here, falls off to the wayside. It was difficult to invest in the main character because of the failure of the story to actually confront the main character’s former role as a gay cop, and it was difficult to invest in any other individual character because we didn’t really get to know them either. 

The mystery was fairly obvious from the start, so at times it felt like the plot was being drawn out. I think this would’ve been more successful as a fully locked room mystery, rather than bringing in outside suspects for seemingly no reason. 

The concept of this book is unfortunately just much better than the book itself. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Police brutality, Homophobia, and Hate crime

Moderate: Alcohol, Murder, Animal death, Death, Suicidal thoughts, and Alcoholism

Minor: Death of parent, Grief, Sexism, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, and Outing

theninth's review

dark hopeful lighthearted mysterious 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? It's complicated

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Homophobia, Police brutality, Outing, and Animal death

Moderate: Murder, Suicide, Child abuse, and Hate crime

Minor: Sexual violence and Rape

zachzakku's review

adventurous dark inspiring 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? No

5.0

This book is terrific from every angle: the writing flows, it's well-paced, the mystery is well-plotted, and the setting feels realistic. It's set in the 1950s, and even in San Francisco, life is rough for queer people; The Lavender House pulls no punches, and we see many, many examples of just how difficult life could be, whether someone is out (or outed) or not. But there's also a good balance of queer boys flirting with the handsome detective, which is also nice.

Not to be one of those annoying people who wants everything good to have a sequel, but like, c'mon, this one's so sequel-friendly. More Mills, please!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Hate crime

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Animal death, and Suicide