Reviews tagging 'Cursing'

The Library at Mount Char by Scott Hawkins

30 reviews

jamie_rich's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious sad tense slow-paced

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

2.0

This book was strange as hell. And needs to have *all* the trigger warnings.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Blood, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, War, and Injury/Injury detail

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

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

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

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

Minor: Cancer, Slavery, and Car accident

aformeracceleratedreader's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Loveable characters? It's complicated

3.25

I really dislike using r*p* as character development and this book uses that a little bit. So hated that. Also kind of hated throwing sex/peens in the story too. Like no I didn't need to know that one character could not get erect no matter how much the other character involved tried in any level of detail, but here we are.

Also wasn't a fan of making a large portion of carolyn's motivation being her romantic crush

. 
But overall the book was okay. Super slow going, but the idea was good. I understand needing quite a bit of the back stories leading up to the present time now that I've finished it, but while reading, it made the story drag on a little. It also kind of feels like a couple ideas were thrown together that didn't get fully fleshed out, but the main thing of the book is

creating/raising/training a god or a god-like being. It also really embodies the meme "I want to punch god in the face"

. People are saying it's weird but I didn't find it so much as it was just kind of graphic.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual content, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Sexism

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, Suicide, and Injury/Injury detail

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

Minor: Cursing, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Abandonment

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

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

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

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

smothermewithscifi's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, and Death of parent