Reviews tagging 'Emotional abuse'

The Library at Mount Char by Scott Hawkins

90 reviews

soupqueen's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense slow-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 very slow start. I didn’t really care about Steve’s chapters to begin with, but as the story started coming together everything started feeling more interesting. The epilogue was perhaps unnecessary, but it still felt like it added a little something to the end.

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Rape, Sexual assault, Death of parent, Child death, Cursing, Fire/Fire injury, Death, Drug use, Gore, Gun violence, Murder, Physical abuse, Suicide, Suicide attempt, and Animal death

abathur's review against another edition

medium-paced

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

1.5

Pros: 
- the first third of the book kept me wanting to read it
-  the lions

Cons:
- the author is a middle-aged guy who is a leg man, and I had to walk away from this book knowing that
- Father (aka Ancient Pedo) rapes, tortures, and murders the kids because they "need" it. the book tells you so, and he is rewarded for it
- Father/Ancient Pedo only ever pits the kids against each other and isolates them from the outside world. what does this with the point above tell you?
- the black character is the main rapist. the asian girl character smells like shit. the plot conveniently has reasons for this, but take this as you will given that the author paints a textbook child abuser as a good guy
- Carolyn is a flat Mary Sue. there is no tension in this book as a result
- random inconsistencies (eg. the kids under Ancient Pedo's care can't dress themselves, but they dress dead people normally without issue)
- nebulous concepts that are never really established (eg. death is banishing someone to the shadow realm, but it's irrelevant because people get resurrected all the time -- except that one time with the lion because reasons). creativity is cool until it just becomes random bullshit
- random bullshit (eg. when Carolyn calls the president. not sure if that was supposed to be funny or something)
-  some of the colour book powers or whatever are redundant and some of them are completely useless
- bad plot armour and nonsensical decisions (eg. why did David let Carolyn touch his dong? he's supposed to be the best fighter in the world, and she's his biggest enemy)

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gaslighting, Gore, Toxic relationship, Torture, Emotional abuse, Racism, and Rape

ldockham's review against another edition

Could not stomach all the torture of the children by Father as well as too much gore.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Gore, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Torture, and Animal death

aeglaeca's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

I've never read a book quite like this before. Highly recommended if you aren't put off by dark stories. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Torture, Rape, Suicide, and Animal cruelty

shelbymarie314's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious fast-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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child death, Suicide, Torture, Animal cruelty, Gore, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, Cannibalism, Animal death, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Violence, Death, Gaslighting, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, and Murder

Minor: Incest

mochikochicken's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark funny mysterious 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? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Torture, Murder, Violence, Gun violence, War, Animal death, Body horror, Death of parent, Suicide, Car accident, Cursing, Death, Alcohol, Blood, Medical content, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, and Fire/Fire injury

heckgoshdang's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful tense medium-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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fire/Fire injury, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Animal cruelty, Kidnapping, Suicide attempt, Body horror, Death of parent, Drug use, Gaslighting, Grief, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Gore, Murder, Sexual content, Suicide, Child death, Emotional abuse, Animal death, Blood, Child abuse, Death, Mental illness, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Drug abuse, Rape, Sexual violence, and Violence

santeris's review against another edition

dark mysterious medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Medical trauma, Gore, Vomit, Sexual violence, Incest, and Rape

poetsofsweetpea's review against another edition

dark mysterious slow-paced

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

4.0

This book is violent.  Torture is a feature. I did like it though.  The beginning was slow, but when it hooked me, I was interested until the end.  You have to lean into the suspension of disbelief and let go of your knowledge of science but I've granted that to lesser stories. This is a story that toys with our idea of God.  What happens if he died? It's interesting and despite the horror, unlikable characters and unbelievable science there is something almost charming about it.  The mystery keeps you engaged and then it's hope that sustains you. This book is not for everyone but most assuredly for some.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Car accident, Death of parent, Addiction, Bullying, Alcohol, Animal death, Blood, Body horror, Drug abuse, Gun violence, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Domestic abuse, Gaslighting, Animal cruelty, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Genocide, Grief, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Suicide, Rape, Sexual violence, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Self harm, Murder, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Mental illness, and Suicidal thoughts

ohmage_resistance's review against another edition

dark mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Murder, Vomit, Animal cruelty, Body horror, War, Animal death, Violence, Kidnapping, Physical abuse, Suicide, Torture, Blood, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Child abuse, Child death, Death of parent, and Self harm

Moderate: Drug use, Rape, and Incest

Minor: Addiction, Cannibalism, Cancer, and Car accident