Reviews with content warning for Homophobia - Death in the Spires

Reviews tagging 'Homophobia'

Death in the Spires by KJ Charles

39 reviews

bear_ridge_tarot's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional slow-paced

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

3.5

It’s 1905. A decade after the unsolved murder of Oxford student Toby Feynsham. The newspapers called the friends the Seven Wonders, but for Jermey Kite it was more than just the lost of his best friend. It was the end of his whole life. So when a mysterious anonymous letter lands on his boss’s desk, Jem sets out to discover what actually happened that night. The pursuit might be more than he can handle when Toby’s killer escalated their attempts to silence Jem. Is it worth it, or is this a secret better kept buried?

As Jem digs into the murder mystery, it becomes clear that only one of the Seven Wonders had any opportunity to commit the crime. Each of them are broken and changed, longing for things that they’ll never have now. And yet, only one was so filled with jealous rage that they killed their friend. The story is told in a series of interlocking flashbacks and present day events that lend the overall story a feel of nostalgia. It’s not quite a dark academia, since the school is just part of the setting, but it is a good read for anyone who likes the genre.

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purrson's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective 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? No

5.0

Absolutely loved it. Fantastic main character—stubborn, brave, compassionate—and I appreciated the disability/chronic pain representation. I would have loved some spice to the second-chance romance subplot, but it’s truly a perfect book, and handles turn of the (20th) century queerness (in relationships, as seen by society, its potential weaponization) well. I’m not surprised Charles does murder mystery so well. Just a top-notch read. Kept me guessing and rereading. And it is dark, but not terribly so—there is a lot of love and compassion the main character feels for his friends that uplifts the plot.

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purrson's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective 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? No

5.0

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kgc8's review against another edition

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dark mysterious 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

4.0

KJ Charles packs a lot into under 300 pages! The author is adept at setting the scene, both present day and via flashbacks, and efficiently drawing all the characters with only a few lines. You quickly get a sense of everyone's possible motivations and the undercurrents beneath what seems like an idyllic university friend group. I didn't 100% guess where KJ Charles was taking the mystery and the ending (though it was not my favorite resolution), and there are definitely some heavier themes addressed.

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emilyjmasters's review against another edition

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medium-paced

4.0

Atmospheric and full of heartache, this historical murder mystery had me on the edge of my seat until the final, extremely satisfying, chapter.

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wardenred's review against another edition

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dark emotional hopeful mysterious slow-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

4.75

So: all of us could have, none of us would have, one of us did. It resembles one of those immensely tiresome riddles.

I’ve always enjoyed mystery subplots in KJ Charles’s romance novels, so I was pretty excited to read her first foray into mystery genre—and I wasn’t disappointed one bit. This novel has everything I’ve always loved about this author’s books: complex, fully realized characters, an engaging plot, and a strong sense of well-researched historical setting. There’s still a bit of queer romance here, too, though it’s just a side plot this time, with a messy, tangled web of other types of relationships taking center stage. All those human connections absolutely made the book for me and made me feel super invested in figuring out the identity of the killer (it was exactly who I’d suspected the most, but I still gasped at the reveal).

The premise is this: a member of a notable student clique in Oxford was mysteriously murdered about a decade ago, and to this day Jem, the protagonist, is haunted by the murder. When a letter accusing him of this crime shows up at his workplace and costs him his job, he feels the need to search for the real killer, no matter what sorts of secrets and baggage he dredges up in the process. His circle of suspects is pretty narrow and consists only of all the other members of what used to be a close-knit friends group.

As he reconnects with those former friends of his and lets them know of his intentions, the story turns almost dual-timeline with copious flashbacks highlighting the good, bad, and ugly times back at Oxford. I expected to enjoy those flashbacks the most, because I’m a sucker for the dark academia vibe, but in truth I mostly remained caught up in the present-day plot and appreciated those trips into the past simply for the context they added. Jem was such a compelling protagonist to follow, with a mixture of determination and doubts in his head that felt oddly relatable. And then there were all the others—Nicky, Prue, Aaron, Ella, Hugo. I can’t even settle on a favorite character, I love them all and would happily read a book with each of them as the MC.

As I’ve come to expect from this author’s works, there’s a fair amount of attention drown to the prominent social issues of the time period—some of which bear a striking resemblance to the issues we still have to contend with today, over a century later. ~~Sometimes I despair of human race~~. This is something I for the most part greatly appreciated, though I admit the handling of the subplot focused on reproductive rights was a bit heavy-handed. I fully agree with the sentiments shared by the characters and I think this is a super important topic to discuss today, in fiction and otherwise. But every time it came up, I felt like the characters were lecturing/ranting at me, the reader, on the issue rather than organically discussing it among themselves. And hey, I 100% nodded along with the rants! But those were the only times when I also felt taken out of the story.

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jess_justmaybeperfect's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional funny reflective tense fast-paced

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

5.0

A dual timeline mystery from a fave romance author.

School friends (and lovers) torn apart my a murder are reunited when one of them decides to investigate.

The tension is high, the twists are golden, the dual timeline is done to perfection, and social justice themes, especially reproductive health, permeate the whole story.

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renee_85's review against another edition

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dark mysterious 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

4.0

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tostita's review against another edition

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dark mysterious 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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violentlyagitated's review against another edition

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dark mysterious sad medium-paced

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

4.5

The only gripe I have about this is that some parts throughout (mostly the first half) felt repetitive just by virtue of Jem having to repeat himself a lot, since he‘s telling the same stories and theories to his old friends one at a time.

What I liked most was the fact that it ended on a hopeful note. Mysteries can so easily feel bleak.

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