Reviews tagging 'Death'

The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield

33 reviews

loosea23's review

dark mysterious reflective tense slow-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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Death, and Physical abuse

avery_hutchinson's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious slow-paced

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

4.5

Haunting, but with a well-placed twist! 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Violence, Death, and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Rape

magpienicky's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad medium-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse

Moderate: Death and Abandonment

Minor: Death of parent and Rape

leahgustafson's review

dark emotional mysterious slow-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

3.5

There is a lot of hype surrounding this book, and I was really hopeful about it. I’ve been trying to find a 5⭐️ thriller for a while now, but unfortunately, this wasn’t quite it (for me). I know there are a lot of people who loved this book. 

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I love how this story is told through the lens of a  podcast/documentary, and the full cast audio is absolutely amazing! This is definitely a book I’d recommend on audio. I did get sucked into the story pretty quickly, but then things started to get a little strange. I enjoyed the unreliable narrator, and this made me really want to keep reading/find out how it ends. The last 10-15% of the book felt flat so I kind of lost my momentum there. 

• 

If you are not a fan of ambiguous endings, this one probably isn’t for you. However, I thought it was very fitting for this particular story. 
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Check out what I'm reading next on Instagram @LeahsLitReview!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Incest, Death, and Grief

jannne's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Incest, and Grief

Moderate: Mental illness

amlombardo13's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad 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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Incest, Bullying, Pregnancy, Murder, Sexual violence, Mental illness, Infidelity, Abandonment, Child abuse, Toxic relationship, Sexual assault, Rape, Grief, Death of parent, Torture, Injury/Injury detail, Forced institutionalization, Fire/Fire injury, and Death

angeldevoursliterature's review against another edition

dark hopeful mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Death, Incest, and Grief

Moderate: Rape

Minor: Mental illness and Abandonment

brimclala's review

dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced

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

4.5

“Do you know the feeling when you start reading a new book before the membrane of the last one has had time to close behind you? You leave the previous book with ideas and themes–characters even–caught in the fibers of your clothes, and when you open the new book, they are still with you.”

This story will be with me for a long time.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death

Minor: Incest and Murder

buildingtaste's review

dark emotional mysterious slow-paced

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

3.75

The Thirteenth Tale is a satisfying gothic send-up, complete with name drops of all the usual 19th-century suspects. However, by placing all the dark twists in the distant past, Setterfield keeps the book from being too tense; like the narrator, readers are encouraged to approach the story-within-a-story as a puzzle, and the "present" action is mostly sedate. Still, with its laundry list of grim events, this one is not for the faint-hearted. Mind the content warnings!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Gun violence, Terminal illness, Child abuse, Eating disorder, Medical trauma, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Bullying, Child death, Fire/Fire injury, Forced institutionalization, Incest, Mental illness, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Suicide, Confinement, Death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Excrement, Gaslighting, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Murder, Toxic relationship, Violence, and Vomit

Moderate: Pregnancy, Sexism, and Infidelity

Multiple relationships are codependent, violent, controlling and incestuous/bordering on incestuous.

Major characters are revealed to be the likely product of incest and rape.

Multiple violent and disturbing deaths, self-inflicted and by others. Some characters live in isolation and neglect their home; the decay and unsanitary conditions are described in detail. Terminal illness is a major plot point. The death of siblings and grief is a major plot point. A character is institutionalized. A character is confined for a medical/psychological experiment. Multiple characters are shown self-harming as children and adults.

A character attempts to murder an infant.

phantomgecko's review

challenging dark emotional 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? No

5.0

I put off reading this for a long time because the cover is not very good. It doesn't evoke the right tone or genre. Which is too bad. I enjoyed the book tremendously.

In the middle I had my doubts. Was this really going anywhere? Why are these side characters being introduced? But it really comes together in a great way. Would recommend. 

The air of mystery came to somewhat of an anticlimax for me once Ms. Winter's actual identity was revealed, and the nature of the "ghost."  But, but, but the story of the fire reeled me back in. Possibly the best part being the question of the rescued twin's identity. Answering that question would have been a disappointment.

I would have been fine if the book had ended with Ms. Winter's death, tbh. The few chapters afterwards did answer questions and wrap up loose ends, but it wasn't necessary for me. The emotional weight of it all was exquisite. I love ambiguous endings and the feeling of non-closure.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Fire/Fire injury, Incest, Toxic relationship, Abandonment, Death, Grief, Rape, and Child abuse