Reviews tagging 'Fire/Fire injury'

The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield

20 reviews

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

mynameisvesper's review

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad 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? It's complicated

4.5

“I have always been a reader; I have read at every stage of my life, and there has never been a time when reading was not my greatest joy. And yet I cannot pretend that the reading I have done in my adult years matches in its impact on my soul the reading I did as a child. I still believe in stories. I still forget myself when I am in the middle of a good book. Yet it is not the same. Books are, for me, it must be said, the most important thing; what I cannot forget is that there was a time when they were at once more banal and more essential than that. When I was a child, books were everything. And so there is in me, always, a nostalgic yearning for the lost pleasure of books. It is not a yearning that one ever expects to be fulfilled.”

I too, as Margaret, tend to prefer books to people. Probably it is because of this childhood bond. I definitely got caught up in this book. I didn’t like the narrator, actually, I’m not sure if I liked any of the characters. But they were so well written that you could understand them, or at least attempt to see what made them a certain way. I know that in part this story worked for me because of the gothic-English manor-Brontë vibe.

Was the ending a big surprise? Not really, and I’m glad that it didn’t go into horror paranormal direction.

It felt like a book written by someone who loves stories and who loves books. It really worked for me, brought back a lot of nostalgia. Perhaps on another time, I would focus more on the shortcomings, but right now it just felt right. 4.5⭐️

“We all have our sorrows, and although the exact delineaments, weight and dimensions of grief are different for everyone, the color of grief is common to us all.”

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Abandonment, Child abuse, and Fire/Fire injury

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

richael's review against another edition

mysterious sad 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fire/Fire injury and Violence

Moderate: Rape, Sexual assault, and Incest

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

dragonaion's review

adventurous dark emotional mysterious reflective 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

5.0

This isn't my usual genre (fantasy or historical fiction), and when I started the book I was skeptical. However, the storytelling not only kept me reading, but set me down new paths that were completely unexpected and a delight to discover. The story itself is also darker than most, but it was well placed and not excessive; the story is told in such a way I'm certain that someone, somewhere, knows these lives very well.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Fire/Fire injury, Domestic abuse, Addiction, Self harm, Emotional abuse, and Incest

Minor: Physical abuse, Bullying, Death, Mental illness, Adult/minor relationship, Excrement, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Ableism, Death of parent, Grief, Pregnancy, Rape, and Toxic relationship

This is meant for an adult audience and has a lot of dark themes within one family that is absolutely unhealthy mentally, physically, and emotionally.

karenmsecrest's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense 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

A gothic tale with many twists and turns and ultimately a satisfying ending. I just finished this afternoon, and might need to think about it before writing a full review. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Abandonment and Suicide

contrapasso's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad slow-paced

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

1.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Emotional abuse, and Self harm

Moderate: Fatphobia, Fire/Fire injury, Rape, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Eating disorder, Incest, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, and Self harm

Minor: Ableism

rachel1's review

dark mysterious 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? No

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Child death, Forced institutionalization, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Incest, Pregnancy, and Terminal illness

Minor: Death of parent