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sargasso_c's Reviews (515)
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
A really good, short read. I definitely recommend the audiobook as it was produced like an audio drama with a bit of a score that greatly added to the story's atmosphere.
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This is the only novel ever that I have finished, and then reread from page one. Definitely worth the read and I look forward to reading more works by this author.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Schizophrenia/Psychosis
Moderate: Self harm, Violence, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail
challenging
hopeful
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Honestly the concept is so good and I usually adore fey-based literature (especially fey-based horror literature), but the pacing of this book was atrocious. There is a point in this book where the main character is racing to grab an essential item before she is either mauled by The Watchers or locked out of safety by her cohabitants who also fear being mauled if they wait for her to return. In the middle of this tense scene that felt very quick, the author decides to spend paragraphs on Mina musing on how rough she looks after catching a glimpse of herself in a dark window and how that will affect her and her interactions should she ever make it back to the real world. A fine motif if you want it, but it just wasn't the time and totally frustrated me and shoved me out of the narrative.
adventurous
funny
hopeful
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
It's rare that a book can scare me to the point of jumping at noises coming from outside my window at 1am because I've stayed up way too late reading it and introduce me to characters that are so endearingly real I have no trouble picturing their lives before, after, and outside the pages of this book. I have found a new staple horror author, and I am excited to tear through everything that T. Kingfisher has written.
dark
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
dark
sad
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
The narrator cannot do women's voices well. The book was pretty good so far, but I'll have to read it on the page someday.
This book just didn't hold my attention after a while. If the only reason I'm still reading is to find out something I could discover through a quick Google search, that's a sign for me to move on to another story.
slow-paced
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Wilde had a great concept but failed to execute it optimally. Even for the time period, the prose dances around the "horrors" that Dorian supposedly commits entirely too much and never once hints at what evils he has been adopting. We are expected to understand the depths of Dorian's depravity by the reaction society has to him, but those reactions are too tame for the wildly unethical actions we are to believe Dorian commits regularly. In no time period - no matter how conservative or repressed, is someone described by their peers as fundamentally corrupted and receives, as intended or consequential punishment, fewer dinner invitations and slightly less accompanied carriage rides.
Wilde so desperately wants his readers to believe Dorian's soul was beyond salvaging, but we never see the "golden boy" do anything worse than be kind of mean to his girlfriend until the very last pages of the book. Yes, he corrupted innocents and spoke triviously or callously about serious situations, but so did Lord Henry and the man is not portrayed as a villain so much as a slightly vulgar and amusing uncle. Dorian spent eleven years walking willingly to corruption, and in all that time, he never committed a crime? Fathered and abandoned a child? Physically injured someone? Dined and dashed??? Even when Dorian comits murder, it is with his victim's back to him and though there are descriptions of blood, the whole scene feels quite tame.<\spoiler> All in all, this was just a disappointing read that left me wondering if The Picture of Dorian Gray is a "classic" because most people have only heard the premise without reading the book and were able to imagine that this novel contained a much better story.
Wilde so desperately wants his readers to believe Dorian's soul was beyond salvaging, but we never see the "golden boy" do anything worse than be kind of mean to his girlfriend until the very last pages of the book. Yes, he corrupted innocents and spoke triviously or callously about serious situations, but so did Lord Henry and the man is not portrayed as a villain so much as a slightly vulgar and amusing uncle. Dorian spent eleven years walking willingly to corruption, and in all that time, he never committed a crime? Fathered and abandoned a child? Physically injured someone? Dined and dashed??? Even when Dorian comits murder, it is with his victim's back to him and though there are descriptions of blood, the whole scene feels quite tame.<\spoiler> All in all, this was just a disappointing read that left me wondering if The Picture of Dorian Gray is a "classic" because most people have only heard the premise without reading the book and were able to imagine that this novel contained a much better story.