Reviews tagging 'Murder'

The House in the Cerulean Sea by TJ Klune

14 reviews

merlioras's review against another edition

funny inspiring lighthearted reflective medium-paced

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

3.5

A nice story with a warm feel to it. The message was at points quite heavy handed and more text than subtext. I didn't care for the fatphobia against the protagonist that was brought up unnecessarily again and again by both him and the narrative voice. 
I listened to the book. At first I had to get used  to the voice actor but having finished the book I think he's a good fit for the protagonist and also has distinct voices for the cast of characters. He did a good job. What sometimes threw me off was how he pronounced certain words. I don't know if that is some kind of accent but I never had heard them pronounced that way. It made it appear as if he has never encountered these words before and didn't bother to check the pronunciation. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism

Moderate: Child abuse, Murder, Body shaming, Physical abuse, Emotional abuse, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, and Fatphobia

mixmousereads's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted reflective medium-paced

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

4.75

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse and Emotional abuse

Moderate: Fatphobia, Abandonment, Body shaming, Confinement, Fire/Fire injury, and Violence

Minor: Animal death, Body horror, Murder, Cannibalism, Death of parent, and Eating disorder

tippettreads's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective 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? Yes

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Minor: Death, Death of parent, Homophobia, Drug use, Murder, and Sexual content

fanboyriot's review

dark slow-paced

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

Read For:

Fantasy

Slow Burn

Found Family

Idiots in Love

Happy Ending

Think Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children vibes but kinda queer.  I just felt kinda neutral about it.  The humor was okay, the characters were okay, and the setting was kinda meh.  I just felt like I had to force myself to keep reading and if I didn’t already own the book I would have stopped.  Also, I thought there would be more queer rep to be honest so that was kinda disappointing.  Not to mention the fatphobia.

I wasn’t going to read this given the reviews I’ve been seeing recently, however, I already own the first two books so I figured I’d see if it was as bad as some of the reviews were saying.  And honestly, I just didn’t understand the hype about it.  Even not knowing what the book was based on it was barely a 3-star rating for me, it just fell flat to me.

However, learning that this was based on the Sixties Scoop and how the author decided to turn what was a cruel and tragic piece of history he read about on Wikipedia about how the Canadian government removed a bunch of indigenous children from their literal homes and away from their family only to be adopted to white, middle-class families and he then took that information and basically turned it into a happy little fantasy where the kids live not in an “orphanage” but a “home” like, dude, why?

This kind of thing is still something native people are dealing with and as a white person, it should not be something you’re involved in like this.  In America the Supreme Court literally is going to be voting soon on overturning ICWA so states can regain control to remove Native children from their homes and families, this isn’t just some fantasy.  This story could have been written way better and in a way that did romanticize trauma and make light of a literal genocide.

I just wouldn’t recommend this one.  There are some links on where I got my information from if you’re interested along with two reviews I think do a better job of explaining this than I did.

Links:

Source: https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A617930246/ITBC?u=uvictoria&sid=bookmark-ITBC&xid=0efbabda

Wikipedia: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sixties_Scoop

Helpful Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4032060130

Another Helpful Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3601407534

Rep: Achillean, Queer MC

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Racism, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Confinement, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Fatphobia, Forced institutionalization, Genocide, Religious bigotry, and Xenophobia

Moderate: Death of parent, Ableism, Animal cruelty, Classism, Grief, Homophobia, and Violence

Minor: Fire/Fire injury, Body horror, Cannibalism, Murder, Death, Animal death, and Blood

kaimetcalfe's review against another edition

adventurous funny hopeful lighthearted fast-paced

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

3.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Abandonment, Murder, and Racism

Moderate: Confinement, Child abuse, and Cursing

Minor: Cannibalism, Vomit, Fire/Fire injury, and Sexual content

⁹

caitlinjadams's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted reflective relaxing 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? It's complicated

5.0

What a lovely, lovely book about humanity. 

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Racism, Ableism, Forced institutionalization, Confinement, Religious bigotry, Abandonment, Child abuse, Fatphobia, and Emotional abuse

Minor: Animal death, Fire/Fire injury, Murder, Cannibalism, Animal cruelty, Death of parent, and Injury/Injury detail

lonely_tardigrade's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted relaxing medium-paced

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

4.75

this book genuinely felt like a warm hug. it was the first book i’ve finished in probably a year or more. the vibes it gave off (not content) felt like the vibes of watching the owl house. a wholesome story with a bit of danger. and the characters are all so unique and lovable in their own ways.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Xenophobia

Moderate: Fatphobia, Fire/Fire injury, Forced institutionalization, Torture, Child abuse, Violence, and Confinement

Minor: Animal death, Body shaming, Abandonment, Death of parent, Physical abuse, Hate crime, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, and Murder

abbiechron's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted mysterious reflective sad fast-paced

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

5.0

Seriously cannot recommend this book enough. The audiobook added lots of quirky character building with different voices. There were many smiles, heartaches, and times where I just sat laughing literally out loud. Fantastic comfort book with an undertone of mystery.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Racial slurs, Racism, and Xenophobia

Moderate: Child abuse

Minor: Murder, Physical abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, Animal death, Chronic illness, Confinement, Death, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, and Gaslighting

isaaah's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective sad fast-paced

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

4.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Child abuse, Confinement, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Forced institutionalization, and Physical abuse

Moderate: Blood, Body horror, Cannibalism, Gore, Grief, Hate crime, Murder, and Violence

Minor: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Death of parent, and Self harm

julesadventurezone's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny inspiring lighthearted medium-paced

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

4.75

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Fatphobia and Body shaming

Moderate: Colonisation

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Misogyny, Child abuse, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Hate crime, Murder, Physical abuse, Animal death, Blood, and Homophobia