Reviews tagging 'Child death'

Midnight Riot by Ben Aaronovitch

49 reviews

trying_ceratops's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious 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

4.0

This was a fun book! It feels like a good ole detective story with some magic throne in. If you like the Dresden series, you’ll likely enjoy this. Some of the tech is a bit dated and women are objectified fairly often (main reason for docking a star), but they are often portrayed as powerful/smart/best at what they do. I enjoyed the story and was genuinely surprised by the ending, in a good way. Will continue reading the series. 

The narration was done well in the audiobook. The male voice actor handled the many voices well and the female characters didn’t sound falsetto nor overly high pitched

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Content Warnings

Minor: Body horror, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Gun violence, Racism, Blood, Police brutality, Murder, Cultural appropriation, Alcohol, and Classism

cazab22's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious medium-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Violence, and Blood

stripedwolfie's review against another edition

adventurous funny medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

3.0

I really wanted to like this book, since I usually enjoy British humour, police procedurals, and because it's a long series beloved by many. It started off really well, but the longer I read, the more the main character's voice annoyed me. The male gaze is not quite as bad as in The Dresden Files (which I also didn't enjoy), but it's definitely there. Fine, I can give the protagonist the benefit of the doubt and assume that the river goddess and her daughter have some supernatural aura that make all men react strongly to them. As opposed to Peter being attracted to every single woman he lays his eyes on. I found about half of the jokes to be genuinely funny and I wish there were fewer quips in the story, because the overall impression of the humour is that the protagonist is trying too hard. I was willing to overlook all of the above, but by the middle of the book I was also bored. Things kept happening, but the events seemed haphazard and disjointed and I found myself not really caring about any of it.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child death, Cursing, Death, and Gore

marianne_maschine's review against another edition

adventurous funny mysterious fast-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Physical abuse, Violence, Blood, and Murder

kmedusa's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-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? It's complicated

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Violence, and Murder

Moderate: Child death

Minor: Addiction

wickedgrumpy's review against another edition

challenging mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Loveable characters? No

1.75

The misogyny was the main deterrent and I'm not sure why I pushed through to finish it because it sealed the deal on not wanting to continue the series in the future.

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Content Warnings

Minor: Addiction, Alcoholism, Body horror, Body shaming, Child death, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Fatphobia, Gore, Hate crime, Homophobia, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Racism, Sexism, Sexual assault, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Xenophobia, Police brutality, Medical content, Kidnapping, Murder, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, Dysphoria, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

lucas_mannion's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.75

Really enjoyed this. Dialogue and protagonist's perspective were funny without trying too hard. Interesting plot, didn't take itself too seriously. Struggled to follow some parts and took me a while to get through but that may just be my own attention problems. Main negative is that all of the female characters were sexualised by the protagonist. Could have been a conscious choice to show his immaturity, but was just a bit tasteless in my opinion. Would like to read more of this series but hope that the female characters are more developed. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Death, Gore, Misogyny, Sexism, Violence, Blood, Police brutality, Medical content, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Addiction, Child abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Excrement, Vomit, Alcohol, and Sexual harassment

coffee_and_wool's review against another edition

A lot of sexism, seems like a men in black style of detective story, kind of like Amari's level of types of creatures in the world, and I don't think that works in an adult novel. Would rather it have some measure of believability. Also some really disturbing events.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death and Sexism

thequiltyreader's review against another edition

adventurous funny mysterious 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? Yes

4.0

Enjoyable read and good set up novel for the series. I found small sections a little too verbose which sometimes brought the quick pace to a crashing stop but that would be my only complaint and I'm hoping that's just partly down to this being a scene setter first novel in the series. Looking forward to book 2.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Animal cruelty, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Gore, Gun violence, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Cannibalism, Medical trauma, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

elesme's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

1.5

Story was interesting, but was far too violent

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Gore, Violence, Grief, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Domestic abuse

Minor: Vomit