Reviews tagging 'Child death'

Sundial by Catriona Ward

50 reviews

lilias's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

3.5

I don’t know if reading two books by an author is enough to allow for a pattern to be detected, but even after reading my first novel by Catriona Ward, The Last House on Needless Street, I started to suspect one thing I needed to be as a reader of her books, and that is patient. Sundial further confirmed my theory.

I almost quit The Last House on Needless Street, except I never stop reading a book for the very reason that I’m glad I continued. I hated the first third or so. I read it thinking it was being weird just for the sake of being weird, it was irritatingly oddball. Then towards the middle I settled in to it, still thinking “wtf,” but in a more subdued voice. By the end of the book I thought it was so good. So I approached Sundial with this experience in mind. I had a similar experience with Sundial as I did with The Last House on Needless Street, I had this bubble of “wtf” over my head for a lot of it, but since I had learned to trust Ward, my overall experience was more enjoyable throughout. 

It is a story about mothers and daughters, and, being a relatively new mother to a daughter, those stories hit me in a certain way. I was interested the whole time, and I’ve never read a book like this. 

But a few things take off a star for me: first, I hate reading about animal abuse, and there is a lot of it throughout this book. In her afterward, Ward explains her reasoning for including it, but I still could have gotten the message if it had not been so graphic and so central. I suspect this is the same part of me that doesn’t like gore in movies but loves eerie suspense.

The second part that really irked me were the Arrowood parts. They stuck out to me as totally unnecessary, though I could have missed a very good reason to include them. But until someone gives me a good reason as to why they were included, I think they took away from the flow of the book, and a smoother narration would have made this book so much better.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, and Domestic abuse

Moderate: Child abuse, Child death, and Gore

biddibee's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious sad tense slow-paced

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

4.25

What an interesting book! I loved the unique and beautiful setting. Catriona Ward does unreliable narratore like nobody else. What's real? Who's who? And that ending! I audibly gasped. The neverending suspense!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Violence, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Pregnancy

Moderate: Child abuse, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Death of parent, and Gaslighting

Minor: Adult/minor relationship

dysfunctile's review against another edition

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? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Blood, Death of parent, and Murder

jfren's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense 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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Animal cruelty, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Self harm, Sexual content, Blood, Vomit, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, and Gaslighting

phantomgecko's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious medium-paced

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

5.0

A braided novel! One strand the mother, one strand the daughter, one strand the past, and one strand a novel within the novel.

It's got its little twists and turns and mysterious aura, so that's all fun. I figured most of the little mysteries before the official reveals, but I was also wrong along the way. Definitely a creepy book.

A little different look at the abusive husband trope.

i.e. the husband is definitely abusive and sucks fr, but Rob is legit a psychopath so she can give him what he deserves and still be the protagonist.

Also, I loved the ambiguous ending. What happens next? You decide! And also...........what's the deal with the contacts that may or may not exist. Love that bit. I think Rob really is Rob, personally, but maybe not! Maybe Rob is really Jack and lied about how the story ends. We'll never know!

My only complaint was the little novel bits. I thought they were kinda pointless but I understand the value they actually gave.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Blood, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, and Gaslighting

kds247's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.5

This book kept me on the edge of my seat the entire time. It was well written and had some really interesting twists

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Infidelity, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Self harm, Violence, Blood, Cannibalism, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Child death

laneychaney's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Domestic abuse, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Violence, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

Moderate: Addiction, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Self harm, Torture, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Suicide attempt, Murder, Pregnancy, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Infertility

jrocbutterfly's review against another edition

dark emotional tense fast-paced

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

4.5

This book passes a little slowly at the beginning but does not take long to Amp up to a full throttle roller coaster. Told from 2 perpecrives, one of Rob and one of her daughter Callie. Sundial is a terrifying tale of the question, does human experience or true nature make a person evil. Or is it a little bit of both. Ward keeps you guessing through the whole book on what is true, what you truly know, and what really happened. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, and Murder

Minor: Child death, Self harm, Abortion, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, and Pregnancy

sarah_bettina's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, and Domestic abuse

Moderate: Child death, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Death of parent, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Pregnancy

jesselyn's review against another edition

dark sad medium-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Infidelity, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Self harm, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail