Reviews tagging 'Medical trauma'

Sundial by Catriona Ward

21 reviews

spadefootfrog's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, and Violence

Moderate: Medical trauma

bookish_af's review

challenging dark mysterious tense slow-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Confinement, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Toxic relationship, Violence, Medical trauma, Death of parent, and Murder

Moderate: Bullying, Child death, Medical content, and Pregnancy

a_novel_craving's review against another edition

challenging dark reflective tense 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Miscarriage, Pedophilia, Self harm, Toxic relationship, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Murder, and Pregnancy

eggplantia5's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional tense fast-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

3.5

A creepy and tense exploration into families and sisterhood mixed with a little spookiness and science.  A perfect read near Halloween.

Everyone is kind of the villain, (except Callie), but everyone is also trying their best. You don't really get to know Irving and find out why he's so terrible, although maybe just being a white male from a rich family is enough characterization?

The story unfolds well, even when I thought I figured out the twists in advance, there was additional color that made the payoff satisfying.

Borrowed from library, could see myself buying in the future.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Miscarriage, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, and Medical trauma

livlamentloathe's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious slow-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? Yes

4.0

Until Rob and Callie got to Sundial and the flashback story started, I thought this was going to be an ableist story about mental illness. But it’s not that simple. It’s twisty in an unpredictable way. There’s enough going on that I was tricked into not knowing what would happen next! I’m typically ahead of the twist and find myself disappointed to have been right. But book isn’t about “a twist.” It’s not even a multitude of twists, although kinda. It’s a whole lot of fucked up normality that stewed in the heated desert of Sundial until finally… you know.

This was a very long book, and I wasn’t interested at turns. I put Baby Teeth down for the very reasons I didn’t enjoy the start of Sundial. But this story swerved past the ease of mom and daughter dislike each other. It kept going and going and going. When you think you know the truth, there’s still more buried. And ya know, isn’t that just the way (of people)? We’re all more complex than what others see us as. Callie doesn’t know everything about Rob, and Rob doesn’t know everything that is Callie, or Jack, or even Annie. The only simple thing is Irving. Trust a man to be violent and predictable. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Mental illness, and Physical abuse

Moderate: Animal death, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Self harm, Violence, Suicide attempt, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Pregnancy

Minor: Death, Drug abuse, Medical trauma, Murder, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

annie_reads_books's review

dark emotional tense fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Death, Torture, Toxic relationship, and Death of parent

Moderate: Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Medical trauma, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Pregnancy, and Injury/Injury detail

audreyesp's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense fast-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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Death, Gore, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Murder, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

racl's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional medium-paced

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

4.25

Heavy subject matter all around, but I really enjoyed the way the story unraveled, revealing the truth bit by bit in ways that never felt out of the blue. Every revelation feels right rather than done for shock value.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Blood, Grief, Medical trauma, Death of parent, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Infidelity, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Pregnancy, and Abandonment

Minor: Drug abuse and Drug use

bookishloz's review against another edition

challenging 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Infidelity, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Blood, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail

misscassylee's review against another edition

dark sad tense fast-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body shaming, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gore, Infidelity, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Grief, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, and Gaslighting