Reviews tagging 'Death of parent'

Sundial by Catriona Ward

48 reviews

lebishop13's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious 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

This is very possibly the most terrifying book I've ever read. It's definitely going to keep me thinking for a looooong time. Read it, so we can think about it together. 

From the start, Rob's relationship with her husband, her family, and the world around her is bizarre and kind of skewed. You can't quite put your finger on what is so unsettling. Every time you find something else out, you have to just keep asking yourself, "but why?!"

And then the pieces start coming together. And you can't look away. But are they coming together? The two narrators are so at odds with each other, you really don't know who to trust. 

I can picture this as movie with a really strong color palette that changes as the plot progresses or depending on whose POV you're in.

There's also some really great unspoken commentary on the ethics of science which was the cherry on top of this thriller. 

Read this if you like thrillers with the house/setting as a character, along with unreliable narrators, and a dash of ethics thrown in. 

TW: abuse - child, spouse, animal

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Addiction, Death, Miscarriage, Self harm, and Death of parent

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

aformeracceleratedreader's review

dark mysterious sad medium-paced

4.0

Please check trigger/content warnings. 
Quite enjoyed this. The twists and turns kept me interested along with the sister dynamic. Will def be checking out more from the author. 
If you choose to listen to audio with the ebook, just a heads-up some wording is different from each other. Minor differences but could potentially throw someone off 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Sexism, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Self harm, Torture, Vomit, Medical content, Trafficking, Kidnapping, and Abandonment

Minor: Murder

aerlune's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense slow-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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, Violence, Death of parent, Pregnancy, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Adult/minor relationship and Trafficking

sasisaskia's review against another edition

dark emotional 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? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Toxic relationship, Death of parent, and Pregnancy

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

asolis's review

adventurous challenging mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• 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, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, and Murder

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Miscarriage, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Grief, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Pregnancy, and Injury/Injury detail

joy_ong's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, and Murder

ommageden's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

3.75

Sundial is a book that has a lot of weirdness packed into it. Not in like a weird acid trip kind of way but in a way where every few chapters you just keep saying "what the fuck?" In a "you can't believe this kind of abuse is happening and is normalized". 

The content of the book is a bit out there, and it really has a bunch of conflicting ideas, but overall it made for a good read. The ending in my opinion was rather disappointing. I won't go into details but it felt unearned and undeveloped by the characters. 

I enjoyed it, the first half of the book was very good. It just felt like the second half wasted the potential of the ideas the first half brought.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Violence, and Death of parent

reggiethebird's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-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? It's complicated

4.5

It's a thriller, alright. Vivid imagery throughout, and the plot twists and turns till the very last page. Plot twists can sometimes feel unearned, but I think here they were all reasonable, and nothing felt too out of place by the end.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Gore, Infidelity, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Bullying, Gun violence, Self harm, Vomit, and Trafficking