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rochelleisreading's review against another edition
4.0
Graphic: Animal death, Misogyny, Rape, Sexism, Slavery, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Religious bigotry, Fire/Fire injury, and War
Moderate: Confinement, Death, Drug use, Death of parent, Murder, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism
Minor: Physical abuse and Alcohol
thedinosaurkid's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
It has all the good mystery traits of his previous book (7 ½ deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle) but with more paranormal-esque things.
Not my cup of tea, but still excellent!
Graphic: Animal death, Confinement, Death, Gore, Blood, Fire/Fire injury, and Classism
Moderate: Death, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Misogyny, Physical abuse, and Violence
Minor: Infidelity, Slavery, Excrement, Alcohol, and War
diana_raquel's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Mystery thrillers are not my cup of tea. My reading tastes tend to be directed toward classics, fantasy, and contemporary. However, I loved the previous book of Turton.
After The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle, I had an idea of what I would find in this book: a murder mystery full of details that wouldn't make sense until the final chapter, with an influence of speculative fiction. Well, I didn't get my speculative fiction influence. And that's okay. What I got was so much better. What I got was a murder mystery (somewhat) historical full of details that only made sense in the final chapters.
This was a really good book, with a solid structure. The characters were well developed and you never really know what they're thinking and what they might do next, which only made the narrative more compelling. And, as usual, my theories were all wrong, but then only made the narrative more interesting.
I think that the only thing that I wasn't a fan of was the pacing in the early chapters. They seem to be dragging and dragging. I understand the need to set the scene and the characters in a murder mystery but I think that this part could be done in fewer stages/pages.
Overall, I liked it and recommend it to murder mysteries lovers!
Graphic: Animal death, Death, Gore, Misogyny, Sexism, Violence, Blood, and Murder
Moderate: Domestic abuse, Racism, Toxic relationship, and Religious bigotry
Minor: Infidelity, Rape, and Slavery
maddiebusick's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- 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
3.0
Graphic: Death, Misogyny, Violence, Blood, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Animal death, Confinement, Domestic abuse, Gore, Excrement, Medical content, Gaslighting, and Alcohol
Minor: Ableism, Alcoholism, Child death, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Vomit, Pregnancy, Colonisation, and War
maiagaia's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.25
The Devil and the Dark Water commits what is, to me, a cardinal sin: a POV character lied to the reader with their own thoughts.
There are also multiple instances of chapters ending with a random description of something that the character didn't see. These chapters are written in 3rd person limited, so the random omnipotence is clunky.
The reveal of the twist was bad enough , but the final scene was the expired whipped cream on this shit sundae. We have two well-developed, stubborn characters who do a total about face in the last five pages.
At this point, I'm not sure I'll be reading from this author again. He has a wonderful writing style, but the endings are just unforgivable.
Graphic: Emotional abuse and Violence
Moderate: Genocide, Sexism, and Religious bigotry
Minor: Child death, Confinement, Slavery, Vomit, Colonisation, and War
dani_saur30's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Death, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexism, Slavery, Torture, Violence, and Murder
Moderate: Animal death, Rape, Toxic relationship, Death of parent, and Abandonment
v171's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
I shouldn't be surprised that this was my first 2021 5 star read, but I'm just so blown away! I say it all the time, but I'm not big on murder mysteries, but this one really had everything, I don't know where to begin. The setting was so vivid and well developed. The atmosphere and culture of the world and setting was conveyed very naturally without blocks of exposition. The characters we were supposed to like were charming, and the characters we were supposed to hate were loathsome, but neither in a heavy handed way. I did find some of the dialogue to be a bit rushed and unnatural, but it was easy to look beyond. There were a few underlying themes around sexism and class disparity that were touched on in interesting ways. The author did a great job of painting a more... gritty? realistic?... picture of sailors than the oft romanticized versions we see today. This added to the danger and suspense for the female characters of the book, without using needless violence towards women as a tool for character development.
It goes without saying, but if you liked Evelyn Hardcastle, or if you like Agatha Christie-esque murder mysteries, you'll love this. I can't recommend it enough.
Graphic: Death, Sexism, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, and Murder
Moderate: Alcoholism, Animal death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Sexual content, and Slavery
Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Confinement, Gore, Infertility, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Rape, and Excrement