Reviews tagging 'War'

Lute by Jennifer Marie Thorne

20 reviews

opplecopter's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Gun violence, Violence, Blood, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Cursing, Death of parent, Alcohol, and War

Minor: Cancer, Emotional abuse, Sexual content, Terminal illness, Vomit, and Fire/Fire injury

nancydrew023's review against another edition

challenging dark hopeful mysterious tense fast-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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death

Moderate: Gun violence, Blood, Murder, and Alcohol

Minor: Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Grief, Suicide attempt, Fire/Fire injury, and War

livlamentloathe's review

4.25

Jennifer Thorne does an excellent job introducing main characters who could so easily be unreliable. I won’t say if that exemplifies Nina. But I love how she creates secrets and tensions and allows the narrator to feel like maybe she IS the problem. For us to do the work of deciding. And then after the climactic event, the little traits that we never noticed paint a much more vivid picture. The details are great. And I loved the way Nina thought.

The Day built so well, but the novel never drifted as far into horror as I’d have liked. Also there are no predictions of death a la Final Destination the characters don’t “cheat death” by avoiding a particular fate. It reminded more of The Cabin in the Woods. [spoiler for movie:

The way they bet on who would die and which characters would trigger which events. And basically the conclusion was foregone but how the story played out depended on the individual players

.] But even so, it was very enjoyable. I went in thinking it would be one thing, which it was not. But I really enjoyed the soft ghostly story nonetheless.

Lute was a haunting story about community and resilience and love. About faith and trust and holding onto one another during dark times. And it's also a reminder that you should more fully understand someone before you marry them. Especially a man.

Does the dog die?

NO!! :)

P.S. fuck Hugh.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Grief

Moderate: Body horror, Gun violence, Infidelity, Toxic relationship, Violence, Gaslighting, Abandonment, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Alcoholism, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Car accident, and Death of parent

purcellapple's review against another edition

dark tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Blood

Moderate: Death and Self harm

Minor: Xenophobia and War

sycaid's review against another edition

challenging dark medium-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? It's complicated

I DNF this book!

I stopped about half-way in for one main reason.

I made the mistake of reading a review that spoiled a very important plot twist but didn't use spoiler tags at all (on this very website). BUT I do know that I would have stopped this book as soon as that plot twist showed up during my listening session because it's beyond infuriating and bad writing. I used to force myself to finish "bad" books out of guilt. But I'm too old for that nonsense anymore and refuse to put up with it.

Basically, I won't be reading reviews that have spoilers anymore, and I'll feel less bad about dropping a book because of a bad plot and/or lazy writing for now on.

The overall plot is good, and could have made for a great story. I was able to envision it as a movie in my mind while I listened to the audio-book due to the great narrator. But the main character just annoyed me to the point of me wanting to slap her, and a particular plot twist ruined the rest of the story for me. Such a shame.

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Content Warnings

Minor: War

mand_al_orian's review

dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Infidelity, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Mass/school shootings, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Terminal illness and War

ayngeleastevens's review

emotional mysterious sad tense medium-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? It's complicated

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Cursing, Death, Gun violence, Infidelity, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Blood, Grief, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, and War

lizkoroskenyi's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad slow-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? N/A

2.0

This book was just so dull. I was excited for a creepy, dark story about a remote island and the mysterious ritual that happens every seven years. Instead I had to follow along for a character deep dive on a protagonist I didn't really find all that interesting. Honestly this read FAR more like woman's lit than it ever did a horror novel. Now that I think more on it, It was absolutely woman's literature with a small sprinkling of dark fantasy. More like a dash.

Honestly I hated this. 2 stars because I think it was written well and I think it could be enjoyed by an audience looking for this. But I am not that target audience and I feel very deceived by the description.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Self harm, and Murder

Minor: War

batcaves's review

dark emotional sad medium-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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Gun violence, Infidelity, Panic attacks/disorders, Violence, Blood, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, War, and Injury/Injury detail

bookcaptivated's review

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Violence, Blood, Grief, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Child death, Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, Toxic relationship, and Alcohol

Minor: Ableism, Cancer, Child abuse, Infidelity, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Vomit, Dementia, and War