Reviews tagging 'Gore'

The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle by Stuart Turton

89 reviews

kirtreads's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense slow-paced

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

4.25

This book has such a fun premise, the setting is fun, and it has some great twists throughout. The author does a good job of capturing the Agatha Christie vibe very well. 

However, this book has some issues. First, there are so many characters and all have small details that you need to remember. It gets very complicated and some of it feels redundant. The main character says his head feels full to bursting by the end and I agree.

Second, this book had some characters that just did not meet to be in there. I think we could have done with one or two less perspectives and had a tighter grip on the details as the reader. I often felt lost in the plot and then info dumped on. 

Lastly, the big plot reveal for Aidan.

You are telling me this man gets trapped in this hellscape, doesn’t remember who he is, then he learns this woman is a friend, but she betrays him for a reason we really don’t know, gets cool with that real quick, learns she murders his sister in some horrific way and still decides, yeah, I’ll go on the run with this woman?  At no point did I ever feel these two were connected that deeply so the ending felt forced. I get letting her escape but now having to run away and spend his life on the run for this woman is crazy. I get what the author was doing and that the two died to themselves but you gotta make me believe it a little bit more.

Overall, despite the issues it was a fun pool read that I will still recommend to people I know love Agatha. Not the best book I have ever read, but very fun. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Torture, Violence, Blood, Death of parent, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Alcoholism, Drug abuse, Drug use, and Sexual assault

touyuujx's review against another edition

dark informative inspiring mysterious tense medium-paced

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

5.0

This book is my new roman empire fr 

A little bit difficult to get into at first (granted, i did start this at a rough time but picked it up again years after). The best way to get into it is to just sit back and vibe with it, don't think too much about it until you feel like you want to, and you will undoubtedly start using the ol nogging as the story progresses

I don't usually do mysteries but this one felt more like a stream you ride, you don't know where you're going and what are all of these puzzle pieces are for but in due time you will! Love how everything ties together in the end, not because of convenience but more in a timey-wimey I've lived this day before way. Chef's kiss. I had to put the book down and pace my room every time that happened. 

This book wraps up nicely in the end for me, but i can see how it might be frustrating for some people.

for me, the ending was perfect because it wasn't much of an ending in a traditional sense but it sorta allows aiden (or my interpretation is that i am aiden) to decide what happens after leaving blackheath.

 

This book might send me into a reading slump!!!!! or might make me pick up more books because of how great it was. Easily made it on my all time favourite books! Easily 100/10. Will not shut up about it until a friend reads it so i can yap about it!!!!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder

Minor: Gore

brittaanson's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious 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

2.0

I wanted to love this book, and the beginning really sucked me in with the mystery. The structure is ambitious and intriguing, but by the end, I was confused and unsatisfied. Partly due to the nature of the plot, there wasn’t any deep character development, and as the truth of what was going on was revealed, I disliked the story more and more. The ending has so many twists that didn’t feel completely earned, and by that point I didn’t care about any of the characters. The rules, ethics, and motivations of those driving the story remain ill-defined to me. I didn’t enjoy the violence and aggressive fat phobia in the book. However, I will concede that the cleverness of the overall concept may be enough for someone else to find more satisfaction in this read than I did. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Alcoholism, Body horror, Body shaming, Death, Drug abuse, Fatphobia, Gore, Physical abuse, Suicide, Torture, Blood, and Murder

Moderate: Self harm

Minor: Rape and Stalking

juanat77's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious 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? It's complicated

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Bullying, Child death, Cursing, Death, Drug use, Gore, Gun violence, Infidelity, Physical abuse, Torture, Violence, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

meganm1587's review against another edition

challenging mysterious tense medium-paced

• 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Gore, Suicide, Blood, Murder, and Alcohol

Moderate: Animal death and Drug abuse

Minor: Ableism

indy_go_go22's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense slow-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? No

1.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Minor: Rape

cozyfantasyfaetay'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? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

Slow start, didn't really enjoy it until I knew the twist. Lots of characters and hard for me to follow 😵‍💫 But maybe better for murder mystery fans.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Fatphobia, and Murder

Moderate: Suicide, Blood, Suicide attempt, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child death, Gore, Infidelity, and Classism

wickedgrumpy's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

2.5

To relate it to a movie mash up, take Being John Malkovich and pair it with Knives Out with a dash of unexplained world building sci-fi time loop situation. 

Premise was quite good, but the execution suffered.  It dragged in the middle and the wrap up at the end wasn’t very satisfying because it left so many questions unanswered.

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Content Warnings

Minor: Ableism, Addiction, Alcoholism, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Gore, Gun violence, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Medical trauma, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, Dysphoria, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

turrean's review against another edition

adventurous challenging mysterious tense medium-paced

• 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? It's complicated

5.0

A marvel! This was a tightly plotted, tense, thrilling puzzle.   

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, and Murder

Moderate: Confinement, Fatphobia, Gore, Suicide, Torture, and Suicide attempt

jaysaysnope's review against another edition

challenging 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

2.5

A lot of this books seems opaque for opacity’s sake. It was extremely puzzling, more of an out-and-out mystery than I was expecting, and I actually ended the book with more questions about how this world works. It was well-written and the suspense was compelling, but the author’s ending left me wanting.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Stalking, Suicide attempt, and Murder

Minor: Rape