Reviews tagging 'Child death'

Nessun dove by Neil Gaiman

21 reviews

sarahgordon327's review against another edition

adventurous hopeful mysterious medium-paced

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

4.0

I really enjoyed this book! Very imaginative and fun. I enjoyed listening to it as an audiobook read by the author. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child death, Violence, Blood, and Death of parent

embersbooknook's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense 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? It's complicated

4.5

This book was really interesting - it’s my first Neil Gaiman read.  I thoroughly enjoyed Good Omens, of course - but a rather different reading experience, as it was co-authored by Terry Pratchett.  

Neil is an inarguably talented author - his prose, storytelling style, pacing, plots, character development, etc. are all fantastic.  This book was dark and gritty and real in a way that I think made it better, even if it was harder to read because of it.  

I typically don’t stray into the horror genre because I am an HSP, and my sensitivity to disturbing content makes it hard for me to look past that and enjoy the deeper meanings and content therein.  
For fellow sensitive readers, I would say …don’t read it before going to sleep.  But otherwise, if you can stomach some violence and disturbing ideas, it is a very well crafted and thought-provoking tale that has a lot to say about a lot of these that we ought to talk more about.  

While people don’t literally fall through the cracks in our world, they may as well do, frankly, for all the mind that we more fortunate folks pay to them.  The houseless, the sick, those living in poverty, hungry, etc. - our society casts so many away, wishing them to be unseen as Neil portrays them in this book.  
This book challenged me to try take the time to see people, and not look away just because I feel guilty that I have enough to eat and a warm place to sleep.  

I loved Door, the Marquis de Carabas, and Richard…so many complex characters that have a very real, flawed nature to them, which makes them leap off the page all the more.  

Neil is brilliant, this book definitely makes me look forward to continuing on with more of Neil’s works in the future.  

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, and Violence

Moderate: Body horror, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Blood, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Child abuse and Child death

what happens to Anesthesia and her description of what happened to her before ending up in the Underground was upsetting to me, but it’s a brief mention which is why I listed it as minor. The animal cruelty and death are listed as graphic simply because of how often they are mentioned in passing and it’s very disturbing. London Underground is kind of a cutthroat place so…y’know, violence.

the torture aspect of the book was quite difficult to read at times, especially where de Carabas is crucified (literally). He ends up okay (miraculously) though. Other torture is mentioned by Croup and Vandemear throughout.

The self-harm/suicidal thoughts bit is from a situation that Richard goes through in his mind - a test of sorts. There are some things said to him during that bit that could be triggering to some folks. The murder, body horror, blood, and injury detail are pretty self-explanatory - we do get a couple chapters from the villain’s POV….thats where a lot of this comes from.

themissyreads's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful mysterious slow-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Minor: Body horror, Child death, Gore, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Death of parent, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

breamfish1138's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny mysterious fast-paced

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

4.75

This book is kind of like Paddington in that it's an unapologetic love letter to London and its landmarks and history. And there's also a lot of murder, urban decay, esoteric folklore, mild cosmic horror and rats. So yeah, just like Paddington. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Death, Gore, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Kidnapping, Grief, Stalking, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Abandonment, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Minor: Genocide, Sexual assault, and Vomit

mreequalsmc2's review against another edition

adventurous funny hopeful mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicidal thoughts and Murder

Moderate: Child death, Death, Suicide, Torture, Blood, Vomit, Dementia, Kidnapping, Death of parent, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Cursing, Alcohol, and Classism

galexy_brain's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.0

This felt like a pretty bog-standard hero's journey sort of book, though the action was great (I felt myself grimacing and cringing often). I wish Richard was a more compelling main character. The backdrop of a creepy London underworld was pretty cool. I've only been to London once so the references to city locations I'm familiar with were neat, though I'm sure it would have been cooler if I had been well-acquainted with the city. However, I found it hard to visualize London Below. I don't know if I missed something, but half the time it felt like they were

walking through subway systems and sewers and marshes, and other times it was described as having buildings, almost reflecting London Above?

idk maybe I'm inattentive. My only other qualm with this book is when

Richard, who seems as if he is in his mid-twenties, wants to kiss Door, who is described by Richard as appearing to be a teenager. Then they never bring this up again??? The final inconsistency that didn't bother me but caught my attention was that the Sewer People are introduced as not speaking English in Neverwhere, but in the short story prologue from this edition ("How the Marquis Got his Coat Back" or whatever), he had a full-on conversation with them.

Anyway, if you like gritty grimy creepy spooky hero stories this book may be for you.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Gore, Torture, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Child death, Death, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Death of parent, and Murder

Minor: Animal death, Pedophilia, Toxic relationship, Vomit, Grief, Abandonment, and Alcohol

chronicacademia's review against another edition

adventurous dark hopeful medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child death, Death, Gore, Misogyny, Racism, Torture, Violence, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

kiwij96's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced

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

3.5

The premise for this book really gripped me, but it didn't hold out as a story for me personally. I loved the way that the chapters were written like scenes in an episode of a tv show. The chapters were a manageable length for the most part (barring like 2 or 3 long ones). The story was a captivating tale of a secret and historical world under London for those who fall through the cracks in the London Above. However, at times I found the writing a little clunky and infodump-y, and in places there were too many commas. I still don't completely understand what happened in the book. There was a mystery that they tried to uncover, but then it came to a halt and I just didn't understand what happened. It just ended weird for me, felt a little rushed and unfinished in my opinion.

Flushed Away vibes for sure.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Child death, Death, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Violence, Blood, Death of parent, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

hexe_19's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Torture, and Violence

Moderate: Child death

Minor: Child abuse

bel017's review against another edition

 Riddel's illustrations are such a perfect fit for Gaiman's prose. I look forward to seeing their continued collaboration.

I'm always looking to fill the Pratchett shaped hole in my reading, but have avoided Gaiman, as I DNF'd Ocean at the end of the lane, which he has said is his favourite of his works, and he seemed way too dark for me (have you met Coraline?). To the darkness, I did glance over some of the scenes with ... Mr C and Mr V, the names escape me ... the scary version of Pratchett's Mr Tulip and Mr Pin (who were scary enough for me). I was quite distressed by the

  loss of Anaesthesia

. Gaiman does go out of his way to be gross and morbid (so many descriptions of sewer content and dead bodies), but the deadpan, understated, humour is great.

Gaiman is a gifted storyteller, and I really enjoyed his writing even though I didn't like the dark/gross/awful/scary/violent parts. I like Riddel has a distinct style that suits Gaiman. If you buy a copy of Neverwhere, make sure it's this one. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Violence, and Excrement

Moderate: Child death, Torture, Blood, Vomit, and Death of parent

Minor: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Death, Gore, Torture, Grief, Cannibalism, and Injury/Injury detail