Reviews tagging 'Murder'

The Sisters Grimm by Menna van Praag

8 reviews

sebnia_05's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious tense slow-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? It's complicated

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Death, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Self harm, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Dementia, Grief, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Gore, Incest, Torture, Forced institutionalization, Gaslighting, and War

Minor: Animal cruelty, Animal death, and Racism

cardans_wine's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful inspiring medium-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Dementia, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts and Alcohol

kindra_demi's review against another edition

dark emotional tense medium-paced

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

3.0

This was an alright story and I did like the premise of the story, the way each sister represented a different elemental aspects in the story, and the writing (for the most part) is really good. You are slowly introduced to the world and atmosphere. You are slowly given each piece of the story for the characters to build the puzzle. But there are some aspects I really struggled with.

One of the biggest things I struggled with was how many different perspectives there were (and that may be because I chose to listen to the book as an audiobook). Between having to remember what part of the timeline I was in + who's perspective I was in, I found myself several times needing to pause and take a moment.

This is not the story for someone who wants action packed/fast paced stories. It was definitely all just a build up to one moment with not a lot of little moments. A lot of the story was just world building, and it wasn't necessarily bad, but it did loose my attention a few times (which also contributed to me being lost in the storyline). And the action towards the end of the book is wrapped up quickly in a bow. Like yes there is sorrow and pain, but it feels like we spent all of the book building up to the ultimate ending, for it to just feel like it happened and that's that.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Grief, Suicide attempt, and Murder

Moderate: Violence, Death of parent, and Abandonment

amdbarger's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad slow-paced

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

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Self harm, Sexual assault, Death of parent, and Murder

Moderate: Fatphobia, Incest, and Sexual content

readingelli's review against another edition

adventurous dark 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? No

3.5

Starts off very slow, but pace picks up around 1/3 of the way through. Cleverly split between present and past POV. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual violence, Violence, Murder, and Abandonment

Moderate: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, and Sexual assault

deesquared's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

2.5

A spin on the Grimm fairy tales, four girls have to make a decision on their eighteenth birthday on choosing between darkness or death. 

It's a book that had a lot of potential but didn't lead anywhere.

I did not like that the characters were all 17, but had the lives of people at least in their 20s.

I'm talking sole guardian of a small child, university student having an affair with professor or the girl selling her grandmother's cafe after effectively being manipulated by an adult man!

 

It could have easily been about people in their 20s, the turning point could have been them turning 21, it didn't have to be 18 to fit with fairytale lore if these themes were going to be used! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Dementia, Death of parent, Murder, and Abandonment

Minor: Eating disorder and Incest

davidreyno's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious sad 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? Yes

4.25

Sort of a merge between fairy tales and gothic horror, the lead-in for the five main characters stretches too long in my opinion ... it could have covered 15-20 days rather than 30, and still have established everything necessary to the ending.  Still, it was an enjoyable tale lead by three female heros and one female anti-hero.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Self harm

Moderate: Murder

christinanielsen's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious tense medium-paced

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

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Dementia, Death of parent, and Murder

Minor: Eating disorder