Reviews tagging 'Genocide'

The Devil and the Dark Water by Stuart Turton

14 reviews

rkpaulson96's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious relaxing 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

5.0

Stuart Turton did it again! His second novel is a fun, puzzle-within-several-puzzles mystery thriller. The characters are just as complex as the supernatural-tinted conundrum facing the passengers and crew of the ship, Saardam, on whose decks a demon allegedly prowls. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Misogyny, Rape, Sexism, Sexual content, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Murder, Pregnancy, Alcohol, Colonisation, War, and Injury/Injury detail

jerseynoonatic's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Bullying, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Genocide, Gore, Infidelity, Sexual content, Torture, Violence, Blood, Murder, and Fire/Fire injury

heini's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious fast-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexual violence, Violence, Blood, and Colonisation

Moderate: Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Animal cruelty, Rape, Excrement, Religious bigotry, and War

thedinosaurkid's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• 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

A good book!
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!

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Content Warnings

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

its_madi's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes

3.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Domestic abuse and Genocide

esme_may's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny mysterious reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

This was so much better than I was expecting! I wouldn’t have picked this up if I hadn’t got a copy for free but I might read Turton’s other book now. I’d recommend reading this when you have a bit of time on your hands because of the slow pacing: I took it on holiday and it was great for that!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Gore, Sexual assault, Torture, Violence, Blood, Colonisation, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Ableism, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Genocide, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Xenophobia, Medical content, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, and Alcohol

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Excrement, Vomit, and Fire/Fire injury

tamara_joy's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Loveable characters? Yes

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Blood, and Murder

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Violence, Death of parent, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Alcoholism, Animal death, Genocide, Infidelity, Misogyny, Rape, Excrement, Grief, Pregnancy, and Colonisation

arce's review against another edition

adventurous dark inspiring mysterious reflective 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? Yes

4.5

Very good book, at every point of the story I kept wondering what would most likely happen next, sometimes I was right, and it still managed to surprise me.
The explanation is not farfetched and seems reasonable, but I am not completely satisfied with the ending.

Sammy/Hugo doesn't seem to feel anything? Gives me strong psychopath vibes...
Also, what happenes with the other passengers on the island? Do they sail to Amsterdam afterwards?
And I'm definitely not a fan of Sara's solution. I liked neither of the options, but don't have any better on my mind. Vigilante justice is not the right way. Creesjie and Sammy/Hugo shouldn't go without punishment.

I would be interested in the more horror endings Stuart Turton mentioned in the interview at the end of the audiobook.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny, Sexism, Excrement, Death of parent, and Murder

Moderate: Animal death, Genocide, Blood, Medical content, Gaslighting, Alcohol, Colonisation, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Rape, Sexual content, Pregnancy, and War

shinsoukoku's review against another edition

slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot

2.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Domestic abuse, Misogyny, and Sexism

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Rape, and Violence

Minor: Animal death, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Genocide, Torture, Excrement, Vomit, War, and Injury/Injury detail

set in the medieval era, there is a brief scene of sara having to fulfill her "obligations" with her abusive husband and multiple threats of assault leading up to a character suggesting they, the men, use the women of the ship as they wish, willing or not.

massivepizzacrust's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• 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

4.0

Stuart Turton is a capital-letter Plot Twist writer, which you'll know if you've read The 7½ Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle. And as with that one, I found the plot twist 100% unpredictable but still a little flat. The atmosphere in the first 2/3 of the book was so terrifying I had to read something else at the same time and I guess I would have preferred a more predictable but more satisfying ending in line with that atmosphere. But it still made more sense than Evelyn Hardcastle so I guess I'm curious to see what Turton does next? 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Cursing, Death, Misogyny, Violence, Blood, Murder, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Genocide, and Physical abuse