Reviews tagging 'War'

The Death of Jane Lawrence by Caitlin Starling

50 reviews

apersonfromflorida's review

dark mysterious 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? Yes

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Blood, and Medical content

Moderate: Child death, Drug use, and Gaslighting

Minor: Sexual content, Death of parent, and War

honeygore's review

dark emotional 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? Yes

4.5

I loved this book! It drew me in right from the beginning, and kept me turning pages, unable to put it down right until the very end. I found the introduction of magic to be a little abrupt, and it briefly pulled me away from the story, but all the events happening afterward drew me right back in. I loved that I felt everything Jane was feeling. I love that even now I'm left questioning what was real and what wasn't. The ending is up to interpretation, after I closed the book I sat there with my thoughts spinning for a while over what it meant. Highly recommend this book to gore, paranormal and psychological horror thrillers alike! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Death, Drug use, Gore, Miscarriage, Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Sexual content and War

Minor: Mental illness, Death of parent, and Gaslighting

maregred's review

dark mysterious tense slow-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Gore, Medical content, and Medical trauma

Moderate: Child death and Death of parent

Minor: War

raychelbennet's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious 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? Yes

4.25

I think I did this book a bit of a disservice by reading it immediately following a re-read of <i>The Luminous Dead</i>. 

I wasn't sure what I thought of this book until the last 5% (which is unusual for me). I really enjoyed Jane as a character, I was interested in her experiences in Lindridge Hall, and I wanted her to get what she wanted out of life. But I couldn't bring myself to truly care about Augustine and I was confused by the pacing. Sometimes it felt meandering with no end point (conveniently like what I imagine the cellars beneath Lindridge Hall to be like) and other times it felt hasty and rapid-fire. I did feel consistently off-kilter and I was never sure where the plot was going. 

Due to these concerns, I was under the impression this was going to be a solidly middle-of-the-road book. Excellent plot, inconsistent pacing, and a strong protagonist but wishy-wishy supporting characters. However, to my surprise, the last 10% of the book wrapped everything up beautifully for me. I can't say I completely understood the plot or what was happening but the ending is that kind of open-ended, not-totally-resolved denouement that I find perfect. It was resolved in what I am realizing might be a signature of Caitlin Starling.

This is somewhere between a four and a five for me, so lowered just a smidge because <i>The Luminous Dead</i> remains my favorite. All-in-all, I can't wait to see what else Caitlin Starling writes. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical content and Medical trauma

Moderate: Death, Gore, and Excrement

Minor: Drug abuse, Drug use, Death of parent, Alcohol, and War

writer_lian's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious medium-paced

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

4.5

Soooo perfectly gothic. I love Jane, she's pretty relatable and has autistic swag to be honest. I found the beginning to be a little slow and her infatuation with Augustine to be slightly far fetched even at the end. He doesn't deserve her!! However, I think that element just didn't resonate with me and textually its well justified. The classically gothic elements are so delicious, I found myself smiling as the dread and horror mounted. It'a very rooted in the time period even as the author explores some more post modern-ish threads within the plot. Highly recommend to both well read gothic horror fans and new readers of the genre.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Gore, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, and Medical trauma

Minor: Gaslighting and War

aparker89's review

dark 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? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Chronic illness, Confinement, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual content, Terminal illness, Torture, Toxic relationship, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Gaslighting, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

faerylibrary's review

dark emotional mysterious tense slow-paced

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

3.75

I enjoyed this book, although it is definitely not a book for everyone. My reason not scoring higher is that the magic system in the setting for this story felt like it could have used some more explanation. Overall, I liked the fact that magic was explored, appreciated the way in which the story unfolded, and found the Victorian surgery scenes to be perfectly eery and unsettling! The unreliable narration, especially as the book descends into madness at the end, kept me interested and engaged. Not all of my questions about the reality of events in this story were quite answered by the ending, but perhaps they didn’t need to be. I’m still grappling with the ending, but I believe it could be interpreted several different ways which I have mixed feelings about. One thing is for certain, I never quite was able to anticipate what would happen next while reading and that made this a real page turner! Lots of unexpected twists and turns occur in the latter half. Enjoy! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Gore, Blood, and Medical content

Moderate: Confinement, Death, and Grief

Minor: Sexual content, Vomit, Death of parent, Alcohol, and War

gretelchen's review

adventurous dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

Lovely, haunting book and took several turns I did not see coming!

And I would argue that happy ending was earned after everything Jane and Augustine went through!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood

Moderate: War

ermw0's review

fast-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? It's complicated

2.5

I was so exhausted by this book. It seems like Jane goes through a personality change every other page. The magical world was muddled and uninteresting, it felt like nonsense at some points. I was heavily skimming the end because of this. I was on board for the first half, but this quickly became an obligatory finish. I enjoyed “the Luminous Dead” so I thought I enjoy this. So much is crammed into this story and so much of it feels half baked, so I didn’t end up enjoying any of it. I was frustrated by this because if certain elements were the focus (the surgical scenes and more real dynamic between Jane and Augustine were good)  it could’ve been great. But the magic world  felt confusing and honestly like nonsense and ruined the book for me. I’ve read better gothic horror /magic inspired so I wouldn’t recommend this. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Death, Blood, Medical content, and Medical trauma

Moderate: Death of parent

Minor: Schizophrenia/Psychosis and War

elanuruysal's review against another edition

dark mysterious fast-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug use, Blood, Medical content, and Medical trauma

Moderate: War and Injury/Injury detail