Reviews tagging 'Panic attacks/disorders'

The Death of Jane Lawrence by Caitlin Starling

12 reviews

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

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

maresuju's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad 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? Yes

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, and Medical content

Moderate: Child death, Gore, Violence, Blood, Death of parent, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Confinement, Drug use, Panic attacks/disorders, Vomit, and Pregnancy

asuna1930's review

adventurous dark emotional 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

3.5

The synopsis of this book definitely did not lead me in the direction the actual book would go. 100% felt like I just read a Doctor Who episode. The writing was definitely compelling and I had to finish it to know what was going on but I felt as lost as Jane for about 90% of the book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gore, Panic attacks/disorders, Blood, and Death of parent

flordemaga's review

challenging dark mysterious tense slow-paced

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

4.0

This took me a really long time to read by no fault of the book itself, I just literally physically lost the book for like a month.

I will say: at first it felt a bit too much like Crimson Peak, which I know was intentional, but I wanted more variety. And it took a bit too long to get to the action that felt like anything.
But I like the character of Jane Lawrence herself a lot. I like that she's autistic and just is. I also really like the descriptions of the gore and medical stuff and blood. Very visceral without being excessive, self-serving, or unnecessary.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gore, Blood, and Medical content

Moderate: Confinement, Drug use, Panic attacks/disorders, and Terminal illness

Minor: Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, and War

lovesit1892's review

dark mysterious medium-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? It's complicated

3.0

This book started out strong for me with a unique take on the classic gothic horror storyline--mysterious new husband, creepy old house, etc.--but by the ending I was frustrated with the writing. I don't think I've ever read a book with such redundant writing; there was so much text on the page that was repetitive, vague, and really said nothing at all. By the last five chapters I was losing interest, to the point where I considered not even reading past

Chapter Zero

because it did nothing to further the storyline. 

The characters were not really that engaging, and as the storyline and writing devolved that left nothing interesting for me. I would still give it 3 stars because I liked this take on gothic horror, it wasn't just the typical ghost story but it definitely could have been better fleshed out. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Drug use, Gore, Miscarriage, Blood, Medical content, Medical trauma, Pregnancy, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Death and Drug use

Minor: Panic attacks/disorders and Vomit

naomi_k's review

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? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Torture, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Dysphoria

Moderate: Addiction, Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, Toxic relationship, Vomit, Kidnapping, Pregnancy, and Gaslighting

Minor: Sexual content and Suicidal thoughts

gayghostprince's review against another edition

dark 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, Death, Gore, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Death of parent, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Child death, Chronic illness, Confinement, Violence, Medical trauma, Murder, and War

Minor: Cancer, Chronic illness, Drug use, Miscarriage, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual content, Forced institutionalization, Medical trauma, Murder, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, and Alcohol

aformeracceleratedreader's review

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No

3.0

I liked the gothic horror aesthetics that it brought, but as I read further, the story felt jumbled. There were ghosts, magic, math,

attempted necromancy, a dash of alchemy, and a time paradox thrown in?

I could get down with a lot of the book but parts kind of felt like the author just wanted to throw some things in for the hell of it. 
I would kind of agree with people saying this was all vibes and no real substance. Like if you liked Crimson Peak, this book gives a very similar feel. Yes it touches on guilt/shame, PTSD, and grief, but it was kind of sprinkled on top of a lot of nothing and a lot of everything at the same time. A slow read in many parts, where some of it dragged on and on but in the book's timeline it hadn't even been a month. Jane as the mc was interesting at first, like yes brainy independent person!, but devolved quickly into a lovestruck, dependent person in less than a week. With how she was described in some parts of the book though, it made me think she was neurodivergent/neurodiverse (super into a special interest, had difficulty in social gatherings like it mentioned she had trouble with small talk and eye contact "she had taught herself to make eye contact and to handle small talk, and how to smooth over how indelibly odd she was", she was uncomfortable among the crowd at her marriage, etc) which was cool. She had potential but in the end was lacking in a lot of aspects for me.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Chronic illness, Confinement, Death, Drug use, Gore, Mental illness, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Medical trauma, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Miscarriage, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual content, Forced institutionalization, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, and War

jerusha's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious tense slow-paced

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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Confinement, Death, Drug use, Gore, Miscarriage, Panic attacks/disorders, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Medical trauma, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Child death, Drug use, Grief, Death of parent, and Gaslighting