Reviews tagging 'Sexual content'

The Death of Jane Lawrence by Caitlin Starling

23 reviews

buildingtaste's review

adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced

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

2.75

From the first chapter, I always felt like this book was not quite telling me everything I needed to know. Since the setting is an alternate England, I would have expected more direct exposition about the things that make it meaningfully different, and also for these differences to have an impact on the story. As it was, we were soon locked in a country house, fundamentally indistinguishable from an English house (except of course for

the haunted basement

. Though having never stayed in an English country house I guess I can't be sure). Simply setting this novel in a more familiar country, even if in a fictional town or county, would have made this experience much more grounded and improved the contrast of familiar and unfamiliar once things got really weird.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Self harm, Torture, Violence, Blood, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Medical content

Minor: Sexual content and Forced institutionalization

As a gothic horror novel, Jane Lawrence comes in fast with explicit gore. Elements of the magic system involve having something affecting a person's organs/moving inside their body, which

the protagonist

describes experiencing in detail.

mar's review against another edition

dark mysterious 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

2.75

this was kinda underwhelming ngl :'( though it was neat to read a gothic horror with an autistic protagonist

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Drug use, Gore, Miscarriage, Blood, Medical content, Medical trauma, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Confinement and Gaslighting

Minor: Sexual content, Death of parent, and War

softanimal's review

mysterious sad tense medium-paced

2.5

I was hooked at the beginning and through the first half but then it lost me and the horror just felt over extended and uninteresting.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Confinement, Drug use, Gore, Miscarriage, Self harm, Sexual content, Blood, Medical content, Medical trauma, Death of parent, and Murder

writewithapendragon's review

challenging dark mysterious 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Drug use, Miscarriage, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Body horror, Chronic illness, Confinement, Drug use, Gore, Mental illness, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Medical trauma, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Confinement, Sexual content, and Death of parent

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

erandle's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious tense fast-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: Body horror, Death, Drug use, Gore, Blood, Medical trauma, Death of parent, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Confinement, Miscarriage, Self harm, Sexual content, Medical content, Grief, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Pregnancy, and Gaslighting

kelanor's review

challenging dark mysterious reflective medium-paced

• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

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

Minor: Sexual content

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

lillianreadsalot's review

challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

2.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Gore, Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, Torture, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Abortion, Pregnancy, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Mental illness, Sexual content, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Gaslighting