Reviews tagging 'Violence'

Small Angels by Lauren Owen

12 reviews

idk_indigo's review

dark mysterious 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? No

3.0

The pace was weird; way too slow at times, then sped up way too much. It took me so long to finish this book because parts of it dragged so much. But then I would pick it up and it would move so quickly that I felt like I forget everything that went on beforehand. 

The concept of a ghost child living in the enchanted woods was interesting, and I loved the storytelling aspect, though I do wish that had been played up more especially at the ending. I felt like lots of stuff went unexplained, like Chloe's narrator or the Albatross. None of the characters were particularly multi-dimensional, but I enjoyed the story overall. 

Overall, a fun change of pace from what I usually read, and I'm giving it higher than I normally might because the concept was so interesting. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death and Violence

Minor: Child abuse and Car accident

jaymec's review

adventurous dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child abuse and Violence

taylaclark14's review

adventurous dark emotional mysterious medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Violence

Moderate: Emotional abuse

Minor: Suicide and Car accident

cyndi1966's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic relationship and Murder

Moderate: Violence

Minor: Animal death, Death, Grief, and Car accident

maeverose's review against another edition

I hoped I would like this but it was just too slow for me, and the only part I really cared about was Lucia and Kate’s romance. It wasn’t worth it for me to trudge through the rest just for that.

I felt like we got Harry’s backstory too early on. After that there wasn’t as much mystery and I didn’t find anything that was happening all that scary or interesting.

Especially given Lucia’s friendship with him.

Maybe if I’d read further there would’ve been more mystery (I didn’t get to the point where they explained what happened to Elphine, for example), but I just didn’t care enough.

I liked this quote though:

“He never would notice that a downpour brings extra life to Mockbeggar. After the rain the trees are dark, the green pools deep in the woods are brimming, and the nettles are dripping under the weight of water. Even after the sky has cleared, the woods have their own rain. Whenever the breeze shakes the branches tiny showers fall from the leaves.”

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Violence, and Murder

Moderate: Child abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Blood, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Alcoholism

Probably more than that but that’s all I noticed as far as I read

milesofkiles's review

adventurous dark mysterious slow-paced

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

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, and Violence

exlibrisabigaillee's review

emotional hopeful mysterious sad slow-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? It's complicated

3.5

The lesson didn't stick with me as well as I thought it would. The characters were likable enough, I just didn't resonate with them super well. The story was very fun though, and I enjoyed the world!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Violence, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Child death, Death, Blood, and Murder

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, and Lesbophobia

One of the main families, the Gones, is very strict and emotionally abusive throughout the novel. One of the daughters finds solace with a friend who is very controlling and possessive. The Gones are in leagues with a spirit, of sorts, who

was a child murdered on the property years ago. His death is described

. (See the previous spoiler for murder & child death/abuse tw.) He is

the possessive friend of the daughter

. There is a vague child/minor relationship in the sense that

the spirit, who takes the form of a boy the daughter's age, died as an adult and is not truly a child

.

falonmansfield's review

adventurous emotional mysterious 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Violence

Moderate: Suicide

mandkips's review

dark mysterious 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Blood, and Murder

Moderate: Child abuse, Child death, Violence, and Grief

Minor: Car accident

lovelymisanthrope's review

dark emotional mysterious sad 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

2.5

I picked this book as a Book of the Month pick because it sounded like a gothic mystery about a small town with big secrets. 
"Small Angels" follows a young girl named Kate who finds solace in the abandoned church in the forest: Small Angels. Kate is the first person to become close to the family whose secret Small Angels hides. Now, Kate has returned to the small town for the first time in years and the forest has come alive again and is demanding to be heard. 
The writing in this novel is amazing. The author's ability to compose prose that is gothic and hauntingly beautiful is admirable. However, this book was paced too slowly for me as a reader.  The writing itself can also feel dense at times, which made me disconnect from the characters. By the time the story picked up and some of the mysteries were revealed, I was so bored I did not care.
This book is well-written, but it was not for me. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child death, Death, Violence, and Murder