Reviews tagging 'Fire/Fire injury'

The Changeling by Victor LaValle

16 reviews

jessrad505's review

adventurous 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? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death and Murder

Moderate: Gore, Mental illness, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, and Abandonment

uranaishi's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective tense fast-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? It's complicated

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Gore, Physical abuse, Violence, Blood, Grief, Stalking, Murder, Pregnancy, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Eating disorder, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Vomit, Kidnapping, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Toxic friendship, and Abandonment

Minor: Alcoholism, Bullying, Gun violence, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Racism, Sexual content, Excrement, Medical content, Mass/school shootings, Alcohol, Colonisation, and Classism

queersubtext's review

adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful mysterious tense fast-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

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Confinement, Gore, Violence, Vomit, Kidnapping, Stalking, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

megj23's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Gore, and Blood

Moderate: Kidnapping and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Murder and Abandonment

cassandrareadsbooks's review

adventurous dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad tense 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? It's complicated

5.0

My words could never describe the enchanting narrative that Victor LaValle has created with The Changeling. 

This story is so many things: the lengths a mother and father would go to protect their child, the secrets we keep to protect the ones we love (and ourselves), generational curses/trauma, and a critique of internet social norms/voyeurism. 

LaValle weaves Norse mythology into modern day NYC. So much so, that I’d like to drive up to Forest Hills to see what the trees are hiding. I’d like to take a boat out to the ocean just to see if I can stand where Apollo stood. 

There is a nod to Shirley Jackson’s “We Have Always Lived in The Castle,” so small that you might not even catch it. 

I’m looking forward to watching the TV show and to reading more books written by LaValle.

P.S. This is my favorite book now.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Death, Blood, Grief, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Fire/Fire injury and Abandonment

jialianyang's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense 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

A beautiful tale that quickly snowballs into a haunting, mysterious, sad, and horrifying thriller. Survivors birthing and parenting survivors, a book man seeks vengeance, a mother fights to find her real child, all of these are just snapshots of the twists and turn in this gripping book. It's won many awards for good reason.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Gore, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Racism, Blood, Vomit, Kidnapping, Grief, Stalking, Murder, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Addiction, Body horror, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Suicide attempt, and Alcohol

Minor: Police brutality

jsteighn's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Death, Mental illness, Violence, Grief, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Gaslighting

Minor: Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, and Blood

tey_lynn's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Gore, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Murder, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Child death, Toxic relationship, Grief, and Death of parent

kathygotpugs's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Suicidal thoughts, and Fire/Fire injury

sarah984's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional medium-paced

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

5.0

I really liked this book. The writing is really charming (which feels weird to say with this type of content) and the fairy tale atmosphere worked really well for the most part. New York and its history were well utilized. There is one plot point in the middle of the book that I thought was kind of silly

(the part at Rikers - considering later discussions that was all absurdly easy and felt kind of pointless)

but overall fantastic.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Gore, Grief, Pregnancy, and Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Child abuse, Death, Racism, Violence, Kidnapping, Stalking, Gaslighting, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Animal death, Confinement, Domestic abuse, Gun violence, Misogyny, Self harm, Sexual content, Vomit, Police brutality, Suicide attempt, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, and Colonisation