Reviews tagging 'Gore'

A Dreadful Splendor by B.R. Myers

2 reviews

mattiedancer's review

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

3.5

Writing: 3⭐️/5 
The writing in this novel is fine. Near the end – or the further I got into the book – the more Myers seemed to find a writing flow. However, a couple chapters or so into the book, I realized that several paragraphs were formatted nearly the same length with sentences of exactly (or nearly exactly) the same length with the same rhythm. Once I noticed this, it was hard to keep reading as it gave a very boring, dry sound to every piece of action, despite the story being utterly compelling. Eventually, this kind of fell away, but it never fully left, and it really struck me as quite hard to continue reading.

Characters: 3.5⭐️/5
Alright, so the characters are interesting, but also inconsistent at various points. I felt like some of the backstory was thrown in almost too conveniently and it gave a lack of polish to the characters. However, I did find our MC and our main love interest compelling and – as the story continued – they grew nicely (if conveniently) enough to keep me engaged and happy.

Plot: 4⭐️/5 
The plot started strong. We have a crooked medium who robs her clients in order to pay her rent. We have a conveniently rich man who has need of her fake services. And we have a murder – or suicide? – that we need to solve. Compelling, right? I loved the main plot. For as predictable as some turns were, it remained fun and fresh in feeling enough to keep me thoroughly engaged. However, my main gripe is with the ending, which felt like way too much, too soon. For some reason, Myers chose to use about the final 20-30 pages to wrap up every little thread possible – including several that really should have been left alone. The overwriting of the ending was hard to deal with, especially after a fun journey.

Who Should Read This Book? 
  • Fans of fantasy and mystery novels
  • Fans of mystery novels looking for a fresh plot
  • Fans of historical mystery novels with a side dish of romance
  • Readers of the above persuasion looking for plot overwriting

Content Warnings? 
Murder, gaslighting, mental illness, stalking, police brutality (minor), child abuse, death, pregnancy, miscarriage, incest, violence, injury, injury detail, blood, grief, gore, confinement, drowning, infidelity, toxic relationship, misogyny, sexism, slavery (minor), emotional abuse, physical abuse, suicide, animal death (minor)

Post-Reading Rating:  3.5⭐️/5
Oh, if only it hadn’t tried to wrap up every tiny thread in the last bit of the novel, I could have loved it so much more.

Final Rating: 3.5⭐️/5
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lilacs_book_bower's review against another edition

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

4.25

Even though I correctly guessed every revelation to this mystery, I still really enjoyed it!  The characterization was nice, the story moved along at a good clip, our heroine was smart and independent, but it didn't feel cliche.  I think people probably could have figured out the mystery for themselves a bit sooner.  Spoiler about the villainous plan:
Did they really think no one would recognize her when they came back?  I don't think they thought things through very well./
. Also, I have some quibbles about the way the author wrote inheritance and entailment issues.  There were a couple times where I thought, "I don't think that is right?"  They took me out of the story momentarily, but I was able to move past them to enjoy the story.  
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