Reviews tagging 'Sexual violence'

The Library at Mount Char by Scott Hawkins

118 reviews

literary_liv's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark funny mysterious 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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Rape, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Death of parent, and Murder

Moderate: Cancer, Child death, Cursing, Drug use, Sexual violence, Blood, Grief, Car accident, Fire/Fire injury, Sexual harassment, and War

mykes's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense medium-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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Incest, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

um_erca's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

3.0

Weird, strange, difficult to sum up. I’m still not sure if I liked it but I finished it so there’s something there bc I’m not against DNFing books. Would not rush to read it but also would support anyone wanting to try it for themselves. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Gore, Gun violence, Sexual violence, and Violence

popcprof's review against another edition

challenging dark reflective fast-paced

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

4.0

This book deals with a lot of challenging issues of violence against women and children, and I'm struggling with how necessary or healthy it is to engage with, at least for me.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Kidnapping, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Toxic friendship, and Abandonment

splendidduchess's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Death, Gore, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Suicide attempt, and Murder

gillianalice's review

adventurous challenging 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

4.5

This was recommended to me by a friend, and so I dived in without really knowing what it was about. I mean, it has the word "library" in the title, so it's going to be cozy, right? It occurred to me pretty quickly that I should have thought about the kind of books my friend usually reads rather than the title of this one.

That being said, once I got used to the brutal violence and got my feet under me, I was fully invested in the story. I didn't much care for the descriptions of the many ways David liked to kill people, or the various abuses inflicted on the librarians by their father, or Margaret's penchant for talking to decapitated heads, but it was worth reading that to get to the payoff at the end. Watching this insane story come together was incredible. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence

Moderate: Torture

Minor: Sexual violence

beanjoles's review against another edition

dark funny tense fast-paced

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

3.75

I’m finding it challenging to rate this book. I did really enjoy the story overall and was glued to the page at several points, but the execution just wasn’t there in the end. There was a lot I liked and a lot that didn’t work for me. Let’s dig in. Spoilers abound.

Technical comments:

The author did a great job of imbuing each POV character with a distinctive voice, despite writing in the third person.  I was impressed with how well these came across. That said, my expectations for the story’s tone and cadence were set by the initial chapters following Carolyn. The shift to other characters was jarring. It took me out of the story so completely that I had a hard time connecting with or accepting some of the wilder plot points. (Steve’s entire escape from the dead one’s house to the vet with Naga being a notable example.) This is an area where I feel that the author’s strengths in giving the characters distinct voices actually did the story a disservice.

On a related note, I h a t e d the way that spoken non-standard English dialects were written. (Thinking mainly of Erwin’s chapters, but also Steve’s in some places.) It’s off-putting to have entire chapters dedicated to eloquently and explicitly describing ritualized child abuse in the same book as characters who say, “lissen,” “ah’ite,” “g’wan,” “daaaayum” (four As, I checked!), and “da fuck.” Like, it felt disrespectful of the gravity of the tale because it did not feel authentic in the least. If this stylistic choice had been pulled off better then, yeah, sure, do it. But the execution was not good and got worse as the book progressed.

Otherwise, the prose was fairly strong and moving. Well, Carolyn’s parts were. I understand why we couldn’t follow her the whole way through, but would that we could’ve. :’)

Some disjointed commentary on plotting and characterization:

I really enjoyed the mythological fantasy elements, like the backstory of the king of the lions and his daughter. They went a long way toward fleshing out the world in which Carolyn, Father, and the other librarians are operating.

I would have liked a bit more from the confrontation/passing of the torch with Father at the end. It felt like he was given a pass on his HORRIFIC abuses of these kids (and, honestly, for what! Carolyn killed them all in the end anyway) and just got to be like, “I’m sorry I tortured you and your friends for 15 years but it was for ~ your greater good ~ ok.” And Carolyn is just like, “Yeah ok have fun in your new universe!”  ????

The pacing was a bit uneven in the middle section of the book and felt almost frenetic by the end. It still mostly worked for me, though. Steve becoming the new sun was a nice and fitting end for his character arc.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Child death, Sexual violence, Suicide, Torture, Violence, and Murder

Moderate: Drug use

aducharme4's review against another edition

adventurous 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Blood, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

mrgriffit's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.0

A book for anyone who supports women’s wrongs and women’s rights. Also for people who enjoy stories where characters have incredibly intricate plans that have small details that pile up into big successes. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Suicide, Blood, Death of parent, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Moderate: Sexual violence

teaganme's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark inspiring reflective sad tense fast-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

4.75

Stunning book, beautiful prose, and interesting world building. Someone asked me what this book was about, but I couldn't answer, which adds to the fun and mystery. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Incest, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Vomit, Kidnapping, Mass/school shootings, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Fire/Fire injury, War, and Injury/Injury detail