Reviews with content warning for Animal death - Księgi zapomnianych żyć

This book has some of the best plot twists I’ve ever read. And one that makes me want to reread it just to pick up all the pieces that I missed the first time. What a unique and fascinating book!!!

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laurenbaggy's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional hopeful reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.25

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adragoninspace's review against another edition

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mysterious sad tense

3.25

Gros coup de cœur sur la couverture de cette édition de the borough press, j’ai dévoré le livre mais ça reste un 3 ou 3,5/5 en vrai. Je pensais qu’il y aurait plus de choses dans le récit autour des livres et de cet art du binding (en français ça parle « d’enlivreur » j’ai cru voir) qui permet d’effacer la mémoire d’une personne et l’enfermer dans un livre. En fait au cœur de ce livre c’est plutôt une histoire d’amour, une tragédie. Et même si ça arrive tard, une fois que c’est arrivé ça prend quasiment tout le livre et ne continue pas vraiment ce que le premier quart nous laissait penser que ce livre serait. J’aime bien ce genre de changement surprise mais comme je ne suis pas très romance j’étais un peu blasée. J’ai l’impression que je pourrai même spoiler en disant ça mais la plus grosse partie du roman parle de ça donc 🥲
Quand même un bon roman qui a su me donner envie de continuer, bien écrit et prenant. Et qui prend cette idée d’extraction de mémoire et en montre les pires dérives possibles.

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goose's review against another edition

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dark mysterious sad medium-paced

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

4.0

Such an interesting concept, really loved it. I hope Collins keeps exploring the idea. I liked the characters alright. There are some things that squicked me in the book, but it didn't affect my enjoyment of the story as a whole.

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daniquevdijk_'s review against another edition

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emotional hopeful inspiring sad medium-paced

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

5.0

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milooo's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious medium-paced

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

4.0

i really really enjoyed this!! the atmosphere is extremely well established and described, and manages to root itself in a familiar real life example (victorian-esque england?) without implicating the real world and having it encroach on the story. collins is really good at describing the beauty in these small moments, painting picturesque images that really pull you into the world. the magic is a really cool concept that really makes you think specifically about biographical writing and ownership of memories and life- do we have a right to other people’s lives? does one truly own their own memories if shared with others? is it better to forget the things that hurt us or does it hurt us more to have the pain taken away? that being said, the excellent vibes and grounds for rigorous academic analysis will not prevent this book from crushing your heart oh my GOD some of this was heartbreaking (i am insane so i kinda wish those moments had been milked a bit to really emphasise their emotional impact but oh well). i would have rated this 5 stars, but there are a few plot points here and there that simply don’t go as far as one wishes, moments that you think are going to come back later on but are never discussed. overall, this is more concentrated near the end (probably sacrificed in order to focus more on the central relationship, which as a recovering romance hater, does not help me recover from hating romance) and honestly just leaves you feeling the slightest bit unsatisfied and yearning for an epilogue at least. overall, i LOVED the first part of the book, but unfortunately the rest of it just ended up going in a different direction than i expected (not necessarily a bad thing tho! still a hella good read!!) it does get VERY dark VERY quickly, so please check the content warnings before you start!!

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anyashadows's review against another edition

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dark emotional sad tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character

4.5

Tragic from start to finish. Not just the saddest book I've read all year so far but likely the saddest book I'll read the rest of the year too. This book hurt me.

Trigger warnings for violence, homophobia, animal cruelty/death

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