Reviews tagging 'Child death'

The Burning Girls by C.J. Tudor

49 reviews

heidi_84's review against another edition

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? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Blood, Religious bigotry, Murder, and Fire/Fire injury

hexedmaiden's review against another edition

dark mysterious medium-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Death, and Murder

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Bullying, and Child death

Minor: Homophobia, Pedophilia, and Pregnancy

ioana00's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Drug abuse, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Torture, and Murder

_readerfromtheblacklagoon_'s review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious reflective 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? Yes

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Cursing, Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Terminal illness, Torture, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Dementia, Kidnapping, Grief, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Sexual content, Vomit, Stalking, and Pregnancy

asourceoffiction's review against another edition

dark tense fast-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

3.5

Spooky small village setting with spooky residents? Check. Ramping up the tension and eeriness? Check. Untrustworthy characters with complicated histories? Oh yes. All classic Tudor tropes I've come to love and The Burning Girls didn't disappoint.

This story had a lot of side plots to keep straight, and while I appreciated all the connections (and guessed one of them like a proper sleuth!), by the end there were an awful lot of mysterious deaths with different explanations. I know we're not looking for realism in a horror like this, but it did get a little far fetched for one tiny Sussex village!

That said, I loved Jack and Flo; Jack might be the best fictional vicar I've ever encountered. And the creepy was creeping hard, which I absolutely loved.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, and Murder

Moderate: Bullying and Rape

stellenelcielo's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

3.75

ngl I started reading this in 2021 and then stopped halfway because life decided to get traumatizing for no reason...but yeah, decided only to finish it because I picked up another book by this author about vampires in Alaska, that I found out in the wild (walmart) and felt I needed to finish this one first. 

I did enjoy finishing it, but felt a lot was going on. I vibed with it anyway, and my only real (minor) criticism is that

Rosie also being a psychopath felt like it came out of left field

, and it was a real missed opportunity to

make Wrigley the sole psychopath, mirroring the online alt-right, misogynistic and incel culture that seems to nurture sociopathy in teenage boys.

I was not prepared for that final reveal, but I mostly chalk that up to taking more than a year to finish the book so my memory of the finer details is a bit fuzzy. Anyway, yeah, was a solid entertaining read, and I look forward to 'The Gathering', which has been waiting on my shelf for the last week.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Death, Gore, Misogyny, Sexism, Sexual violence, Stalking, Murder, and Toxic friendship

joslynhebda's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence and Blood

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Suicide, and Murder

clarkg's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.0

While the story itself is compelling and well-written, this book has some serious problems with regards to its representations of Black, disabled, and queer people. There is a particularly gruesome depiction of Black, queer, low-income women that leans heavily on violent "welfare queen" stereotypes, made worse by the fact that the book has no positive examples of people of color in its main cast of characters. Additionally, this book contains a disability trope/storyline that I found to be in extremely poor taste. I believe in giving people grace and room to grow, but at least within the confines of this story, I wish that the author had been more mindful of how her choices work to reinforce harmful societal narratives about marginalized communities. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Ableism, Alcoholism, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Gore, Homophobia, Mental illness, Racism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Kidnapping, Grief, Stalking, Murder, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Alcohol, and Classism

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Cursing, Deadnaming, Misogyny, Sexism, Terminal illness, and Dementia

the_bookish_hungarian's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Vomit, Murder, and Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Child abuse, Child death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, and Vomit

Minor: Pedophilia and Pregnancy

anna6705's review

dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

It was a page turner in the truest sense; I was gripped from start to finish. Such a fantastic thriller.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse and Death

Moderate: Child death, Sexual violence, and Violence

Minor: Pedophilia