Reviews tagging 'Ableism'

The Devil and the Dark Water by Stuart Turton

8 reviews

swampkun's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

5.0

An absolutely swashbuckling mystery, full of devilry and dripping with intrigue. I tore this book apart in a matter of days, unable to wait to find out where each revelation led. Moody, tense, and full of deeply compelling characters and motives, Turton has weaved a highly-atmospheric follow up to Evelyn Hardcastle. 

PS, Stu-Turt, if you’re reading this: I’m sorry. I’m one of those readers who can’t stop thinking about how dreamy Arent is. Last night I fell asleep imagining his big arms and wide chest. If you didn’t want us to fall in love, I’m sorry to say that’s the only place where your writing has failed.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism and Sexual violence

Moderate: Confinement, Misogyny, Violence, and War

A female character experiences sexual violence and makes reference to being physically abused. A primary character with dwarfism is referred to with ableist language and describes having experienced ableism. The book is set during a voyage from a Dutch colony in Indonesia. Frequent references are made to a genocide carried out by Dutch military against indigenous people.

esme_may's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny mysterious reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

This was so much better than I was expecting! I wouldn’t have picked this up if I hadn’t got a copy for free but I might read Turton’s other book now. I’d recommend reading this when you have a bit of time on your hands because of the slow pacing: I took it on holiday and it was great for that!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Gore, Sexual assault, Torture, Violence, Blood, Colonisation, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Ableism, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Genocide, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Xenophobia, Medical content, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, and Alcohol

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Excrement, Vomit, and Fire/Fire injury

wrestleacademic'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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Violence, and Blood

Moderate: Ableism, Torture, Pregnancy, and Injury/Injury detail

selenatothemax's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Sexism, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Vomit, and Classism

Moderate: Animal death, Sexual violence, Alcohol, and Colonisation

Minor: Excrement, Vomit, and War

j_squaredd's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense fast-paced

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

4.75

Well written and something I couldn’t put down; it was dark, tense, and mysterious. Great for those that love both thrillers and historical fiction. I wasn’t completely satisfied with the ending - it wrapped up a little too neatly for my taste - which is the only reason this isn’t a 5 star.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Domestic abuse, Blood, Vomit, and Murder

Moderate: Ableism and Racism

maddiebusick's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• 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

3.0

Not bad, lots of twists and turns but I felt it dragged on a little bit which took away from the thrill and suspense of a murder mystery

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Misogyny, Violence, Blood, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Animal death, Confinement, Domestic abuse, Gore, Excrement, Medical content, Gaslighting, and Alcohol

Minor: Ableism, Alcoholism, Child death, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Vomit, Pregnancy, Colonisation, and War

stephbakerbooks's review against another edition

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? It's complicated

4.0

This book started off slow but trust me—the plot picks up a lot. There came a point where I was reading so quickly that I didn’t have time to form theories, I just wanted to know what was going to happen! I will say, parts were a little spookier than I was expecting and made me nervous reading it at night 🙈

You’re introduced to a lot of characters pretty early on and it did take a while for me to keep them all straight (thank you, handy character guide). But I loved that each of these characters were well fleshed out. They don’t all get development, but they’re all fully formed, complex people. Our main character, Arent, does get some nice development, but Sara was really the stand-out character for me. And I loved her relationship with her daughter.

So overall, a clever mystery with characters you can root for and a fascinating setting. And the ending was just perfect!

Read if you like: Sherlock Holmes or other detective duos, locked-room mysteries, historical fiction that is focused more on the fiction than the historical.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, Violence, and Blood

Moderate: Ableism

Minor: Rape

breezer's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Strong character development? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Animal death, Confinement, Torture, Violence, and Blood

Moderate: Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, and Excrement

Minor: Genocide