Reviews tagging 'Emotional abuse'

The Devil and the Dark Water by Stuart Turton

17 reviews

rkpaulson96's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious relaxing medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Stuart Turton did it again! His second novel is a fun, puzzle-within-several-puzzles mystery thriller. The characters are just as complex as the supernatural-tinted conundrum facing the passengers and crew of the ship, Saardam, on whose decks a demon allegedly prowls. 

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disguisedposer's review against another edition

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

4.25


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nuthatch428's review against another edition

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adventurous 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

4.0


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heini's review against another edition

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adventurous mysterious fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? N/A
  • Loveable characters? N/A
  • Diverse cast of characters? N/A
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0


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bibliomania_express's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-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? It's complicated

5.0


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thedinosaurkid's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious tense 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

4.0

A good book!
It has all the good mystery traits of his previous book (7 ½ deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle) but with more paranormal-esque things.
Not my cup of tea, but still  excellent!

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kimberlyswalters's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging funny mysterious tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

5.0

I know how unlikely it is, but I'd willingly read stories of Sammy & Arent's previous mysterious in a heartbeat. They sound so thrilling and wonderful, which is just a testament to how amazing this book is. The few times their past cases are mentioned is more than enough to convince me of their greatness. I would also read a sequel
about how they manage and pull off their plans afterwards and spin Old Tom into a warning for horrible noble people to fear
. The afterward/apology at the end was also a delight to read. I think I just really love Stuart Turton's writing. It makes me giddy. I feel excitement like I imagine Sara and Lia probably did reading stories of Sammy & Arent's cases.  I can't wait for his next book (although I'm well aware it will have nothing to do with this story, and that's fine. My wants are just praise for his world-building.). All of this is just me trying to say that if you're reading my review, you should read this book. I love it.


Addressing the afterward;
P.S. I imagine Arent as John Cena, but gruffer. Not necessarily sexy, but not not sexy.

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claresbookshelf's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark informative 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

5.0

5 out of 5 stars.

This was genuinely such a fun book to get through. 

I knew going into it that it was going to be slightly different than Turton's first novel (The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle), but his writing style was so unique in that book that I knew that it would slip through to this novel as well. And I was right. Despite it not following the perspectives of as many characters, the narrative flowed in such a natural way that it kept the pace of the story consistent throughout.

There wasn't a single moment in this book where I felt like things were dragging or taking too long. And most importantly, I couldn't figure out the mystery. I had my suspicions on certain characters, but not clear motive or means. So when everything was explained at the end, it was a surprise and yet it all made sense.

Also, I loved the little nod to Evelyn during the explanation. Very cute touch. 

To be fair, I know Turton has stated that he likes writing stand-alone novels with new characters but if he really wanted to he could use that to create a pretty cool little connected universe.

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shinsoukoku's review against another edition

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slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot

2.25


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massivepizzacrust's review against another edition

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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? No

4.0

Stuart Turton is a capital-letter Plot Twist writer, which you'll know if you've read The 7½ Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle. And as with that one, I found the plot twist 100% unpredictable but still a little flat. The atmosphere in the first 2/3 of the book was so terrifying I had to read something else at the same time and I guess I would have preferred a more predictable but more satisfying ending in line with that atmosphere. But it still made more sense than Evelyn Hardcastle so I guess I'm curious to see what Turton does next? 

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