Reviews tagging 'Blood'

L'arbre du mal by Tana French

9 reviews

hdunscombe's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense slow-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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Bullying, Cancer, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Hate crime, Homophobia, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Medical content, Medical trauma, Stalking, Suicide attempt, Murder, Gaslighting, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Blood, Dementia, and Grief

Minor: Eating disorder, Vomit, and Dysphoria

gracehourigan's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad slow-paced

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

4.5

A little slower than most of French’s other books but it definitely broke the mold of what I was expecting.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Chronic illness, Death, Homophobia, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Terminal illness, Violence, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Stalking, Suicide attempt, Murder, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Drug use, Blood, Vomit, Dementia, Gaslighting, and Alcohol

Minor: Drug abuse, Hate crime, Rape, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

rae69's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious sad tense 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

2.5

honestly this book felt like watching multiple cars crash into each other but you are forced to look anyway 

and I know it's not true but books like this kinda feel like they are made for people who have nothing else to worry about 

but I also read this feeling not that great anyway

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gore, Mental illness, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Medical trauma, Murder, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Terminal illness

stjohnswarts's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense slow-paced

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

4.5

This book is dark, even for Tana French - particularly the ending. Her books rarely have happy endings but man. She’s great at writing hugely unlikeable characters and then throwing so much shit at them that by the end you just feel sorry for them more than anything else.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Stalking, Suicide attempt, Murder, and Sexual harassment

Moderate: Bullying, Death, Drug abuse, Self harm, Blood, Grief, and Injury/Injury detail

seadeepy's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• 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, Bullying, Cancer, Death, Hate crime, Homophobia, Terminal illness, Blood, Medical content, Medical trauma, Stalking, Suicide attempt, Murder, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Drug use, Sexual assault, Grief, Stalking, Gaslighting, and Classism

Minor: Self harm, Pregnancy, and Alcohol

corncake's review against another edition

mysterious tense slow-paced

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

2.75

Excellent characterization, but the pacing of this book is painfully slow. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Violence, Murder, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Bullying, Cancer, Cursing, Death, Drug use, Blood, Medical content, Grief, and Alcohol

Minor: Homophobia, Misogyny, Self harm, and Vomit

surefinewhatever_'s review against another edition

dark mysterious tense slow-paced

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

2.0

Thanks, I hated it.

Let me start with the one redeeming quality of this book, Tana French can write a damn house! Just like the home in The Likeness, I could picture the Ivy House perfectly! It was cozy (until it wasn’t) and atmospheric and just so vibrantly written. 

But that skill is not enough to save this book. Not only is every single character (except Hugo, whom I felt affection for and wanted to see more of) unlikeable, but our protagonist is the *most* unlikeable of the bunch. Seriously. Irredeemably so. I guessed the killer prior to the reveal, but that’s not saying a whole lot as this book is SLOW. And lastly, though frankly most importantly, this book is ableist and fatphobic as FUCK. Like, jarringly so. I felt like I was constantly being pulled out of the story because I was taken aback by the ableist comments. Bad bad bad.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Cancer, Death, Drug use, Misogyny, Sexism, Sexual assault, Terminal illness, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Murder, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Fatphobia

rileyreadsagain's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Cancer, Chronic illness, Death, Mental illness, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Medical content, Suicide attempt, Murder, and Sexual harassment

Moderate: Bullying, Cursing, Homophobia, Misogyny, Sexism, Suicide, Blood, Dementia, Medical trauma, and Alcohol

Minor: Drug use, Eating disorder, Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

arti_27209's review against another edition

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Cancer, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Blood, Stalking, and Suicide attempt

Minor: Drug use