Reviews tagging 'Confinement'

The Labyrinth of the Spirits by Carlos Ruiz Zafón

7 reviews

straykat1206's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny mysterious reflective tense slow-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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Confinement, Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Violence, Blood, Police brutality, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Child abuse, Gun violence, Incest, Mental illness, Rape, Suicide, Terminal illness, Excrement, Death of parent, and Gaslighting

jashanac's review against another edition

4.75

As per usual with the books in this series... I'm kind of just sitting here without any words coming to mind because I'm a bit in awe. 

I might change this rating from 4.75 to 5, but right now the pacing of this one is stopping me from going up to 5. All three of the other books I really flew through, regardless of their length. I was ENGROSSED the entire time. With this one, it is quite a bit longer for one thing, but there was a chunk in the middle area that I wasn't quite as gripped by or engrossed in. 

Fermin is absolutely one of my all-time favorite characters! I absolutely adore him. 

The ending here was a bit long, I felt -- all of the part with Julian giving exposition about his life. But I didn't hate it as I see some people -- it felt satisfying to me. 

I really don't feel like I have the words to properly express how much I adore this entire series, though. Calling it a masterpiece in Gothic literature is absolutely valid, and I was simply engrossed with essentially every bit of this story. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Chronic illness, Confinement, Death, Torture, Violence, Trafficking, and Murder

Moderate: Alcoholism, Child abuse, Rape, and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Miscarriage

laurenleigh's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

I feel a little sad that this series is over for me now, but I also think Zafón did a terrific job of tying up all loose ends. The Shadow of the Wind will always be my favorite, but I think this is a close second! As usual, Zafón blends together dark gothic intrigue with a little romance and political commentary, but in this novel, he adds some police procedural. I loved the combo! Alicia Gris was a fantastic character that kept me engaged. I love her, but I also questioned her choices throughout. I think that’s a good sign of a multi-faceted realistic character. The book’s pacing kept things exciting, and the plot certainly kept me guessing. I know I will return to this and the other books in its world, and I’ll love the reminder of our Barcelona trip.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Forced institutionalization, and Murder

Moderate: Gore, Suicide, Torture, Blood, Death of parent, and Injury/Injury detail

scottishlindsay's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective sad 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Chronic illness, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Infidelity, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Police brutality, Kidnapping, Murder, War, and Injury/Injury detail

clarabooksit's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad 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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Body horror, Child death, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexism, Torture, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Police brutality, Grief, Medical trauma, Murder, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Ableism, Drug abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicide, Forced institutionalization, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Stalking, and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Cancer and War

aviery's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious slow-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Torture, Violence, and Grief

Moderate: Body horror, Cursing, Drug abuse, Blood, Medical content, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Excrement, and Vomit

lilyadams's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes

4.0

An incredible end to one of my favourite series of books ever. I'm honestly gutted to have finished this book series. 800 pages of brilliant storytelling and I can't wait to reread the whole thing. The pacing was perfect and I didn't feel bored at any point. It really wraps up every characters plots completely and thats a very satisfying (but rare!!) way to end a series of books.

The only reason I took away a star is that some of zafon's female characters feel a bit 2D. All the women are femme fatales and largely unrealistic. The other reason is the brief marital rape scene. It comes fairly near the end and is only a few paragraphs long and is stopped before its started but it still took me by surprise and made me feel quite uncomfortable. Whilst i understand that COFB is quite grim as a whole, I'm of the opinion that detailed sexual assault scenes really aren't at all needed and this one was so random and upsetting that I feel it was completely unnecessary to the point where it made a 5 star book less than that.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Violence, Death of parent, and Murder

Moderate: Child death

Minor: Rape and Sexual violence