Reviews tagging 'Child death'

The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August by Claire North

11 reviews

pastlifetragedy's review

adventurous dark emotional tense slow-paced

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

3.75

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug use, Abortion, Confinement, Murder, Physical abuse, Child death, Death of parent, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Death, Torture, and Suicide

Moderate: Violence, War, Vomit, and Rape

Minor: Bullying and Classism

kylieqrada's review

adventurous dark emotional 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

Claire North never misses.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Torture, and Death

Moderate: Child death, Rape, and Drug use

Minor: Cancer

spookily's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark 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? No

2.25

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Cancer, Forced institutionalization, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Gore, Medical content, Terminal illness, Torture, Violence, Vomit, Mental illness, Suicide, Death, Genocide, Medical trauma, Body horror, and Murder

Moderate: Abandonment, Drug abuse, Drug use, Child death, War, Death of parent, Rape, Self harm, Child abuse, Sexual violence, Classism, and Toxic friendship

Minor: Infidelity, Sexism, Grief, Pregnancy, Fatphobia, Alcohol, Addiction, and Car accident

corriejn's review against another edition

medium-paced

• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Suicide attempt, Violence, Physical abuse, Suicide, Drug use, Murder, Death, Terminal illness, Stalking, Mental illness, Medical trauma, Gore, Torture, Toxic friendship, Forced institutionalization, Suicidal thoughts, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Dementia, Genocide, Child abuse, Vomit, Injury/Injury detail, Self harm, Pregnancy, Infidelity, Gun violence, Child death, Medical content, Alcohol, War, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, and Rape

mamaquiereleer's review against another edition

adventurous challenging mysterious reflective slow-paced

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

4.25

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Cancer, Child death, Death, Suicide, Torture, War, Drug abuse, Drug use, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Sexual violence

Minor: Animal death

bookswithjk's review against another edition

challenging reflective tense slow-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

4.5

On the one hand, this book reads as a tale of love, loss and sorrow. It is a story about a man incapable of “dying” forced to relive his entire life over and over again, able to remember everything from each previous incarnation, mirrors by a similar man with higher ambition. The first half crawls at a glacial pace, with Harry introduced to us through his different lives in what is at times a tedious manner. However, once we hit halfway, the story immediately picks up. 

---

Content Warnings

Minor: Torture, Child death, Murder, and Rape

keegan_leech's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious 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? It's complicated

3.75

A fast-paced and brilliant time travel mystery. The plot is at times contemplative and thought-provoking, at others a tense thriller. It's certainly darker than I had expected. The conceit of the novel and first few chapters didn't prepare me for the sometimes extremely heavy subject matter. This does balance out a plot that might otherwise seem campy and melodramatic, but if one of those elements would put you off then this may not be the book for you. However, if you like the sound of the book, you'll almost certainly enjoy it.

The conceit of the novel (a story told by a man reliving his life over and over again) was, in my experience, a wonderful bait and switch. The strange metaphysical questions drew me in so quickly and so easily that when the plot began to really take off I hadn't realised just how deeply invested I was. And by the end, the things that had drawn me in seemed absolutely unimportant in comparison to reaching the brilliant final moments. It's a very well-constructed story from start to finish. (As an aside, very few or perhaps none of the books I've read have created so much anticipation with the title alone).

If you liked Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell, or The Ten Thousand Doors of January by Alix E. Harrow, then you'll certainly love The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August. If for some reason those just didn't land with you, then this might be worth a try, but they have a very similar style and appeal.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Death, Terminal illness, Mental illness, and Torture

Moderate: Rape and Drug use

Minor: Child death and Animal death

squid0110's review against another edition

adventurous emotional tense fast-paced

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

4.25

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Torture, and Murder

Moderate: Addiction, Child death, and Drug use

Minor: Forced institutionalization

bertramshotel's review

reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Torture, Suicide, Child abuse, Child death, and Violence

candace's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective slow-paced

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

2.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Death, Forced institutionalization, and Torture

Moderate: Medical content, Murder, Rape, and Sexual assault