Reviews tagging 'Self harm'

Библиотеката на Въглен връх by Scott Hawkins

50 reviews

rorikae's review against another edition

adventurous challenging 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? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

'The Library at Mount Char' by Scott Hawkins is a fascinating fantasy novel with horror elements. 
Carolyn is a Librarian at the Library. She and each of her siblings have their own catalogue, or area of interest, that they study as their Father prepares them for their role in life. To move further forward on their paths, they have to head out and interact with Americans to tackle the challenges coming their way. Steve, who is trying to lead a normal life, is pulled into Carolyn (and the Library's) schemes and it will change the course of his life. 
This is such a hard book to describe. It's weird and incredibly unique. There are a number of horrific elements, especially surrounding how different characters treat one another. It's fantasy but it is also very squarely set in a version of the United States that resembles our own. I do think it is best to go into this novel knowing next to nothing as the story unfolds. Everything wrapped up really well at the end, which helped to boost how I felt about it because during the reading process it seemed to drag at points. For a section of the story, I really didn't care about Steve or understand why we were spending so much time with him. This is revealed later and made sense but it didn't stop the middle section of the novel from dragging out what felt like could have been a much quicker process. And yet, I do think it all works together. I think this is a great book for a book club because there is a lot to discuss. If Scott Hawkins writes another book in the future, I will definitely be interested in picking it up. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Physical abuse, Self harm, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Drug use, Rape, and Sexual violence

Minor: Car accident and Death of parent

scifi_rat's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Violence, Blood, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Body horror, Bullying, Confinement, Cursing, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicide, Torture, Excrement, Vomit, Police brutality, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Mass/school shootings, Stalking, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Alcohol, and War

Minor: Homophobia, Car accident, Outing, and Pandemic/Epidemic

katclaybaugh'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? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Murder, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Animal death

Minor: Child death

loafhart's review against another edition

challenging dark funny mysterious reflective tense fast-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Drug use, Gore, Gun violence, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicide, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Vomit, Kidnapping, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Sexual harassment, War, and Injury/Injury detail

There is a lottt of violence.. All forms

mykes's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Incest, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

popcprof's review against another edition

challenging dark reflective 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

4.0

This book deals with a lot of challenging issues of violence against women and children, and I'm struggling with how necessary or healthy it is to engage with, at least for me.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Kidnapping, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Toxic friendship, and Abandonment

splendidduchess's review against another edition

adventurous challenging 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

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Death, Gore, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Suicide attempt, and Murder

aducharme4'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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Blood, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

antimony's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated

4.0

only complaint is that the pacing was kinda weird. like the first half was rapid fire everything happening all at once and then it slows down like crazy after

carolyn kills david and brings steve into the library

. i thought all the stuff with the Library was super interesting as well & i would have loved like a list at the front or something of what all the catalogs are..we know abt healing, war, languages, mathematics(?), animals, death/the forgotten lands, time, & like possible timelines (whatever rachel is doing), but like that's just 8!! there are 4 more!!

ok actually wait. 3 hrs out from finishing it i have some more thoughts. mainly . like i said before the other librarians were so interesting and totally underutilized (i mean we only get NAMES for like 7 or 8 of them!!!) and it felt so cheap that

they 100% really did all die (except michael) when the military showed up at mrs mcgillicutty's house. like seriously?? they're all part of the way to being gods but all it takes is a bunch of guns to kill them:/?

and kinda

none of steve's and carolyn's problems were really solved at all except for the ending of the famines and whatnot by her turning him into the sun. idk if a steve epilogue was possible but i would have liked that a lot better than the erwin one we got

and also the narrative sorta justifies all the torture that the father put carolyn and her siblings through at the end. as if there was no other way for

him to choose a successor and then retire??

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Child abuse, Death, Violence, and Murder

Moderate: Rape, Self harm, Suicide, and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Car accident

mbzoller's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Death, Violence, Blood, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Body horror, Child death, Gore, Gun violence, Rape, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, and Vomit