sargasso_c's review against another edition
The book was a bit plodding and often fell into the trap of "telling" and not "showing." While the premise is interesting, I feel the author relied too much on creating an air of eeriness and suspense that went on too long and devolved into repetitive scenes that seemed to serve no other purpose than elongating the time between the beginning of the book and it's resolution.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Death of parent, Grief, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Toxic relationship
Moderate: Addiction, Drug use, Infertility, Injury/Injury detail, and Self harm
Minor: Abandonment and Child death
batcaves's review
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-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
4.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcoholism, Child death, Confinement, Death of parent, Infertility, Mental illness, Addiction, Alcohol, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gaslighting, Pregnancy, Self harm, Suicide, Grief, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis
megelizabeth's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
5.0
I WILL NEVER RECOVER FROM THIS BOOK.
Jennifer McMahon is quickly becoming a favourite author for me. She crafts such incredible, layered narratives, deftly manages alternating timelines, and depicts family relationships, and particularly relationships between sisters, so, so well, and this book is no exception. It's wonderfully atmospheric, brilliantly plotted, and absolutely, completely, utterly devastating.
This was looking to be a 4.5* for me, as I would've liked to have had more clarity over Declan's role in the story, and also although I was loving it, I wasn't finding myself entirely surprised by anything that was happening. However, I definitely spoke too soon there, as the ending shocked me so, so much that I had to read it multiple times to make sure I'd understood it right, and part of me really, really wishes that I hadn't and that I could've stayed in blissful ignorance. My heart will never ever be the same after that ending, and yet I know I'll do it to myself again as I just cannot stay away from McMahon's incredible stories.
Jennifer McMahon is quickly becoming a favourite author for me. She crafts such incredible, layered narratives, deftly manages alternating timelines, and depicts family relationships, and particularly relationships between sisters, so, so well, and this book is no exception. It's wonderfully atmospheric, brilliantly plotted, and absolutely, completely, utterly devastating.
This was looking to be a 4.5* for me, as I would've liked to have had more clarity over Declan's role in the story, and also although I was loving it, I wasn't finding myself entirely surprised by anything that was happening. However, I definitely spoke too soon there, as the ending shocked me so, so much that I had to read it multiple times to make sure I'd understood it right, and part of me really, really wishes that I hadn't and that I could've stayed in blissful ignorance. My heart will never ever be the same after that ending, and yet I know I'll do it to myself again as I just cannot stay away from McMahon's incredible stories.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Child death, Self harm, and Fire/Fire injury
Moderate: Death of parent, Alcohol, Infertility, and Alcoholism
Minor: Drug use and Injury/Injury detail
amberghinii's review
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Death, Death of parent, Alcohol, Pregnancy, Self harm, Addiction, Drug use, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, and Alcoholism
bluejayreads's review
I can’t remember what exactly enticed me to pick this up. Maybe I found the idea of a wish-granting spring that takes in equal measure to what it gives intriguing. I think part of it is my library put it in a list of popular supernatural-based horror titles and I’m trying to expand my reading horizons. Regardless, I read it – or at least I tried to.
First, there’s Jax. While I was initially put off by her being a social worker who by her own admission isn’t self-reflective, I could definitely relate to being the ordinary child overshadowed by a charismatic sibling. In my case said sibling was younger and wasn’t naturally good at everything like Lexie, but being the forgotten good child while a charismatic Problem Child got all the attention is a situation I know all too well and created an instant connection with Jax.
I didn’t have that same connection with Ethel, whose story alternated with Jax’s. She wasn’t bad, but I didn’t see how her story fit into Jax’s and found her sections much less interesting.
I think this story was supposed to be a slow burn, but it ended up just being slow. I read 59% of it, and in that time, Ethel had gone to the hotel and wished for a baby, and Jax had gone to her grandmother’s estate to deal with Lexie’s death, cleaned the house, went to the funeral, and realized that Lexie had been investigating the pool (which is fed with water from the spring). The suspense was driven by the hints that there was something in the pool, and by the time I stopped I had worked out what was in the pool but Jax had just started to get curious about what Lexie was working on.
I thought this was supposed to be some sort of suspense/thriller thing with supernatural horror and I wasn’t getting any of that. I knew enough about the spring to feel like I already knew what it would take from Ethel, but not enough about it to know if it would want something from Jax. Lexie was already dead, and since nobody else that I knew of had made a wish, it didn’t feel like there was any threat. The only suspense was coming from the question of what exactly was living in the spring (which I figured out fairly quickly) and why the spring granted wishes and took things in return (although I got the feeling that the only explanation I was going to get for that one was “it’s supernatural”).
Admittedly, suspense/thriller isn’t my genre, so this all may be me more than the book. But I wasn’t getting any suspense or thrills out of this, and the slow burn ended up just being slow to me. The Drowning Kind just isn’t my book.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Death, Mental illness, Infertility, and Self harm
Moderate: Alcoholism, Drug use, and Pregnancy
Minor: Death of parent, Cancer, Animal death, and Forced institutionalization
cblunier's review
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-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
3.75
It's told by characters and I really found the one in the past to be irritating.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Self harm
Moderate: Addiction, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Child death, Cursing, Death, Drug use, Grief, Infertility, Mental illness, Murder, Rape, and Toxic relationship
ladylothlorien's review
dark
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Oh I loved this book. It often takes a little time to get to the “hook” in McMahon’s books but once you do, it’’s impossible to put the book down. I enjoyed the two narratives that we were following. As with her other books, it doesn’t really matter if you figure out something before she makes it explicitly known because the point is more about the characters and their journeys. And I also appreciate that even though the characters always question their sanity, the paranormal/supernatural stuff that is happening is actually happening. You can have a story about sisters and evil wish-granting cold springs. I almost want to just dive in and read it again, which is always fun to do with her books. You can see the breadcrumbs and hints she laid out and get a new understanding of the story. Very highly recommended!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Mental illness and Self harm
Moderate: Child death, Death, Infertility, Grief, and Alcoholism
Minor: Pregnancy and Drug use
jerusha's review
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Content Warnings
Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Child death, Chronic illness, Confinement, Death, Drug use, Grief, Mental illness, Pregnancy, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Suicide, Terminal illness, and Self harm
More...