Reviews tagging 'Child abuse'

The Laws of the Skies by Grégoire Courtois

27 reviews

aexileigh's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No

2.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Murder, Body horror, Bullying, Death, Blood, Car accident, Child abuse, Child death, Death of parent, Gore, and Vomit

lizardteeth's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• 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: Death, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Vomit, Violence, Alcohol, Gore, Alcoholism, Animal death, Blood, Bullying, Child death, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Body horror, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Grief, Infidelity, Mental illness, Torture, and Stalking

Moderate: Sexual assault and Physical abuse

eb10's review against another edition

dark tense fast-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

2.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Child death, Torture, Violence, Vomit, Physical abuse, Murder, Mental illness, Injury/Injury detail, Gore, Death of parent, Child abuse, Car accident, Bullying, Blood, Animal cruelty, and Animal death

cabrera_bre's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Car accident, Gore, Animal cruelty, Blood, Body horror, Child abuse, Death, Murder, and Vomit

nicekweenreads's review against another edition

dark sad tense fast-paced

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

0.5

I'm not sure if this is the writer's or translators fault, but the writing was difficult to get through. From typos, to multiple plage long paragraphs, to randomly switching characters mid-paragraph, the story was a mess to follow. This doesn't include how the book randomly breaks the 4th wall by talking ti the reader directly, assigning large complex vocabulary to 6 year Olds only to have them crying for their moms moments later, or immediately ruins any suspense by letting you know there is no hope.

I adore horror books but this book felt like a fantasy of violence rather than an actual story.

Spoiler

The last 10 pages or so detail the death of the 'villian' in grotesque vision that I was gagging. The villain, who murdered others, was also a 6 year old abuse victim. It felt odd to spend so long in such a short book detailing this death.

Spoiler

.

All in all, this is a bad knock-off of Battle Royale with 6 year Olds. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore and Child death

Moderate: Child abuse

gknott's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Vomit, Abandonment, Body horror, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Torture, Death, Emotional abuse, Child abuse, Excrement, Violence, and Child death

Minor: Alcohol, Alcoholism, and Sexual assault

mikeroderique's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Emotional abuse, Bullying, Child abuse, Death, Abandonment, Blood, Child death, Domestic abuse, Murder, Torture, and Vomit

yourfavavery's review against another edition

dark fast-paced

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

3.5

So I wanted to read this because I heard it billed as Lord of the Flies but with six-year-olds. That's sort of what it is, but instead of factions with some bullies and some victims, it mostly has one psychopathic kid and a series of deadly misfortunes that can happen to scared kids when they're alone in the woods.

It has a moral of life being messy, not having a "happy ending" or a "moral" or "theme", that sometimes bad things just happen and there isn't always hope to be gleaned from a terrible situation.

Overall, it's a good novella - I breezed through it in one night - but don't look here for any warm and fuzzies.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Car accident, Blood, Death, Child death, Vomit, Murder, Excrement, Bullying, Violence, and Child abuse

dosxhime's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional tense fast-paced

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

3.5

When people said that The Laws of the Skies are brutal, believe them. 

This comes to a close second in terms of darkest books I ever read. First is of course, Hogg. If you're not a fan of children getting un@lived, I would highly recommend to skip this. 

3.5 / 5 C-

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Death, Abandonment, Body horror, Bullying, Violence, Torture, Mental illness, Gore, Child death, Death of parent, and Blood

Moderate: Domestic abuse and Stalking

winsomefish's review against another edition

dark sad tense fast-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? Yes

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Car accident, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Gore, Murder, Torture, Child abuse, Child death, and Death

Moderate: Misogyny, Sexual assault, Bullying, Excrement, and Injury/Injury detail