Reviews tagging 'War'

The Devil and the Dark Water by Stuart Turton

9 reviews

heini's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? N/A
• Loveable characters? N/A
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Colonisation, Violence, Sexual violence, Confinement, Domestic abuse, Blood, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Physical abuse, and Misogyny

Moderate: Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Animal cruelty, Excrement, Rape, War, and Religious bigotry

thedinosaurkid'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? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

A good book!
It has all the good mystery traits of his previous book (7 ½ deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle) but with more paranormal-esque things.
Not my cup of tea, but still  excellent!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Gore, Blood, Classism, Confinement, Death, and Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Genocide, Physical abuse, Death, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, and Violence

Minor: Slavery, Infidelity, Alcohol, Excrement, and War

kimberlyswalters's review against another edition

adventurous challenging funny mysterious tense fast-paced

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

5.0

I know how unlikely it is, but I'd willingly read stories of Sammy & Arent's previous mysterious in a heartbeat. They sound so thrilling and wonderful, which is just a testament to how amazing this book is. The few times their past cases are mentioned is more than enough to convince me of their greatness. I would also read a sequel

Spoiler

about how they manage and pull off their plans afterwards and spin Old Tom into a warning for horrible noble people to fear

. The afterward/apology at the end was also a delight to read. I think I just really love Stuart Turton's writing. It makes me giddy. I feel excitement like I imagine Sara and Lia probably did reading stories of Sammy & Arent's cases.  I can't wait for his next book (although I'm well aware it will have nothing to do with this story, and that's fine. My wants are just praise for his world-building.). All of this is just me trying to say that if you're reading my review, you should read this book. I love it.

Spoiler

Addressing the afterward;
P.S. I imagine Arent as John Cena, but gruffer. Not necessarily sexy, but not not sexy.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Blood

Moderate: Murder

Minor: Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Physical abuse, Sexual violence, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Violence, Vomit, Torture, War, and Pregnancy

selenatothemax's review

adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-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? Yes

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Death, Classism, Vomit, Torture, Domestic abuse, Violence, Sexism, Confinement, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Alcohol, Animal death, Colonisation, and Sexual violence

Minor: Vomit, War, and Excrement

arce's review against another edition

adventurous dark inspiring mysterious reflective medium-paced

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

4.5

Very good book, at every point of the story I kept wondering what would most likely happen next, sometimes I was right, and it still managed to surprise me.
The explanation is not farfetched and seems reasonable, but I am not completely satisfied with the ending.

Spoiler

Sammy/Hugo doesn't seem to feel anything? Gives me strong psychopath vibes...
Also, what happenes with the other passengers on the island? Do they sail to Amsterdam afterwards?
And I'm definitely not a fan of Sara's solution. I liked neither of the options, but don't have any better on my mind. Vigilante justice is not the right way. Creesjie and Sammy/Hugo shouldn't go without punishment.

I would be interested in the more horror endings Stuart Turton mentioned in the interview at the end of the audiobook.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Excrement, Misogyny, Murder, and Sexism

Moderate: Blood, Medical content, Injury/Injury detail, Animal death, Colonisation, Gaslighting, Genocide, and Alcohol

Minor: Sexual content, Rape, War, and Pregnancy

shinsoukoku's review

slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot

2.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Domestic abuse, Misogyny, and Sexism

Moderate: Physical abuse, Rape, Emotional abuse, and Violence

Minor: Excrement, Child abuse, Vomit, Child death, War, Animal death, Confinement, Genocide, Injury/Injury detail, and Torture

set in the medieval era, there is a brief scene of sara having to fulfill her "obligations" with her abusive husband and multiple threats of assault leading up to a character suggesting they, the men, use the women of the ship as they wish, willing or not.

janetriestoread's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious reflective tense slow-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Confinement, and Violence

Moderate: Alcohol, Domestic abuse, Sexual violence, and War

Minor: Vomit

maddiebusick's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense slow-paced

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

3.0

Not bad, lots of twists and turns but I felt it dragged on a little bit which took away from the thrill and suspense of a murder mystery

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Death, Violence, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, and Misogyny

Moderate: Alcohol, Animal death, Confinement, Excrement, Gaslighting, Gore, Medical content, and Domestic abuse

Minor: Ableism, Alcoholism, Child death, Colonisation, War, Vomit, Slavery, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Rape, Pregnancy, Physical abuse, and Gun violence

maiagaia's review against another edition

mysterious tense medium-paced

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

2.25

Like The 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle, this book has extremely engaging, compulsively readable prose. I tore through both in only a few days despite their length. The issue is that both have really bad endings. Like book-ruining bad.
The Devil and the Dark Water commits what is, to me, a cardinal sin: a POV character lied to the reader with their own thoughts.

Spoiler

Creesjie is the POV character when she finds the governor general's body. She panics and cries and is frightened in the dark. We find out later that she planned the whole thing and planted a fake murder weapon in the middle of that scene. But we don't see it because it would ruin the mystery. And that's the only reason. It makes zero sense.

There are also multiple instances of chapters ending with a random description of something that the character didn't see. These chapters are written in 3rd person limited, so the random omnipotence is clunky.
The reveal of the twist was bad enough , but the final scene was the expired whipped cream on this shit sundae. We have two well-developed, stubborn characters who do a total about face in the last five pages.

Spoiler

Arent and Sara are both set up as having strict, particular views on morality, yet at the end, they are suddenly willing to look past the hundreds of deaths Creesjie and Pipps caused??? I could maybe buy it if given more time, but 5 pages is NOT enough.

 
At this point, I'm not sure I'll be reading from this author again. He has a wonderful writing style, but the endings are just unforgivable.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse and Violence

Moderate: Genocide, Sexism, and Religious bigotry

Minor: War, Vomit, Slavery, Child death, Colonisation, and Confinement