Reviews tagging 'Torture'

The Devil and the Dark Water by Stuart Turton

15 reviews

maddyjo's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring mysterious sad tense medium-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

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Violence, Pregnancy, Torture, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, and Medical content

Minor: Rape

pkc's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark funny mysterious tense slow-paced

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

3.25

This book was WILD. Really confusing, but quite witty and however you think it will go is probably not how it will go. Violent, tense, scary, but very complex.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Blood, Body horror, Gore, Domestic abuse, Torture, Infidelity, Fire/Fire injury, Medical trauma, Classism, Colonisation, Cursing, Murder, and Sexual content

esme_may's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny mysterious reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

This was so much better than I was expecting! I wouldn’t have picked this up if I hadn’t got a copy for free but I might read Turton’s other book now. I’d recommend reading this when you have a bit of time on your hands because of the slow pacing: I took it on holiday and it was great for that!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual assault, Torture, Animal death, Blood, Colonisation, Gore, and Violence

Moderate: Alcoholism, Child abuse, Death of parent, Genocide, Grief, Misogyny, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Xenophobia, Physical abuse, Ableism, Alcohol, Murder, and Medical content

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Excrement, Fire/Fire injury, and Vomit

wrestleacademic's review

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Animal death, and Violence

Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Pregnancy, Torture, and Ableism

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

lucybmn's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense 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

2.75

Sigh. I was so disappointed with the ending of Turton's first novel, but his wild ideas and fast-paced writing made me want to give him another try.

Spoiler

But he seems to want to write the same thing again and again. Too many characters to keep track of and a thousand useless hints dropped, all leading to an unceremonious Big Reveal that had nothing to do with any of the mystery preceding it. Again, I say: SIGH.

I liked some of these characters a bit more and the mystery made *slightly* more sense, so it gets a slightly higher rating than Evelyn Hardcastle.

And you know, I still would read his next book. I generally like his writing style and I'd like to see if he can deliver me a mystery that actually pays off.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Violence, and Sexism

Moderate: Rape

Minor: Sexual violence and Torture

mrslsmith's review against another edition

adventurous dark informative mysterious tense medium-paced

4.75

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Content Warnings

Minor: Blood, Rape, Colonisation, Excrement, Religious bigotry, Vomit, Animal death, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Domestic abuse, Torture, and Gore

katelarson's review

slow-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, Vomit, Torture, and Sexism

Minor: Sexual violence and Sexual harassment

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.