Reviews tagging 'Medical content'

Die Bibliothek von Edinburgh: Roman by T.L. Huchu

9 reviews

toffishay's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny mysterious tense medium-paced

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

2.75

I don't know about this one. Something about it didn't really draw me in. It felt repetitive and like we were spinning our wheels for a lot of the time and then the ending really just jumped out of nowhere. That may be first book struggles though as there is a lot to set up. But I would have hoped that the library would feature more in this one, since that was the name of the book and we barely got anything. Also, I don't really know why the main character is 14-years-old. The themes are really mature and dark and I know that a lot of YA books deal with intense themes, but it seems like the audience is more for adult fantasy, so why not have the main character be in her early 20s or even late teens?

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Violence, Blood, and Murder

Moderate: Confinement, Emotional abuse, Vomit, Kidnapping, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Minor: Cursing, Drug abuse, Drug use, Racism, Rape, Slavery, Torture, Xenophobia, Police brutality, Medical content, Trafficking, Grief, Medical trauma, Death of parent, and War

yvo_about_books's review against another edition

2.0

 Finished reading: December 24th 2023

“Doing something when it is hard, because it is the right thing to do, matters more than doing it when it's easy. The world needs light now more than ever.”

I know that I don't read a lot of YA anymore, but I do tend to enjoy a good urban fantasy and there was just something about the blurb of The Library Of The Dead that had me fully intrigued. I was SO excited when my TBR jar thought it was time to finally read it, and I actually expected to end up finding a new favorite... But sadly the complete opposite happened. This had nothing to do with the premise itself, and everything with the writing. I simply clashed horribly with the writing style, and the way the premise was developed was actually rather confusing and vague at times. I strongly disliked all the slang and cursing; instead of feeling natural, the tone was rather forced and I sometimes struggled to understand certain phrases. My dislike for the writing also ment I wasn't really a fan of the main character Ropa, which was where most of the slang appeared. Even my curiosity for the bookish elements, the library and the magic couldn't redeem this story for me, and I confess that I started skimreading long before the halfway mark. I guess it won't come as a surprise that I won't be continuing this series in the future. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Drug use, Physical abuse, Torture, Violence, Blood, Police brutality, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

readingwithkaitlyn's review against another edition

adventurous dark medium-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Death, Violence, Kidnapping, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Physical abuse, Torture, Blood, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Sexual harassment, and Classism

Minor: Ableism, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Cancer, Child death, Infidelity, Pedophilia, Suicide, Excrement, Vomit, Police brutality, Medical content, Car accident, and Alcohol

Drowning, sex work.

pkc's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.5

This was an absolute whirlwind of a book. Edinburgh provided a fitting backdrop for this mysterious plot and rapid fire magic system. It was fascinating. I enjoyed the trips into Scottish mythology and the dystopia-lite feel. By which I mean, society hadn’t fully broken down, but things were FAR from ideal. I struggled a lot with the language. Everything was clipped and there were phrases in there that I’ve never heard anyone use, but honestly more power to them. Give it a bash, but fair warning, it gets DARK. The allegory of the central plot is heavy. The final showdown setting is frankly hysterical to me.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Death, Pedophilia, Sexism, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Fire/Fire injury, Colonisation, and Injury/Injury detail

pvbobrien's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious fast-paced

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

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Kidnapping

Moderate: Body horror, Child abuse, Gore, Violence, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Minor: Death, Drug use, Pedophilia, Blood, Police brutality, Medical content, Trafficking, Grief, Car accident, and Fire/Fire injury

nytephoenyx's review against another edition

dark reflective slow-paced

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

3.5

The Library Of the Dead was a tricky book because there are a lot of interesting things, but I struggled with the execution. The book is written in first person with a lot of slang, which is fine, but the protagonist rambles. It has a very “inner monologue” feel and it slowed down the narrative. Add to that: the library mentioned in the title only appears in a couple chapters, and the plot didn’t really get going until halfway through the book, and this was a struggle for me.

The magical concepts were interesting, but the system was infodumped and the protagonist’s explanation came off a bit impatient with the whole thing. I still haven’t nailed down the time period (futuristic but with loads of contemporary pop culture references?). The descriptions of magic were good and the plot was interesting, but delivery was simplified and overly lucky.

In general, the book was interesting to read, but a bit too messy to hold my interest for a re-read or continuation.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Death, Drug use, Blood, Kidnapping, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Slavery, Torture, Violence, and Medical content

Minor: Excrement and Vomit

The main character is BIPOC and a supporting character uses a wheelchair. Characters experience poverty.

nicnevin's review against another edition

dark funny mysterious fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• 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

Good story set in a post-apocalyptic Edinburgh. Plot was pretty good but I would have preferred more worldbuilding stuff because I am unsure where and when the timelines diverged. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Drug use, Gore, Gun violence, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Slavery, Terminal illness, Torture, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Police brutality, Medical content, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Alcohol, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

uranaishi's review against another edition

adventurous dark hopeful mysterious medium-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Slavery, Torture, Violence, and Kidnapping

Moderate: Animal death, Child abuse, Death, Drug use, Physical abuse, Blood, Police brutality, Medical content, Trafficking, Grief, Car accident, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Animal cruelty, Emotional abuse, Rape, Murder, Abandonment, War, and Classism

aardwyrm's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny mysterious medium-paced

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

4.5

A deliciously spooky set-piece, mixing horror and subtly dystopian cli-fi in an alternate magical future-history. The plot is pretty by the numbers for an urban fantasy, but the world and the characters more than make up for it, and there's pleasure in a well-executed mystery full of guns on the wall waiting to fire. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Confinement, Death, Gore, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Kidnapping, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Alcoholism, Animal death, and Police brutality