Reviews tagging 'Blood'

The Butcher and the Wren by Alaina Urquhart

78 reviews

jesuskleist's review

dark emotional informative mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

4.25

V good! I did spend the entirety of this book waiting for them to fuck though… real twist there… my b Wren

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Blood, Medical content, Kidnapping, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

sierraskai's review

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture, Blood, Stalking, and Murder

princess_marie's review against another edition

dark 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? No

2.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Confinement, Death, Gun violence, Misogyny, Torture, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Stalking

aaannina's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

1.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Physical abuse, Torture, Violence, Blood, Police brutality, Kidnapping, Medical trauma, Stalking, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

karlee_reads's review

dark fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix

4.0

Be warned, this short novel does not shy away from graphic details. The descriptions of the murders and attacks are violent and visceral. While this doesn't bother me, it is something I would warn people about before they dive in. The Lousiana setting feels both perfect and cliche in the same breath, but I'm not mad about that as a reader. I also really like the attention to sound from Urquhart - acknowledging the cacophony of the night in the swamp and using it with the juxtaposition of music in the murders. 

The use of the intertwining timelines really helped make this a more engaging story for me. More than just 2 points of view, but 2 different times coming together. Wren being Emily was an awesome twist that I didn't see coming. The spiraling out of Jermey/Cal as he gets sloppy out of frustration,  while still being markedely dangerous along the way was a great devolution of the character.

Overall this was a tight and smart thriller that gave a satisfying story to any murder show or podcast fan. Who doesn't love a cliffhanger? Answer: me - haha. Guess I'll have to pick up the next one this fall.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Blood, Kidnapping, Stalking, and Murder

emmarip's review

adventurous dark emotional 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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Death, Physical abuse, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

The medical areas are because the main character is a medical examiners, and she is often doing autopsies etc. None of the medical scenes pertain to illness, it is all murder/crime based

ashlymarie's review

dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Blood, Medical content, Kidnapping, Death of parent, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

ninaw2's review

dark medium-paced

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

2.75

this is between a 2.5 and 3 for me. it didn’t do much for me. i’m not a fan of books where i already know who is causing the mayhem. love the author as a podcast host but this kinda fell flat for me. there was a twist i didn’t see coming, the ending was a bit intriguing (like wtf is going on paul?!?) and some descriptions were grossly great. but it was just meh for me. quick easy read though.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Death, Gun violence, Torture, Blood, Vomit, Stalking, and Murder

the_bookish_rose's review

dark 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? Yes

2.0

Typically this isn’t a genre I read all that often just because it isn’t up my alley most of the time (or usually I’ll try to save the spooky reads for October) but I was requested to read this one. I shocked myself by finishing this in three days, though truthfully the writing style was really easy to read and get through, which has its pros and cons.

I feel like I could see the potential this book had, but it needed some more time to finish cooking. This novel had the common writing dilemma of “telling vs showing”, and personally I always love a good murder tale if it’s written in first person rather than third but that’s just me. I also wish there was more character development into Cal/Jeremy, as we (the readers) don’t really get much backstory into how he got into what he does now other than hunting with his dad when he was younger. I also wanted to like the FMC more, but just didn’t find myself connecting with her fully either, but her determination was solid as to finding out what happened. I also wish there was a much bigger climax for the ending, as it felt a bit lackluster, but I was glad to reach the ending. One positive area is the author’s expertise on the medical examiner side, as the level of detail into that aspect was cool to see; I just wish it also spread to other places in the book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Physical abuse, Torture, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Kidnapping, Stalking, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

sighitsbri's review

dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gore, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Gun violence