Reviews tagging 'Terminal illness'

The Devil Makes Three by Tori Bovalino

10 reviews

uncreativeoops's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad tense slow-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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Self harm, Terminal illness, Cancer, Blood, and Death of parent

Moderate: Panic attacks/disorders

librariangeorgia's review against another edition

dark slow-paced

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

2.0

I loved the concept of this book, however it just wasn’t very well executed. It was actually quite disappointing.

The biggest problem that I had with this book was that there’s no world building! Literally. It’s mainly set in a library which sounds great. But when the devil appears, I’m assuming that’s meant to be a different location, it’s just described as if it’s a dream or imaginary. I couldn’t picture any other place other than the library.

I really wanted more from Eliot and Tess, their characters could’ve been so good but there’s a lack of character development for them both.

Honestly, I just forced my way through this because I’d been asked by friends for my opinion on this book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Death, Terminal illness, Vomit, Gore, and Self harm

literarypenguin's review against another edition

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

What a brilliant and gripping dark academia novel! I went into this book not knowing what I was going to expect but I can safely say this book surprised me.

I adored the characters in this book in particular I loved Tess as a character. She is headstrong, sarcastic and very driven. She is super protective of her little sister and spends most of her free moments playing her cello. She was content at spending most of her time alone until she runs into Eliot Birch, a young man from Britain who has a fascination for magic and witchcraft. Eliot was a great character as well, one of the things I loved about him was how much he did care about people and wanted to help them.

The dynamic between Eliot & Tess was very well developed and brilliantly written. The romance was set up wonderfully and it didnt feel fast or slow at all. It was very believably and almost felt realistic. The banter between them was very good and had several funny lines too.

The atmosphere was one of the high points of this book, it had a great dark and creepy vibe surrounding it. It was a perfect dark academia read!

While it is a YA novel, it didnt feel young. It felt like something people of all ages could pick up and read and enjoy it. I greatly appreciate that aspect of this book most of all.

I highly recommend this if you ever need a good dark academia read or a creepy read, pick this one up you won't regret it!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Gore, and Death

Moderate: Terminal illness and Body horror

anniereads221's review against another edition

dark tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Murder, Self harm, Violence, Injury/Injury detail, and Vomit

Moderate: Alcoholism, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Misogyny, and Terminal illness

Minor: Infidelity

marta_correia's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Death, and Blood

Moderate: Terminal illness, Alcoholism, and Domestic abuse

abookishwasp's review

challenging dark emotional sad fast-paced

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

4.25

what the fuck is that last page? no just no i dont care i did not just read that. that line doesnt exist.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Chronic illness, Death, Gore, Suicidal thoughts, and Terminal illness

Moderate: Death of parent and Vomit

kaetheluise_nckl's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• 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: Body horror, Cancer, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Death of parent, Gore, Self harm, Terminal illness, and Violence

Moderate: Alcoholism, Medical content, and Fire/Fire injury

blood, human sacrifice, possession leading to degradation of mental state

nazyalenski's review against another edition

dark 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? No

4.25

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Self harm and Terminal illness

Minor: Child abuse

saimab's review against another edition

dark emotional 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? It's complicated

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood

Moderate: Infidelity and Terminal illness

Minor: Domestic abuse and Death of parent

katiemack's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.5

I received an eARC of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This is deliciously scary! I won't give away too much, but the way Bovalino describes how the Devil works actually made me shudder. Unlike some authors, Bovalino doesn't let the YA label stop her from including a healthy amount of gore. I usually read these NetGalley eARCs before bed, and I had to stop doing that with this one because it was too frightening. There were a couple of plot points that made me pause (again, don't want to give too much away), but for the most part the plot speeds along like a train about to collide with the side of a mountain.

If you like dark academia but want it in YA form, this is for you. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore and Blood

Moderate: Violence and Terminal illness

Minor: Alcoholism, Toxic relationship, Misogyny, and Emotional abuse