Reviews tagging 'Adult/minor relationship'

Sundial by Catriona Ward

21 reviews

liahopkins's review against another edition

dark tense fast-paced

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

5.0

I picked this book up more by chance, but I am really glad I did. It is less of a horror book and more of a slightly bizarre thriller with some paranormal tones (?), but it was still captivating from start to finish!
The characters are all very fleshed out and layered, they are all pretty unlikable (except maybe Mia), and literally none of them are good people. Still, you can understand why they do the shit they do (to some extent at least), so that made me hate them less.
There are so many themes/images used again throughout the story (mirrors, maggots, clocks) which made the whole writing very cohesive. The author was also very good at leaving small clues everywhere (especially in the Arrowood chapters), but mixing them up with red herrings. I was so captured, putting tabs on everything I thought was important to the plot, and writing down all my new theories. Most of them were wrong. But I loved going through all of my notes again and understanding what they were really alluding to.
Most of the twists were very surprising, but made so much sense at the same time (I said "ohhhh" way too many times). The only twist I really didn't like was the last one (

aka Annie being the evil child and not Callie

), I felt like it undid a lot of what the author had established before. I almost lowered the rating because of this, but since it was literally just in the last chapter, I decided to just pretend like it never happened. At some points, I also thought the overall topic of what is happening at Sundial seemed a little far-fetched, but reading the Author's note and seeing it was based on actual events, I feel like that critique can't hold itself. Overall, there were a couple of those little moments where I thought "is this realistic?", so maybe 5 stars is a little too generous of me, but I really, really enjoyed the reading experience, so I feel like they are justified.

 

Also I have a theory I will not budge on and that I just need to put out somewhere: Callie kept talking about Rob touching her eyes as if adjusting contact lenses, even though she doesn't wear them. And in one chapter, it says something about Rob thinking about getting coloured contacts and just continue living as Jack. I don't care what anyone says, I think Rob is actually Jack who just pretends to be Rob, because Rob was killed by 23. I will die on that hill. 

PS: please note the content warnings because there are a lot!!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Violence, Blood, and Murder

Moderate: Drug use, Infidelity, Mental illness, and Miscarriage

Minor: Adult/minor relationship and Panic attacks/disorders

readingtomydogs's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.75

I liked when the chapters were short, some were quite long. I really enjoyed the dual timelines. The writing was very tense and I thought Rob’s backstory was very interesting, not like something I’ve read before. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Domestic abuse, and Murder

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Gore, Miscarriage, Toxic relationship, and Pregnancy

elle_e_d_light's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.5

Like Ward's other books, this book is DARK. If you are sensitive to animal cruelty or domestic abuse, you should probably stay far away from this book because it has both of those throughout the whole story. 

If I had to categorize this book, I'd say it best fits into Psychological Horror. Emphasis on the "horror". I won't say I enjoyed reading it—I hate animal cruelty—but I thought it was very well written and very good for the genre. I think I liked "Little Eve" a bit more than this, but that's because I loved the more gothic feel of it. I can't decide if I think this one is slightly better written. I liked "Little Eve" and "Sundial" far more than "Last House on Needless Street", which I didn't much care for. From the other reviews I've seen, it seems to be that the more someone likes "Needless Street", the less they like "Sundial" and vice versa.

While I thought this book was good, it's really not the type of book that one recommends to people. At least not without several content warnings. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Murder, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Drug abuse and Medical content

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Miscarriage, Trafficking, Kidnapping, and Pregnancy

Part of the plot deals heavily with the MKUltra experiments—specifically the remote controlled dogs part. It was animal cruelty of the highest order. But anyway, the animal cruelty and testing in this book is based off of real-life events.

the_book_bee's review against another edition

dark emotional 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Confinement, Domestic abuse, Miscarriage, Torture, Violence, and Blood

Moderate: Addiction, Confinement, Drug abuse, Gun violence, Slavery, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Gaslighting

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Trafficking, and Cannibalism

kermit_the_wrong's review against another edition

dark mysterious slow-paced

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

2.0

Never really *got there*. It had potential but just fizzled out somewhere along the way. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Suicide attempt, Murder, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, and Alcohol

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Infertility, Sexual content, and Abandonment

simplyammee's review against another edition

dark tense medium-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? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Death, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Violence, Medical content, and Pregnancy

Moderate: Addiction, Animal cruelty, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, and Gaslighting

Minor: Adult/minor relationship

nisima's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Kidnapping, Medical trauma, Pregnancy, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Infidelity, Medical content, Abortion, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

Minor: Adult/minor relationship

Much of the plot and setting revolves around animal experimentation specifically on dogs and a coyote. Things go horribly wrong, and the premise of the experimentation is debateably ableist. The rest of the plot and setting basically revolve around a woman escaping a deeply abusive relationship, and worries that one of her two daughters might be a serial killer. There are multiple violent confrontations. The end is happy but may be too ambiguous for some given the tension.

alybark's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense medium-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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Miscarriage, Blood, Trafficking, Murder, and Pregnancy

Moderate: Addiction

Minor: Adult/minor relationship

mfallon3491's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Self harm, Torture, Violence, Blood, Suicide attempt, Murder, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

constellation_library's review against another edition

challenging dark sad tense medium-paced

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

2.5

This book just was not for me, and that is okay! Horror is subjective and not for everyone.

Here are my CAWPILE ratings:

Characters--4: the characters in this novel were one of the weakest parts for me. I did not like the MC—I felt as though she was illogical and made really horrible choices. Her POV was grueling to read, and I did not connect with her or her plight whatsoever. The side characters were somewhat better, but even their motivations for things seemed flimsy at best. I wanted to root for someone, but I honestly, other than the children in the story, I did not care whether any of the adults lived or died. 

Atmosphere--6: this was the one thing that stood out to me. The atmosphere was tense, uncomfortable, and chilling. I felt the mood intensely, and was genuinely afraid for the characters, even though I didn’t really care for them. 

World-Building--6: This was another strength of the novel, specifically in relation to Sundial itself, and how the narrator describes the place. I could envision it easily in my mind’s eye, as well as the events that took place there. 

Plot--4: while this wasn’t my favorite part of the novel, a lot of the decisions made sense given the circumstances of the tale. I also really didn’t care for the ending, and that can make or break a story for me. Of the two surprises at the end, one of them was satisfying, while the other was too convenient. I can’t give more detail due to spoilers, but I had just got done praising one in time to roll my eyes at the other. 

Intrigue--4: This was so-so for me. While there were moments where I was genuinely interested and couldn’t put it down, there were things that completely took me out of the story. For instance, our MC is writing a novel, and most of the characters, if not all, are named after people from her life. I think that the way she is telling her story gives hints to the true nature of characters in the overall novel, but not enough for me to feel that this aspect was necessary. I don’t feel like I learned anything that wasn’t already obvious in the larger story, and it often took me out of the tension and suspense of what was happening. I think it could be omitted entirely. 

Logic--4: the logic did and didn’t logic logically for me. Sometimes I was like, “okay, I’ll buy that” while other times, I couldn’t help but laugh at the absurdity of some decisions made by the author—particularly in the relationships she created between characters. And, again, some things were just SO convenient and clearly a means to an end plot-wise, that I felt a bit cheated as a reader. 

Enjoyment--3: With everything else considered, I just did not have a good time. Apart from the issues listed above, I do not enjoy some of the themes in this book (child abuse/death, animal abuse/death) on a personal level. This type of horror is just far too real for me, and I do not enjoy reading about it at all, especially when it has no supernatural elements to it and is instead people doing these horrible things. Both of those were central themes of this novel, so bear that in mind when going in to read this one. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Infidelity, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Blood, Murder, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Confinement, Drug abuse, Torture, Trafficking, and Pregnancy