Reviews tagging 'Drug use'

The Library of the Dead by T.L. Huchu

23 reviews

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

fionamclary's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny lighthearted tense medium-paced

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

4.0

This was a fun time, but I was kind of surprised that the protagonist was so young based on how others had talked about this book. I'm not entirely sure what age range is the target audience. Not that a book can't be for everyone, but I like it to be clear who the main audience is. If someone had pitched this to me as a teen/YA novel I might have rated it a bit higher since my expectations would have been met. I'll probably read book 2. Ropa is a fun protagonist and I am looking forward to reading more about her friendships with Jomo and Priya and hopefully getting some more backstory on Gran.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement and Trafficking

Moderate: Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Gore, Slavery, Car accident, and Classism

Minor: Drug use, Rape, Police brutality, War, and Injury/Injury detail

chalkletters's review against another edition

mysterious medium-paced

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

1.5

As a reader, it's easy to get lured in by books about libraries, but the more I read of them, the more I question whether that's a good instinct. On the whole, I think I prefer stories about stories to stories about books. That said, though there's a library in The Library of the Dead, the main character only reads about three books from it, so maybe this isn't a good example.

The Library of the Dead is a very, very urban fantasy novel; the action takes place in Edinburgh in a post-war dystopia, with whole sections of the city under encroaching water and caravan parks and tent cities springing up on the land that's left to accommodate the population. For a reader who hasn't spent much time in Edinburgh, that aspect felt cohesive, with little nods throughout to what the city used to be like. While there was definitely more urban than fantasy, the magical elements were integral to the story, ranging from the presence of ghosts to hints of a traditionally learnable magic system.

While Ropa's first-person narrative was strong, her character could have been a little more fleshed out. Given the bleakness of the setting, money and family make sense as motivations, but don't do a whole lot to distinguish Ropa from any other character in that kind of setting. The Library of the Dead was very plot-driven, which meant the interesting secondary characters didn't get much of a chance to shine except in so far as they could contribute to the solving of the 'crime'.

One of the problems with fantasy crime novels is that it's so often impossible for the reader to attempt to solve it alongside the detective character(s). Magical crimes have magical solutions, which can't necessarily be guessed at or suspected by non-magical readers. So although Ropa was definitely solving a crime, T L Huchu didn't hit the detective novel beats of suspects and clues, which left the mystery without any real hook.

Much as I appreciate genre-mixing, I don't think this is a series I'll be continuing with.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child abuse and Kidnapping

Minor: Body horror, Death, Drug use, and Fire/Fire injury

awkwardimagination's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark funny mysterious tense slow-paced

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

4.0

Library of the Dead is a book thats been sitting on my shelf for about 2 years now, I bought it when it first came out. I thought i would be ready about an experienced ghosttalker who finds a mystical library in a modern Edinburgh and plot ensues. What i got was a 15 yo punk ghosttalker with a slingshot, no magical experience, a begrudging fox sidekick, and a ninja scarf in a Not Quite Modern Edinburgh. It was fantastic. Super creepy imagery, but fantastic.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Gore, Violence, Blood, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Confinement, Death, Drug use, Slavery, and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Torture

enbae's review against another edition

adventurous dark hopeful inspiring mysterious tense fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Physical abuse, Violence, Kidnapping, and Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Cursing, Drug abuse, Drug use, Blood, Police brutality, Grief, and Abandonment

Kidnapping of children, Maiming (a.o. of children), Poverty

mattyb's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious reflective tense fast-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? It's complicated

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Trafficking, Grief, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Gore, Torture, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Kidnapping, Fire/Fire injury, and Sexual harassment

Minor: Cursing, Drug use, Excrement, Police brutality, and Alcohol

aformeracceleratedreader's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced

3.5

I didn't love it, but I like it enough to want to read the sequel.
I think Ropa, Priya, and Ropa's family are good characters but some of the story I sort of glanced through without actually reading. I felt there was a lot of the book that was just written to fill space. I know for some people, they need all the imagery or details, but for me it can slow the story down. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Blood, Kidnapping, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Confinement, Drug use, Gore, and Car accident

atlantiareads's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad slow-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? It's complicated

3.0

The Library of the Dead was not my typical read, but was a nice change of pace. Theres a good mystery and great cast of characters. I found this book to quite creept at times. Even though the main character is 14, this book i feel like is definitely better suited to an older age range.
Overall i felt the first 130 pages were too slow and were difficult to get through. Truthfully consideted dnf'ing.

I feel like learning more about the greatly detailed magic system and spending more time in the hidden library would have brought me more enjoyment with this book.

Unsure if I will continue on to book 2.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Drug use, Gore, Physical abuse, Torture, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Car accident, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Addiction, Racism, Police brutality, and Medical trauma

lefthandlou's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny mysterious fast-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Minor: Body horror, Child abuse, Drug use, Police brutality, Kidnapping, and Grief

diecryread's review against another edition

adventurous dark inspiring mysterious tense 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? It's complicated

4.5

So good!! The narrator was amazing. My only issue is that the MC is 14, but feels/speaks/acts wayyyyyy older. Like at least 18 or 20. 

Girl speaks to ghosts and delivers messages for them. One asks her to find her missing child. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, and Death

Minor: Confinement and Drug use