Reviews tagging 'War'

Wayward Pines. I osa by Blake Crouch

16 reviews

beckyyreadss's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.0

I wanted to read this book because I enjoyed Upgrade by Blake Crouch and once, I enjoy a book by an author, I want to read more from them. I decided to start with Pines, as it was on Kindle Unlimited and sounded interesting and wouldn’t hurt my head like Upgrade did.  

This book is based on Ethan Burke, and he is a Secret Service agent. He has arrived in Wayward Pines, Idaho, with a mission to locate to federal agents who went missing in this town one month earlier. But within minutes of his arrival, Ethan is involved in a violent accident. He comes to in a hospital with no ID, no cell phone, and no briefcase. As the days pass, Ethan’s investigation turns up more questions than why can’t he get any phone calls through to his wife and son? Why doesn’t anyone believe he is who he says he is? And what is the purpose of the electrified fences surrounding the town? Are they meant to keep residents in? Or something else out? Each step closer to the truth takes Ethan farther from the world he knew, from the man he was, until he must face a horrifying fact – he may never get out of Wayward Pines alive.  

Again, like Upgrade, I loved the main character in this book. Ethan Burke wasn’t taking no shit; he was determined to find out what the hell was going on in this town and to get the hell out of there to be with his wife and son. I found myself rooting for Ethan and really wanting him to be reunited with his family and wanted to give him a hug. I liked the plot and how it was slowly building and mind-fucking. I was so confused but wanted to carry on finding out what the hell was going on.  

I felt like the side characters were underdeveloped. They were only there to move the story along besides his wife and son. Everyone in the book just felt very 2D and I understood why but I just wanted a bit more from them. The plot twists did confuse me slightly with all the memory wiping and future thing. I would have loved for this to be dual POV and for the doctor to have another POV, so the reader knew what was going on and watching Ethan connect the dots. He spends most of the book unconscious or in pain and the hospital.  

I cannot wait to read the next one in the series. I’m intrigued with how this is going to be continued especially with the ending, but we will wait and see.  

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture, Violence, and Murder

Moderate: Death, Gore, and Car accident

Minor: Infidelity, Suicide, and War

kellyisntcool's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious sad 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? It's complicated

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Medical trauma, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Torture, Murder, and War

Minor: Islamophobia

fkshg8465's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-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

5.0

Crouch is one of my favorite writers. Have loved every book I’ve read by him. This is the first one that scared me to the deepest parts of my brain on multiple levels. When it was made for TV, I was too scared to watch it, not knowing it was based on one of his books. Will certainly watch it now. And will immediately be reading book two!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Bullying, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Infidelity, Physical abuse, Torture, Violence, Blood, Police brutality, Kidnapping, Grief, Cannibalism, Medical trauma, Stalking, Murder, Gaslighting, and War

piscespnwmama's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture, Violence, and Murder

Moderate: War

Minor: Infidelity

chris_reads's review against another edition

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Violence, Police brutality, Medical trauma, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Gore, Gun violence, Torture, Trafficking, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Infidelity, Xenophobia, Blood, Car accident, and War

markguitar's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.0

Very good book and I hope to get the sequel.  Crouch is an excellent writer.  At first, I thought I wouldn't bother going to the second book.  Fair warning...lots of very graphic violence, gore, torture.  If you don't have a stomach for that, I'd avoid it.  That almost made me want to stop.  However, the book leads to a payoff in the end...it does resolve, but it also makes me curious about what's coming next.  Not as good as Crouch's Incursion--which is outstanding--but still a good read.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Torture, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Murder, Gaslighting, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Cursing, Infidelity, and Vomit

__codex's review against another edition

dark mysterious 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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Violence, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Gaslighting, and War

Moderate: Mental illness, Physical abuse, Torture, Islamophobia, Medical content, Kidnapping, Medical trauma, and War

Minor: Car accident

jdhauk's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gaslighting

Moderate: Violence, Police brutality, and War

zosiablue's review against another edition

adventurous 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

4.25

I've seen the TV version of this a couple of times through and thought it was finally time to read the books. It's such a thrilling weird sci-fi story and the payoff at the end of this first one is SO GOOD. You just don't see it coming and it gives you that same Planet of the Apes / Twin Peaks unsettling-oh-shit vibe. Drags uh some parts like the show but really really fun. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Torture, Car accident, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Gore, Infidelity, Suicidal thoughts, Police brutality, and War

masoanarchist's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense slow-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Torture, Violence, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Infidelity

Minor: Death and Suicide