Reviews tagging 'Death'

The Laws of the Skies by Grégoire Courtois

62 reviews

charmarie's review against another edition

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Gore, Torture, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

cwiita's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad 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

3.75

Bordered on feeling unrealistic in the sense that the verbal communication and (hopefully) barbarity of children has its limits, but usually managed to turn the worst moments into something worthwhile.
I find the perspective interesting, mainly the way that Courtois acknowledged and discusses children’s realities and fears through the language and context of adult understandings. 
Initially I struggled to grasp the timeline and the way our focus as an audience shifts so frequently, but eventually I realized how important it was to the film-like pacing and building of suspense. 
It made for a very interesting read, with some decent gore.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Gore, Torture, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Grief, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Alcoholism, Child abuse, Confinement, and Excrement

Minor: Stalking

mblanke's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

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

1.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Gore, Torture, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Death of parent, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

thebookcloser's review against another edition

adventurous dark sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

This book was everything I imagined and more. 😍 If you loved Lord of the Flies, this book is your gold mine. LOTS is a modern take on this classic but I would say the darker, adult version. 

I saw many reviews on Goodreads that poorly rated this book because you had to “suspend your disbelief.” This is a true horror book in every form and those that rated based on that missed the point of this book. 

For another reader to get the same “wow” factor it gave me.. I can’t spoil, but if this book peaks your interest know the themes are deep and they are the biggest takeaway from the story which is why I picked it up to begin with. 🖤

Lastly, the writing style is unique. There is no “chapters,” there are obvious “breaks.” POVs would jump sometimes between paragraphs but it became easy to follow once I understood. I actually enjoyed it. 😊

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Death, Gore, Torture, Violence, Blood, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Animal cruelty

hkveit's review against another edition

dark sad tense fast-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Death, Gore, Violence, Blood, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Child abuse

potassiumk's review against another edition

challenging dark sad tense fast-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Stalking, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

noldorin's review against another edition

dark tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No

3.5

I went into this book without necessarily even knowing what it was about, I just saw some comments about it being disturbing.
Happy to say it didn't disappoint. Everything happening felt
completely insane considering this is a book about kids. I loved the ending and the fact the plot is really just a bloodbath with no good ending. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Death, Gore, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

floressius's review against another edition

dark fast-paced

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

1.0

a nasty, brutal, gory, uncomfortable book.

twelve children are killed or die in increasingly awful, graphic ways. more battle royale for six year olds than lord of the flies. 

from a writing perspective: no story, run-on sentences, confusing turns of phrase, poor character choices. leans heavily into the idea of fables and being one, only to have no moral itself. it's just gratuitous violence and children's misfortune described in graphic detail.

hated this. don't know why i even read it. can't quite comprehend the sheer amount of 5 star reviews either. this is your favourite book? this one???? get help

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Death, Gore, Violence, and Murder

m_scrimshaw's review against another edition

2.5

Modern French literature is really does have a unique bleakness I'm sure there's a point to, but I'll be damned if I can tell you what it is. To be fair, the story is clear about it's events from the very beginning before

offing our entire cast in increasingly gruesome and unsettling ways

. A very "Dead Dove, Do Not Eat" book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Death, Gore, Violence, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Sexual assault, Excrement, Vomit, Car accident, and Alcohol

novel_grace's review against another edition

dark sad tense medium-paced

Good lord, this book is like if you blended Lord of the Flies with Final Destination. I’m not even sure what to say. The story telling and narrative structure was incredibly inventive, but it is hard to think about anything other than how gruesome it is. The last second to last chapter is one of the rougher things I’ve read, but I couldn’t look away. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, and Violence