Reviews tagging 'Death'

White Horse by Erika T. Wurth

41 reviews

ktdakotareads's review

dark fast-paced

• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Colonisation, Rape, Drug use, Abandonment, Addiction, Alcohol, Death, Blood, Car accident, Sexual assault, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Grief, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Toxic relationship, Murder, and Pedophilia

thebearnest's review

dark emotional mysterious 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? Yes

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic relationship, Abandonment, Cursing, Sexual content, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Death of parent, Death, Grief, and Murder

Moderate: Child abuse, Drug abuse, Incest, Pedophilia, Drug use, Colonisation, and Addiction

Minor: Suicidal thoughts, Mental illness, and Gun violence

mary_stormageddon's review

dark emotional mysterious sad 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

3.5

Too much telling, not enough showing. I had a hard time disappearing into this story. But I loved a lot of aspects of it. It was sad. And I learned a lot. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Gun violence, Sexual assault, Violence, Alcohol, Death of parent, Drug use, Grief, Blood, and Death

savvylit's review

dark emotional mysterious 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? Yes

4.0

White Horse is a character-driven literary thriller that combines Urban Native culture with an exploration of family trauma. In order to cease the hauntings, Kari must discover more about her mother's cryptic past. Not only that, but her mother's side of the family is indigenous. As Kari unravels the mysteries of her mother's ghost, she learns more about her ancestors and her Native identity.

Kari and her cousin Debby are both incredibly well-developed, complex characters. White Horse is so easy to get invested in - and not just because of the ghosts. (Though the ghosts are definitely intriguing and scary). Overall, the reason it's easy to get invested in this book is because the characters are loveable and empathetic. One of my biggest pet peeves in books in general is when characters are shallow and inaccessible; Kari & Debby are the opposite of that. I can't wait to read more of Wurth's work!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual violence, Death, Blood, Grief, Murder, Racism, and Sexual assault

chasingpages1's review

challenging dark emotional informative mysterious reflective sad slow-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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Addiction, Murder, Sexual assault, Child abuse, Death of parent, Drug use, Grief, Gun violence, Incest, Alcohol, Drug abuse, Toxic relationship, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Suicide attempt, Violence, Adult/minor relationship, Self harm, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Death, Gaslighting, Mental illness, Car accident, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Abandonment, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

Minor: Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, Torture, Racism, Stalking, War, Cursing, Gore, Body horror, Police brutality, Colonisation, Genocide, and Medical content

foldingthepage_kayleigh's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious 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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Alcoholism, Addiction, Murder, Gore, Gaslighting, Drug abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Alcohol, Blood, Pedophilia, Death of parent, Death, Chronic illness, Incest, Body horror, Violence, Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, Sexism, Racism, and Gun violence

Minor: Sexual violence and Sexual content

laura_keoski's review against another edition

dark emotional informative mysterious tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse, Murder, Grief, Gaslighting, Body horror, Blood, Alcoholism, Death of parent, and Death

Moderate: Gun violence, Domestic abuse, Car accident, Colonisation, Alcohol, Drug use, Genocide, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racism, and Sexual content

Minor: Gaslighting, Police brutality, Pedophilia, Mental illness, Injury/Injury detail, Incest, Emotional abuse, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

mfrisk's review

challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad 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? Yes

4.0

White Horse is a book about family history, addiction, friendship, and growing up. It is not necessarily a horror/thriller book which will throw action at you from the very beginning but is more of a character study and slow build. I really enjoyed getting to learn about the characters and their motivations as I felt it was very important to the main characters journey to find her mom. To me it showed she needed the support of all those around her to face what occurred towards the end of the book. 

While there were some aspects I didn’t love such as Debby accepting Jake back into her life and the dismissiveness of his bad behavior I think at least leading up to that there is commentary around their relationship which shows how toxic it is. Otherwise loved where this story takes us and it’s discussion of tougher topics. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Drug abuse, Drug use, Addiction, Death, Child death, Alcoholism, Domestic abuse, Alcohol, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Gun violence, and Car accident

Moderate: Rape and Sexual assault

Minor: Ableism and Forced institutionalization

ambgs's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional informative mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

5.0

Wow, just wow. I was a bit iffy about the book because of what others had written but I’m glad I read it. It was so good and i loved the indigenous culture that was in the book. It made me want to look more into the history of indigenous cultures and peoples! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Death of parent, Medical trauma, and Child abuse

onemamareads's review

challenging dark emotional informative mysterious reflective sad 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? Yes

3.5

Read my full review here: https://onemamassummer.weebly.com/book-reviews/white-horse

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug use, Death of parent, Gun violence, Alcohol, Misogyny, Grief, Gore, Emotional abuse, Death, Drug abuse, Murder, Gaslighting, Addiction, Racism, Child abuse, Blood, Colonisation, Violence, Toxic relationship, Domestic abuse, and Body horror