Reviews tagging 'Child death'

The Twisted Ones by T. Kingfisher

15 reviews

paintedgiraffe's review

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.75

Mm, I read "What Moves the Dead" before this, and I rather prefer that one. I was unsurprised to hear that this was her first horror novel. It's just a LITTLE bit unformed. Plenty scary, though! Scarier than WMTD. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Miscarriage, Religious bigotry, Slavery, Pregnancy, and Child death

meganpbell's review

adventurous dark funny mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.5

This is a downright disturbing and deliciously atmospheric work of folkhorror, from hoarder’s house to haunted woods, narrated with unexpected humor by a woman who just wants to keep her dumb dog safe. What I didn’t know until the very end is that this book is inspired by a 1904 classic horror short story by Arthur Machen, and while you can definitely enjoy this book without knowing the story, I felt like I was missing something once I knew!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror and Gore

Moderate: Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Animal death, Fire/Fire injury, and Confinement

Minor: Blood, Murder, Pregnancy, Miscarriage, Child death, Infertility, Racism, Death of parent, and Dementia

traa's review

adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic relationship

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Blood, Death, Gaslighting, Gun violence, Miscarriage, Animal death, Body horror, Child death, Chronic illness, Death of parent, Mental illness, Terminal illness, Dementia, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, Pregnancy, Sexual content, Slavery, and Violence

Minor: Car accident

readwithbells's review against another edition

4.0

 Then I made faces like the faces on the rocks, and I twisted myself around like the twisted ones, and I lay down flat on the ground like the dead ones.

That made my skin crawl. Folk horror (and turns out a pulp horror retelling, thanks authors note) done absolutely right. Sometimes the humour felt a little too much and there was a point between 60-80% where so many reveals were happening the storyline got totally convoluted for me. I took a six hour break and finished the book this afternoon and I’m so glad I did because that climax was fantastic. I haven’t had a horror book make me physically shudder in a long time and this was exactly what I was looking for: something spooky and horror-feeling where I’ll still be able to sleep at night. Potentially a bit long and certainly a bit repetitive, the atmosphere wasn’t great but the body horror was; I liked it. Never gonna look at rocks the same though. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, and Panic attacks/disorders

Moderate: Chronic illness and Mental illness

Minor: Child death and Death of parent

Moderate:

forced pregnancy

emzhay's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense slow-paced

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

3.0

The first 60% was a type of horror that really had me creeped out a scared to look out of the corner of my eye. It was thrilling, and I was sucked in. The last 30% I have mixed feeling about. The horror imagery still hit that same beat, but the plot direction and the cut-in humor was pulling me out of the story. I really don’t know exactly how I feel about the ending, but it’s not exactly positive. 

I wasn’t too fond of the narrator either, but I also didn’t hate her. Mouse’s attempted southern jokes came off as sly classiest comments and that irked me. They did disappear in the later half, but there were enough comments early on for her to leave a bad impression. 

I would rate lower, but I really did enjoy it a lot up until the end. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Gore, Animal cruelty, and Animal death

Moderate: Child death

Minor: Racism and Classism

jasmine256's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Animal death, and Body horror

Moderate: Death, Fire/Fire injury, and Dementia

Minor: Death of parent, Child death, and Racism

ashleycmms's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gore, and Body horror

Moderate: Fire/Fire injury, Animal cruelty, Death of parent, and Animal death

Minor: Child death

eleanormair's review

dark funny tense medium-paced

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

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore

Minor: Child death, Xenophobia, and Racism

ghostams's review

adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

5.0

 Absolutely loved this book! It was an insanely amazing mix of folklore, family history, isolating energy, small town vibes, and childhood-level fear. Definitely a book I wish I could forget, just to read again, even though it was terrifying in the best way. Plus, the characters are so unique while being regular folk. Also, the dog doesn't die and is arguably the hero! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore

Moderate: Mental illness and Grief

Minor: Racism, Emotional abuse, Rape, Injury/Injury detail, Infertility, Confinement, Child death, Kidnapping, Miscarriage, Domestic abuse, and Death

breazatoth's review

dark funny mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

Satisfying Appalachian folk horror, complete with roots of where some of our monsters began. Ending didn't hold up to the rest of the book, but the cast of characters was the shining star.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror and Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Confinement, Death, and Dementia

Minor: Domestic abuse, Child death, and Death of parent