Reviews tagging 'Physical abuse'

Die Bibliothek am Mount Char by Scott Hawkins

130 reviews

rachelunabridged's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark sad 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

4.25


Expand filter menu Content Warnings

sarabara's review against another edition

Go to review page

Too dark for me: animal murder, violent man abuses other characters.

Expand filter menu Content Warnings

sydneythebookpal's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No

3.75


Expand filter menu Content Warnings

smothermewithscifi's review against another edition

Go to review page

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

3.5


Expand filter menu Content Warnings

ralphball's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful informative mysterious reflective sad tense fast-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

5.0


Expand filter menu Content Warnings

egfrith's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark mysterious tense slow-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

3.0


Expand filter menu Content Warnings

azazellos_fang's review against another edition

Go to review page

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

4.0


Expand filter menu Content Warnings

kenchingfox's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous dark reflective tense medium-paced
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

This one was a little too brutal in the first half for the second half to make up for it.

Expand filter menu Content Warnings

vrobert's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5


Expand filter menu Content Warnings

jayisreading's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

3.0

I’m not sure where to begin with this book. The Library at Mount Char is weird. A lot happens that will make you experience a range of emotions which, admittedly, tend to be unpleasant. It certainly fits into the horror genre for disturbing imagery, but I wouldn’t necessarily call this a “scary” book (though I’d take my opinion on this with a grain of salt; it takes a lot for me to find something terrifying).

It really wasn’t until the second half of the book that I felt any kind of investment in the novel and understand what was actually going on. Until then, I found the first half incredibly slow and frustrating. The premise of the novel itself was interesting, especially for knowledge seekers who would love to be true masters of one particular topic. The idea that you pour through every imaginable book for that one topic has its appeal to a certain crowd, though the question is at what cost? If Hawkins could have revealed a little more of that at the start of the novel, I think I would have felt more invested from the start.

I felt that there was a bit of deus ex machina happening towards the end of the novel, but not to an extreme that would have made me hate this book. I still had questions even after finishing, but I get the impression that Hawkins wants his readers to sit in that unease in all the strangeness that happened in the novel.

I hesitate to recommend this to anyone, not because it’s bad, but because it’s definitely for a specific audience, which I think I wasn’t exactly part of. If you’re queasy with graphic descriptions of violence, I’d strongly recommend avoiding this one. 

Expand filter menu Content Warnings