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Reviews tagging 'Toxic relationship'

Die Bibliothek am Mount Char by Scott Hawkins

43 reviews

nookandcrannyseattle's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark funny mysterious sad tense 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

5.0

That was wild. I like how none of the "big twists" felt like "big twists" because the whole thing was so unhinged that I was prepared to take pretty much anything in stride. A bit like the characters themselves, I guess, which is a little unsettling. Also, this is the first book I've read in recent memory that has an epilogue that doesn't actively detract from the rest of the work. Unnecessary, but not unwelcome to revisit a favorite side character (albeit one I did not want to like as much as I did). 

I will say that this was GORY. Some scenes were very hard to read (see CW - rape, child murder, animal death) and I'm glad I was reading it in print so I could do some strategic skimming. So probably won't read again, but it was a spectacular one-off!
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onlyincursive's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious 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

4.5

A wild ride from start to finish. This book is for the readers who grew up on stories about kids with powers (e.g. Animorphs, Percy Jackson) and who want the adult version. The type of book that I would recommend to everyone - if only the content warning list wasn’t so long!
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abathur's review against another edition

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

1.5

Pros: 
- the first third of the book kept me wanting to read it
-  the lions

Cons:
- the author is a middle-aged guy who is a leg man, and I had to walk away from this book knowing that
- Father (aka Ancient Pedo) rapes, tortures, and murders the kids because they "need" it. the book tells you so, and he is rewarded for it
- Father/Ancient Pedo only ever pits the kids against each other and isolates them from the outside world. what does this with the point above tell you?
- the black character is the main rapist. the asian girl character smells like shit. the plot conveniently has reasons for this, but take this as you will given that the author paints a textbook child abuser as a good guy
- Carolyn is a flat Mary Sue. there is no tension in this book as a result
- random inconsistencies (eg. the kids under Ancient Pedo's care can't dress themselves, but they dress dead people normally without issue)
- nebulous concepts that are never really established (eg. death is banishing someone to the shadow realm, but it's irrelevant because people get resurrected all the time -- except that one time with the lion because reasons). creativity is cool until it just becomes random bullshit
- random bullshit (eg. when Carolyn calls the president. not sure if that was supposed to be funny or something)
-  some of the colour book powers or whatever are redundant and some of them are completely useless
- bad plot armour and nonsensical decisions (eg. why did David let Carolyn touch his dong? he's supposed to be the best fighter in the world, and she's his biggest enemy)
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storyorc's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful 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

4.5

This book makes exorbitant promises and delivers things adjacent to those promises in a surprising and thrilling way. Hawkins pushes the limits of what a reader can stomach in both the fantastical and the moral sense yet the book has its own near-nihilistic sense of humour. His characters are weird and often harsh but never quite unsympathetic.

My only complaints are the huge loss in momentum between the last two acts and that the first chapter had me hungry for much more interaction between Carolyn's terminally messed up 'family'. 

If you like stories like The Old Guard, the ending of IT, Harrow the Ninth, Wild Seed, and/or Sandman, or have any interest in exploring how abysmally human morals scale when people live too long and get too strong (and can handle some existential dread), pick this up.
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shelbymarie314's review against another edition

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

5.0

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michelethestick's review against another edition

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

4.0

This book is violent.  Torture is a feature. I did like it though.  The beginning was slow, but when it hooked me, I was interested until the end.  You have to lean into the suspension of disbelief and let go of your knowledge of science but I've granted that to lesser stories. This is a story that toys with our idea of God.  What happens if he died? It's interesting and despite the horror, unlikable characters and unbelievable science there is something almost charming about it.  The mystery keeps you engaged and then it's hope that sustains you. This book is not for everyone but most assuredly for some.
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blessjessmess's review against another edition

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

4.0

I added 10 graphic TW to my review for this book. Its weird. I don't feel like this is a book I would like....but I loved this book. It was so unique and different to most horror stories (which I normally don't read.) 

I believe this book would be served better by the genre tag WEIRD FICTION. It's marketed as horror but it's not the type of horror you expect from a horror novel. Anyway, fun read. 
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read_bransdon's review against another edition

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

5.0

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librarymouse's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional funny fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

This book is fantastic! I think the non-linear narrative really added to the suspense as the plot unfolded slowly. I enjoy how this novel puts readers into the position to root for Carolyn as she does exestentially terrifying things, the consequences of which ramp up slowly. Yet the author is still able to root the horrors of the reality Carolyn creates to the reality we know through Steve and Erwin.

This was recommended to me as horror, but I can't help but feel that while it is scary and gory, horror isn't the correct genre for this novel. Horror makes me panic at night. I stayed up into the wee hours of the morning reading The Library at Mount Char.
This is everything I could want and more from a book that starts out with the vibes of a post-hayday magic school memoir of sorts.
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meg_elyse's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional inspiring sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.25

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