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A review by storyorc
The Library at Mount Char by Scott Hawkins
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.
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.
Graphic: Animal death, Rape, Suicide, Torture, Toxic relationship, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Drug use
Minor: Police brutality