casparquarius's Reviews (91)

challenging dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: No
challenging dark reflective slow-paced
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes
challenging dark emotional sad slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

dark, emotional, and challenging are hardly strong enough to explain the feelings it gave me to read and man was it good. intense, mind the content warnings, but I am definitely glad I read it

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challenging dark sad 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

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emotional funny hopeful 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: Complicated

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In the Valley of the Sun

Andy Davidson

DID NOT FINISH

would really like to get back to this, but i had to return it to the library after a slump in my ability to read lasted too long
dark tense slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

man I wanted to like this so much more than I actually did. I really liked the characters, and I'm a sucker for a haunted house. this had some interesting things going for it! the pacing, however, seemed to work against the story at every turn: moments that needed to breathe to have maximum impact were brushed past and moments that could have been quick were lingered on. some of the writing choices were not necessarily my favorite, but if the pacing had been better that likely wouldn't have affected my enjoyment of the book. the end was surprisingly one of the best parts, usually I am pretty disappointed by horror endings but I enjoyed the twists. overall, this was fine but kind of a slog and I really wanted more from it. 

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dark emotional medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

this was a fun read! I loved the POV character, and even when I wished she'd make different choices it was refreshing to feel like they all made sense for her. the ending felt like a kind of jarring tonal shift but it was also gratifying and enjoyable

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dark tense medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: No
Loveable characters: No
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

I think Cassandra Khaw is one of my favorite contemporary horror writers, between this and Salt Grows Heavy. Khaw's way with language is just so beautiful and memorable, and this story tense and interesting. really enjoyed this

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