Reviews tagging 'Fire/Fire injury'

Yellow Jessamine by Caitlin Starling

2 reviews

typedtruths's review

dark mysterious medium-paced

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

3.0

 i love strange books. i love wicked women. i love caitlin starling... but this didn't quite do it for me.


➸ Trigger warnings for

misogyny, attempted arranged marriage recounted, domestic abuse mentioned, alcohol consumption, drug abuse (on-page), smoking, miscarriage mentioned, body horror, emesis, physical injuries including eye trauma (intentional but nonconsensual chemically-induced vision loss), plague, murder of a father and brothers recounted, murder and attempted murder (on-page), physical assault mentioned, whipping, torture, poisoning (theme), kidnapping and captivity, and fire*.

*Context: A boat full of infected sailors is set on fire to prevent a plague outbreak. In the opening scene, the protagonist observes the boat fire from the shore

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▷ Representation: Evelyn (mc) & Violetta (sc) are sapphic.

Blog • Trigger Warning Database • StoryGraph 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse, Drug use, and Murder

Moderate: Body horror, Misogyny, Torture, Kidnapping, Grief, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Domestic abuse, Miscarriage, Vomit, Death of parent, Alcohol, and War

➸ Trigger warnings for misogyny, attempted arranged marriage recounted, domestic abuse mentioned, alcohol consumption, drug abuse (on-page), smoking, miscarriage mentioned, body horror, emesis, physical injuries including eye trauma (intentional but nonconsensual chemically-induced vision loss), plague, grief and loss depiction, accidental poisoning of a mother recounted, murder of a father and brothers recounted, murder and attempted murder (on-page), physical assault mentioned, whipping, torture, poisoning (theme), kidnapping and captivity, and fire*. *Context: A boat full of infected sailors is set on fire to prevent a plague outbreak. In the opening scene, the protagonist observes the boat fire from the shore.

aardwyrm's review

dark mysterious tense slow-paced

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

4.0

All atmosphere, and it's good atmosphere, so it doesn't matter too much that the very little plot there is wouldn't hold together in a stiff breeze. The supernatural stuff is entirely mysterious until a giant info dump at the end, which is genre standard and kind of how Starling does it, in my experience, but it's perfectly respectable. Evelyn herself is a bit of a weak link, as she's presented as a conniving, ruthless strategist, but on page all we see her do is act in the most suspicious way possible and make the worst available decisions no matter how little sense they make. But the vibes are the star of the book. All the grim, oozing decadence is very effective.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Confinement, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gore, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism