Reviews tagging 'Animal cruelty'

A Deadly Education by Naomi Novik

34 reviews

readwithsophsx's review

adventurous emotional mysterious reflective tense slow-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? Yes

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Death, Gore, Physical abuse, Torture, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

kastix's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Blood, and Death of parent

Minor: Pregnancy and Colonisation

flower_mail's review against another edition

adventurous funny 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? Yes

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Forced institutionalization, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Blood, Vomit, Stalking, and Pregnancy

pandemonicbaby's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Loved this book! The lore is so rich and intricate, and the cast of characters is so lovable and diverse. Loved every second of being inside this universe!!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Death, Violence, and Death of parent

Moderate: Gore, Blood, Fire/Fire injury, and Classism

Minor: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Cursing, Racism, Vomit, and Pregnancy

mdezetter's review against another edition

adventurous challenging tense medium-paced

• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.75

I really love Naomi Noviks writing and character building. I wasn’t the biggest fan of the pacing of this book. It felt like the first 75% was slow and being annoyed at the main character not understanding social constructs, then the last 25% was faster but still answered zero questions. 

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Content Warnings

Minor: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Death, and Death of parent

erikagibson126's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Confinement, Death, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Vomit, and War

pvid's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny tense fast-paced

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

4.0

Oftentimes the world-building interrupts/slows down the action in a way that got a bit boring after some time. But the world is interesting, if very dark and violent, and I liked how Novik explores the moral implications of the system that’s set up to deal with that violence. I liked the characters a lot, and I’m looking forward to seeing what happens in the next book. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Gore, Blood, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Classism

lucystolethesky's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Violence, and Murder

Moderate: Animal death, Bullying, Confinement, Gore, Racism, Forced institutionalization, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Minor: Animal cruelty, Body horror, Bullying, Drug use, Suicidal thoughts, Islamophobia, Pregnancy, and Cultural appropriation

hzamrzla's review against another edition

dark tense slow-paced

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

3.5

While I loved the world of this book and the possibilities it presented, the story itself was weirdly paced. I felt like it spent a LOT of time building up to a major, menacing reveal, and then the climax was told with the same weight as the rest of the story, the ending felt abrupt and jarring, and overall, it just seemed like a lot of buildup for not much payoff. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Classism

Moderate: Bullying and Violence

Minor: Animal cruelty, Child death, Emotional abuse, and Sexual assault

One scene is not a sexual assault, but a pretty blatant sexual assault parallel. It was the only thing in the book that really gave me pause.

ryyyaaan's review against another edition

adventurous dark fast-paced

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

4.5

Overall this was a fantastic read. I really had fun with it and it was a great choice for getting back into the habit of reading.

Positives:

• El is a well rounded character who is easy for the reader to like despite her being disliked by other characters.
• The premise and plot is enjoyable and easy to get hooked into.
• The worldbuilding is fantastic. It’s woven into the text so well it never feels like slogging through pages and pages of lore.
• It’s funny at times without taking away from the atmosphere.
• A great stepping point between YA and adult fantasy

Negatives (nit-picking here, the book was great)

• I dislike El’s relationship with Orion towards the end.
  It feels forced to me that she’s starting to have feelings for him already. Or, at all for that matter. They just don’t seem compatible to me. Also, small point, but El mentions wanting kids badly at one point, which feels so out of character for her. Maybe later depending on how she’s developed, but it just didn’t seem right to me.<\spoiler>
• I desperately wish there was any queer rep at all

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Gore, Violence, Death of parent, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Confinement, Cursing, Vomit, Murder, and Classism

Minor: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Bullying, Drug use, Grief, and Fire/Fire injury