Reviews tagging 'Rape'

Beloved Poison by E.S. Thomson

3 reviews

bmbriar's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.5

A fantastic opener to one of my favourite series. E. S. Thomson's London is so vivid in its grit and dirt, and her characters are artfully drawn. This mystery kept me on my toes right up until the conclusion, as well as hitting all the emotional notes pitch perfectly. 

Pay close attention to the content warnings on this one (and the series as a whole) since it does contain some very dark topics. Dr Thomson's knowledge of medical history adds incredible texture to the series, but that texture doesn't always make for comfortable reading! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Excrement, Medical content, Death of parent, and Murder

Moderate: Child abuse, Incest, Misogyny, Rape, and Abortion

The incest mentioned is

sexual abuse of a daughter by her father, leading to pregnancy. It transpires that he is not her biological father, but she does not know this

aang_arang's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense slow-paced

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

2.5

Very slow start, you don't really get anywhere until about 40~50%

Way too many characters introduced way too quickly and poor character descriptions as well. 

I didn't even know that Joe was just a child until they were describing his body after the murder.

There were a few intense scenes that I did enjoy but the ending was rather anticlimactic in my opinion and I was just reading to complete and not actually because I was interested. 

Eliza's character might be the most poorly written In the whole book. I was not a fan of her characrer arc at all. 

Will was the best part of the book and I did enjoy his friendship with Jem the most out of anything, even though I didn't care much for Jem themself.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Murder

Minor: Rape and Sexual assault

monniebiloney's review against another edition

dark funny mysterious medium-paced

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

4.25

Great start, middle, and conclusion, but it did kind of land on its face for the very last 60 pages or so.
Basically, the author didn't have a good idea for how the bad guy should get arrested.

I did not understand why Eliza was forced by the author to be a whore from now on and forever. Like what. Why?

I do have one question. Did will ever figure out if Jem was a girl or not? Like, I legit couldn't tell. *squints eyes at him*  are you Gay? bisexual like the MC?  straight?
The romance gets a D for the final chapter. A for the other parts. I like Will, and I like Eliza, but

why are you suddently like "Lets elope" like calm your tits man, do you even know if Jem even likes men? I don't even know if she's interested in men. We both  def noticed her crush on Eliza so girls on def on that market

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Death, Gore, Infertility, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Sexism, Blood, Medical content, Medical trauma, Death of parent, and Murder

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, and Pregnancy

Minor: Rape and Vomit