Reviews tagging 'Physical abuse'

This Woven Kingdom by Tahereh Mafi

33 reviews

sydapel's review against another edition

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

4.0

Reading this felt like reverting back to my pre-teen Mortal Instruments obsessed self - which I mean in the best possible way. While the language tends towards overly poetic and flowery and the pace of the plot as a result feels painstaking, Mafi begins with a pretty simple dynamic between two diametrically opposed characters and slowly unfurls the intricate threads of the political around them. Very very fun if you want to take a trip down 2014 YA lane. 

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erinsmithart's review against another edition

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

4.0


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marsh_mall0w's review against another edition

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funny mysterious tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5


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katievallin's review against another edition

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emotional inspiring mysterious reflective sad 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

4.75


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kassidyreads's review against another edition

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

5.0


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loveat1stwrite's review against another edition

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

2.5

 **A copy of this book was provided to me by HarperCollins in exchange for an honest review.**

This Woven Kingdom contains beautiful prose and descriptions, but unfortunately very little plot. It comes with the territory of an almost 500-page book that spans about 3 days of in-book time. 60% of This Woven Kingdom is the main characters’ inner monologue, 20% is setting/food/clothing description, 10% is verbal dialogue, and the last 10% is where the actual occurring events happen. I prefer to be shown actions to back up character motivations and thoughts, but this book heavily relies upon the reader being told what to think. The whole experience made it hard to connect with, or even like, either of the two main protagonists.

I was hoping for a lush Persian mythology read, but This Woven Kingdom is essentially a Cinderella retelling with cosmetic Middle Eastern inspirations regarding food and clothing. A dual-POV read, we alternate between Alizeh a long-lost princess of the Jinn who is currently hiding as a lowly servant, and Kamran the heir to the human empire of Ardunia. Their lots in life place them at odds, for Alizeh was prophesized to end the reign of the current king of Ardunia, Kamran’s grandfather. Of course, Alizeh and Kamran happen to cross paths on the street and become an insta-love forbidden romance. As I mentioned, this book is about 10% plot. Over the course of about 3 days, Kamran and Alizeh think about the other non-stop and their inner thoughts take up the majority of the writing of this book. All of this builds up to a ball, (Yay, an event is finally occurring!) so you have that to look forward to in the last 100 pages or so.

If you come into this with the right mindset, I think it can certainly be an enjoyable read, but it was very different than how it was marketed and you have to be ready for it to be a slow-paced read, very trope-heavy and descriptor-heavy. 

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robyn_vennard's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious 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? Yes

5.0


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danibatista's review against another edition

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adventurous mysterious tense slow-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

3.5

When I started reading this book I thought I would like it much more than I actually did…
For the first half of the book I was really struggling to actually reading it… I was bored and quite confused, I didn’t connect with the characters and I just wanted to DNF or to go through with it the fastest I could…
The writing itself is amazing! I just think the first half of the book could be cut in half 😅
For the second half of the book… that really saved it entirely! The last 100 pages were the most interesting! Some twists and full of plot in the end… sadly I think the beginning was so slow and the ending so rushed…
There is dual POV - we get to know Alizeh, a Jinn and a lost queen, and we get to know Kamran, the prince of Ardunia. About Alizeh - she is a badass but I was hoping to know more about her powers…
Kamran I liked from the beginning! He is so intelligent and we can see his character development very well. And the way he talks to Alizeh is just wow. 
When Kamran says “You have consumed my thoughts since the moment I met you (…) I feel now, in your presence, entirely strange. I think I might fetch you the moon if only to spare your tears again” I can definitely ignore the fact that I don’t like instant love trope. 
There is a brief knife to the throat scene - always a good add to a book 👌🏼
And what about that ending? A major cliffhanger! Now all I want is that second book please!

Overall, due to the fact that a bit more than 50% of the book I was quite bored, I give it 3,5⭐️

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chaptersofamylea's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.75

“I think I might fetch you the moon if only to spare your tears again."

3.5/4 ⭐️

I did think this book had a bit of a slow start, felt jumbled with the info dump that comes with a new fantasy book so I was a little worried I wasn’t going to like it after really looking forward to reading it for so long. THAT being said, after the first 100 pages I really got into it. I loved the world building and the drip feeding reveals of the characters and plot twists. And I did have an AHHHHHHH moment when finishing the book as early events made sense when you get the information. I do hope to see more of Alizeh’s personality in the next book… Plus dragons. It has dragons.

TWs: death of parents, suicide attempt on the page, assault, graphic depiction of injury

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sallytiffany's review against another edition

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

3.0

It was very slow and tedious and the characters were hard to relate to. However, it did have some good action at the end. 

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