Reviews tagging 'Toxic relationship'

Electra by Jennifer Saint

12 reviews

vnfhcxksiw's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Child death, Death of parent, Slavery, Toxic relationship, War, Toxic friendship, Violence, Emotional abuse, Kidnapping, Suicidal thoughts, Grief, Genocide, Infidelity, Murder, and Abandonment

Moderate: Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Suicidal thoughts, Rape, Sexual violence, and Torture

garnethalo's review against another edition

dark emotional sad medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder and Blood

Moderate: Violence, War, and Toxic relationship

It's a Greek tragedy, of family curses and blood spilled.

alibrarymouse's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

3.5

If we were supposed to dislike Elektra, Saint did an amazing job. The titular character, and I absolutely could not stand her and her inability to think beyond herself until it was too late. She was selfish, bitter, and mean. 

However, the rest of this book is SO GOOD. I adored Cassandra’s perspective and appreciated the look into what her life was and how she was affected by the war before

Spoiler

begging for an end, and an end she chose for herself.

I absolutely cried for her and Clytemnestra. The ending was almost fitting, but I do wish there was more justice for Clytemnestra after everything—though Orestes didn’t deserve to face the consequences alone and it felt as though he did. So, it’s a bit of a mixed bag. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Death of parent, Toxic relationship, Misogyny, Gore, Violence, and Death

Moderate: Sexual assault and Rape

alexiasophii's review against another edition

dark emotional tense medium-paced

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

3.5

Of all the books that retell The Trojan War I've read in the past months, this was the one I liked the least. Primarily because of Elektra's character. I know I'm biased since this isn't my first book on the Trojan War and I'm very familiar with most characters, but I just could not like Elektra. There's one quote, in particular, that annoyed me profoundly and made me hate her:

Spoiler

" They buried the woman [Kassandra], the one I saw walking behind him. No one has told me how she died. I wish that I could have talked to her: perhaps she could have told me stories about my father. The slaves say she was a princess of Troy. She was so lucky to be chosen by a king, the greatest king in Greece, to be brought here to a palace that must be as fine as the one she left. Finer, I’m sure. Whatever wealth Troy possessed, Mycenae had Agamemnon. And she did too, for a little while. "

I mean... how ENTITLED do you have to be to think that a SLAVE is "lucky" to be driven from her home, used by your father, and see her family and home dead and burned just because... what? You miss your daddy? I swear, this character just boiled my blood. And, once again, I'm on  Clytemnestra's side in this whole ordeal, though I still find myself wishing she had influenced her children not to be so devoted to Agamemnon but oh well. 
Overall, this book is not as good as the ones I've read before and the MC really annoyed me, so it's a 3.7 stars for me. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, and Rape

Minor: War, Death, Death of parent, Toxic relationship, and Violence

nialiversuch's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Child death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Misogyny, Suicidal thoughts, Murder, Ableism, Blood, Infidelity, Sexism, Sexual assault, Pregnancy, Rape, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Toxic relationship, Abandonment, Colonisation, Confinement, Death, Death of parent, Grief, Violence, and War

amschelly153's review against another edition

dark informative mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

Beautiful writing. A+ to Jennifer.
These characters though made me want to scream. But she did a fantastic job writing them, just really frustrating circumstances lol.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Sexual assault, Gore, Death, Death of parent, Child death, Blood, Abandonment, Confinement, Murder, Violence, Injury/Injury detail, Infidelity, Toxic relationship, Sexual harassment, Rape, and Grief

nicnevin's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional reflective medium-paced

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

4.0

Good story but I feel like the titular character honestly didn't have much to do with her own story, especially since the more interesting aspects were with Cassandra and Clydemnestra.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Confinement, Death, Drug use, War, Torture, Suicidal thoughts, Slavery, Sexual violence, Sexism, Infidelity, Adult/minor relationship, Child death, Xenophobia, Violence, Ableism, Alcohol, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Toxic relationship, Sexual harassment, Sexual assault, Rape, Murder, Misogyny, Gaslighting, Gore, Toxic friendship, Mental illness, Blood, Cannibalism, Chronic illness, Classism, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Pregnancy, Grief, and Injury/Injury detail

taliatalksbooks's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.5

 Elektra by Jennifer Saint was worth the wait! I really fell in love with Saint’s writing when I read her other novel last year, and this follows suit. I read this book so fast, and it is a great retelling of Greek mythology. I love the characters and the emotions they convey throughout the pages, and while I was a little confused at first, the characters that Saint selected to narrate were fantastic. I loved the juxtaposition between Elektra and her mother, and I loved the edition of Cassandra, to see Agamemnon’s wrath from different angles (wife, child, and enemy). This is a really great read, and I can’t recommend it highly enough. I know this one just came out, but I can’t wait for Saint’s next book!! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Violence, Genocide, Death, Misogyny, Classism, Toxic relationship, Murder, Slavery, Infidelity, Emotional abuse, Blood, Adult/minor relationship, and Abandonment

kaitlyng's review against another edition

emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, War, Blood, Grief, Death, Violence, and Infidelity

Moderate: Toxic friendship, Slavery, Sexual harassment, Pregnancy, Toxic relationship, Death of parent, Child death, Animal death, and Cannibalism

Minor: Misogyny, Rape, Fire/Fire injury, Incest, Self harm, and Suicidal thoughts

starship_olympus's review against another edition

emotional sad tense slow-paced

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

2.75

I enjoyed it overall, but the middle of the book meandered a bit. It took a little bit of slugging through that bit to get to the parts that moved forward. 
I can’t help but feel that a fifth of it could have been cut, at least of Clytemnestra, post sacrifice. Hers were the slowest bits, there were only so many ways to read about revenge, and it felt repetitive. 
I really liked Cassandra, she was the most interesting character imo, with Elektra’s narration being second.
But overall it was wonderful to read these well known stories from this POV. Inventive and fresh!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Murder, Blood, Child death, and Death

Moderate: Mental illness, Death of parent, Kidnapping, Violence, and War

Minor: Kidnapping, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual violence, and Toxic relationship