Reviews tagging 'Animal death'

Electra by Jennifer Saint

19 reviews

sirenricobooks's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Emotional abuse, Death, Sexism, Child death, Grief, Death of parent, Trafficking, War, Classism, Gore, Violence, Child abuse, Misogyny, Murder, and Slavery

Moderate: Cannibalism

Minor: Incest, Sexual violence, Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Kidnapping, Rape, Confinement, Pregnancy, Sexual assault, Abandonment, Sexual content, and Sexual harassment

madelinequinne's review against another edition

sad tense fast-paced

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

3.5

Since my obsession with Ancient Greece has come back full force, I knew I needed to read this book as soon as I saw it in Waterstones, and it was… fine? I think reading Clytemnestra by Costanza Casati before reading Electra made me not enjoy this so much since the former painter Clytemnestra’s character in such a strong way, with so much depth that then reading the latter’s depiction of her was disappointing. She was written as if she was weak minded and always in her sister’s shadow, and she was rather two dimensional in certain points of the book. 

For a book called Electra, there wasn’t all that much about her until the last third of the book. It was much more focused on Clytemnestra and Cassandra right up until Agamemnon’s murder, so at times I didn’t really feel like I was reading her story at all. 

This book was a fine read, but I can’t say it was my favourite. The writing was very beautiful and descriptive, and I didn’t feel like it was a drag to read or anything, so I’d still recommend this to anyone wanting to read about Ancient Greece, but it’s certainly not at the top of my recommendation list. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Death, Child death, Infertility, Murder, Sexism, Death of parent, Mental illness, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Violence, Slavery, and War

Minor: Incest, Pregnancy, Alcohol, Animal death, Cannibalism, and Sexual assault

gondorgirl's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• 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

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Blood, Murder, Sexism, Slavery, Cannibalism, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Violence, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Alcohol, Animal death, Child death, Death, Grief, Kidnapping, War, Gore, Infidelity, and Sexual assault

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

ghostlyprince's review against another edition

dark reflective sad 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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Slavery, Grief, Kidnapping, Confinement, Death of parent, Murder, War, Abandonment, Child death, and Death

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Animal death, Gaslighting, Alcohol, Animal cruelty, Infidelity, and Misogyny

Minor: Cannibalism, Sexual violence, Rape, Sexual assault, and Incest

alexisgarcia's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

4.75

i really enjoyed this. Clytemnestra's storyline and perspective was by far the best in my opinion. Elektra's storyline, while connecting the characters and giving us a new perspective, was a little lackluster at times. if not for that i would have enjoyed this even more. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Sexism, Animal death, Death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Gore, Pregnancy, Sexual assault, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Child death, Fire/Fire injury, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Animal cruelty, Blood, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Murder, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, War, Grief, Sexual content, Torture, Vomit, and Violence

aseel_reads's review against another edition

challenging dark 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

4.0

I liked the writing style of this book and I thought the events (that I already know) were told well, I just didn't care about some of the povs and I thought the ending was a bit underwhelming. Still a good overall story 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Grief, Murder, Animal cruelty, Child death, Violence, War, Animal death, Blood, Death, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Pregnancy, and Rape

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

maaikereadsbooks_'s review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad medium-paced

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

3.25

Many thanks to Headline Audio and Jennifer Saint for the advanced audio copy of Elektra via NetGalley, in return for my honest and unbiased review. Quick note: I don’t recap plots in my reviews, as it’s easy enough to read the book’s synopsis and blurbs, I purely focus on my feelings & opinions of how the books makes me feel. 

Disclaimer: the negative slant on the audio perspective is largely due to my misophonia. I have an intense dislike for ‘mouth noises’. Audible swallowing, smacking noises, general un-edited auditory mouth *stuff* really gets to me and put me off this audiobook. 

Elektra follows an interesting retelling of the Trojan war, from some of the key women’s point of view. Jennifer Saint has woven in figures of myth and legend along with those of flesh and blood with a matter-of-fact-ness, which isn’t seen as often in this type of retellings. Often in this type of story there is a veil of supernatural syrup, a ‘playing with the gods’ tale. But this story felt much more solid. This is told in a more ‘this is real life’ sort of way. And real life just happened to have the occasional god, or demi god, walking around in it. As you do. 

I suspect that ‘Elektra’ was not Saint’s original title of choice, as she was not the protagonist of the book. But as Clytemnestra was already taken this season, it would have to do. Perhaps a different title may have suited the story better, however. 

The narrators suited the individual characters well. However, I found it extremely difficult to get into the story as, after the first three chapters, they did not announce the character at the beginning of the chapter, instead expecting the listener to have already memorised the narrator’s voice. Unfortunately I’m not that good and I was confused, and annoyed. And as my misophonia had me well and truly distracter, I almost stopped listening at this point. Eventually I got the hang of who was who, and got into the story. It definitely took me a while, though. 

Overall, the story was interesting. It was perhaps a bit over-long for my taste. I hope there is a final edit to smooth out the ‘mouth noises’ for future listeners’ enjoyment! 

Spice: 1/5 

Trigger warnings: Animal death, Blood/Gore, Cheating, Death, Death of a family member, Kidnapping, Murder, Physical or mental abuse, Pregnancy, Rape, Self Harm, Sexism, Sexual abuse/assault/harassment, Slavery, Suicide, Torture, Violence, War 

Rating 

Story: 3.5/5 

Audio: 3/5 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Child death, Slavery, and Murder

Moderate: Abandonment, Physical abuse, War, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Rape, Blood, Suicide, Kidnapping, Pregnancy, Torture, and Violence

Minor: Gore, Animal death, Sexism, Death of parent, and Self harm

vixenreader's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

If you love Greek Mythology, especially about the Trojan War, you will love this one. However, you may be lost if you have not heard of the Trojan War or the Orestia. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Genocide, Abandonment, Blood, Child death, Grief, Death of parent, Death, War, and Gore

Moderate: Animal death, Misogyny, Rape, Sexual violence, Slavery, Torture, Sexual assault, Cursing, and Alcohol

Minor: Kidnapping, Vomit, and Incest

This book will cut at anyone who has a bitter relationship with their parents, especially with their mothers.