Reviews tagging 'Animal death'

Elektra by Jennifer Saint

26 reviews

clarissarh's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny inspiring mysterious medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child death, and Grief

Minor: Rape and Kidnapping

wytherwytch's review against another edition

dark emotional sad slow-paced

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

3.75

I found this book a bit of a trudge. It was good in parts -

the chapter where Iphigeneia is sacrificed is absolutely brilliant

but otherwise it feels like a trudge to these parts. It's written from the point of view of three women so it jumps around quite a bit and I didnt love that but I stuck it out. I didn't really like any of the characters. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Infidelity, Rape, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, and War

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts

Minor: Animal death, Blood, and Alcohol

mdal26's review against another edition

adventurous emotional 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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Child death, Death, Infidelity, Rape, Sexual violence, Slavery, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, War, and Injury/Injury detail

lesemaus2303's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional informative tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• 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: Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Gore, Hate crime, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Blood, Kidnapping, Cannibalism, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Abandonment, Alcohol, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Pandemic/Epidemic

ccee's review against another edition

challenging emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

2.0

Saint’s prose is readable in that she can compose a sentence, yet her imagery relies heavily on ancient turns of phrase that we’ve seen rehashed again and again throughout these retellings. Cassandra and Clytemnestra had depth, yet Elektra, a stunningly tragic figure, lay flat.

Her take on Pylades and Orestes as sworn brothers made me cringe a little, their relationship felt stiff and platonic, and Elektra’s instant attraction to Pylades felt so far out of the realm of the canon of the Tragedians that it blindsided me.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Gore, Violence, Murder, Pregnancy, and War

Minor: Animal death and Abandonment

blancablar's review against another edition

reflective 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: Child death and Death

Moderate: Rape, Sexism, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, Abandonment, War, and Deportation

Minor: Animal death, Confinement, Cannibalism, and Pregnancy

emma3674's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious slow-paced

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

2.0

Fairly entertaining but I found this quite boring compared to other books I’ve read recently, it took me about six months to finish compared to a few days to a week for others

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Child death, Death, Gore, Mental illness, Slavery, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, and Injury/Injury detail

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

Moderate: Cannibalism

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Confinement, Incest, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Kidnapping, Pregnancy, Abandonment, 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: Child death, Death, Infertility, Mental illness, Misogyny, Sexism, Slavery, Violence, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, War, and Injury/Injury detail

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

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