Reviews tagging 'Bullying'

Gild by Raven Kennedy

55 reviews

dkgreads's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny mysterious 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? It's complicated

4.0

Liked the spin on the King Midas story. Auren’s Stockholm Syndrome is totally showing, but I love her inner commentary and positive attitude. I definitely see her character growing already and look forward to seeing her strength blossom. I already know Midas is a bad guy. . .because he’s blonde. Lol. Diving into Book 2 immediately.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Death, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Slavery, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Bullying, and Death of parent

teentalk85's review against another edition

mysterious relaxing slow-paced

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

4.0

I'm in, I'm hooked, I'm excited to read more!
I enjoyed the start to this series and the breadcrumbs the author is sprinkling for us to build this world! Even though a whole lot of nothing happens throughout pretty much the entire book I was entranced by it and consumed every moment!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Rape, Blood, Kidnapping, Murder, and Classism

kaelizaco's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense medium-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Bullying, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Medical trauma, Murder, Gaslighting, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, War, and Injury/Injury detail

thesuperawesomesarah's review against another edition

adventurous dark reflective sad medium-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? It's complicated

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Death, Rape, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Blood, Trafficking, Murder, and Sexual harassment

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Bullying, Death, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, and Alcohol

Minor: War

shellyrosebee's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Confinement, Emotional abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Murder, and Sexual harassment

deyknight's review against another edition

challenging dark funny sad tense slow-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

Very well written, but I struggled to understand what the intended overall plot was through most of the book. It felt very much like this book was a pilot episode, laying the ground work, backstory, and world building... But we only really discovered the plot/conflict at the very end of the book. 

Also: definitely pay attention to the trigger warnings!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Sexual assault, and Sexual harassment

Moderate: Confinement, Physical abuse, Sexism, Slavery, Toxic relationship, Trafficking, Gaslighting, and Classism

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Bullying, and Torture

liv_182's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad slow-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Bullying, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Kidnapping, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, and Sexual harassment

bvippolito's review against another edition

dark 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? It's complicated

4.0

Definitely an interesting story from an interesting perspective. I did enjoy reading this, ate it up in 1 day. Very importantly, there are several content warnings that are noteable (see content warnings) but the main character is interesting and I’m looking forward to spending more time with her and seeing her grow.

I would say it’s important to know what you’re getting into, as the subject matter is blunt and there are many aspects of this book that can be triggering. 

Also I think it’s important to know that this is book 1 of 6, so it’s definitely slow for a while but it’s definitely purposeful to build the world and relationships before the story takes off. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape

Moderate: Confinement, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Violence, Murder, and Sexual harassment

Minor: Bullying and Death

mikasana's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark tense medium-paced

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

2.75

I am terribly conflicted on what to rate this. I went into this completely blind. I was only a few pages in when my first reaction was just a loud expletive.

And while I couldn’t put the book down, I felt my skin crawl the entire time I was reading this. It was disgusting, offensive, misogynistic, devious and just had a general… sense of utter depravity. Check your trigger warnings because this entire book felt like one giant, heaping pile of red flags.

But again, I couldn’t put it down despite how uncomfortable I felt. It was like watching a car crash in slow motion — you feel your lowest for looking but you can’t look away either. That’s how I felt for 90% of this. I still feel pretty icky.

While I can confidently say I will probably never reread this again purely because of the content, I am very much interested in what will happen next.

This is NOT the book for everyone. This one is going to be a book you either hate or it becomes a guilty pleasure. I think I am the latter if only because I like what happens from here on out. Despite the content I was thoroughly entranced the whole way so I will give credit where credit is due.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Death, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Trafficking, Murder, and Sexual harassment

Minor: Bullying

ntanash's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

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

2.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Misogyny, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Violence, Murder, and Sexual harassment

Moderate: Bullying