Reviews tagging 'Torture'

Her Majesty's Royal Coven by Juno Dawson

14 reviews

literarydumpling's review against another edition

challenging emotional tense medium-paced

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

4.25

Truly a wild wild book. It was a little slow in the beginning and I struggled a little to get into it, but it picked up towards the middle of the book when prophecies start getting thrown around.

A very creative way to pose fantasy into real life, and has stark parallels to current social issues we see and may experience.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Transphobia

Moderate: Torture

Minor: Death and Murder

kaceyjoy's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Animal death, Child abuse, Deadnaming, Death, Homophobia, Torture, Transphobia, Violence, Outing, and Abandonment

Minor: Body shaming, Domestic abuse, and Fatphobia

shae_purcell's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense medium-paced

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

3.75

I didn't like this book as much as I thought I might. I enjoyed the multi-POV chapters and the diverse representation. I liked a lot of the characters and relationships. I don't know what it is. It fell a little flat for me, like the characters could have been fleshed out more maybe.

A word of warning: Don't go into this expecting a tidy ending. It ends on a huge cliffhanger. I was ready to start the second book until I was halfway through that last chapter. Now I'm really irritated and thinking about taking a break. I'm sure as an author you want readers to be so excited for the next book that they'll run out and pick up a copy immediately. This ending didn't make me excited for the next book. It makes me dread reading it, even though I still kind of want to hang out with the characters a bit more. I may pick it up eventually but I'll feel sour about it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Sexual content, Transphobia, Blood, Medical content, Outing, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Misogyny, Murder, and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Incest, Racism, Self harm, Suicide, Torture, Islamophobia, Lesbophobia, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, Colonisation, War, Classism, and Pandemic/Epidemic

There is a lot of intentional misgendering in the chapters told from the

anti-trans character's

POV.

mossbelle's review

adventurous medium-paced

3.5

🌶

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Infidelity, Racism, Torture, Transphobia, Car accident, Death of parent, Outing, and Toxic friendship

shannenscribbles's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Bullying, Child abuse, Torture, Transphobia, Grief, Toxic friendship, and Abandonment

katcass's review

adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious 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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Transphobia

Moderate: Body horror, Child abuse, Cursing, Sexual content, Torture, Violence, Car accident, Toxic friendship, and Alcohol

Minor: Animal death

mareish'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? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Transphobia

Moderate: Torture

Minor: Infidelity

kathaarinaa's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Misogyny, Racism, Torture, Transphobia, Kidnapping, Murder, Toxic friendship, and War

questingnotcoasting's review against another edition

adventurous dark 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

4.5

I think this is my favourite book of 2023 so far. I loved the premise and luckily the execution really lived up to my hopes for it. I found the structure and bureaucracy of the magic system so interesting and I became very attached to some of the characters. Juno Dawson also does a great job mixing urban fantasy and contemporary social justice issues. I listened to the audiobook which was brilliantly narrated by Nicola Coughlan. I sometimes don't feel like I'm as invested in stories I listen to rather than read with my eyes but I was so absorbed in this. The different character POV chapters felt so distinct because Coughlan's accents were great. Although I usually hate

a cliff-hanger ending

I can respect it and I'll definitely be picking up the next one. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Death, Mental illness, Torture, Transphobia, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Car accident, Murder, Outing, and War

keya_caivalur's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional informative inspiring mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Hate crime, Transphobia, and Dysphoria

Moderate: Racism, Torture, Violence, Kidnapping, Religious bigotry, Murder, Outing, and War

Minor: Bullying, Child abuse, Grief, Outing, and Abandonment