Reviews tagging 'Emotional abuse'

The Shadow Cabinet by Juno Dawson

13 reviews

bella_finlayson's review against another edition

adventurous dark 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? No

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Sexism, Violence, Murder, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Sexual violence, Kidnapping, Grief, and Gaslighting

fourhand13's review against another edition

dark medium-paced

• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

Electing to not give this a rating for now as I don't fully know how I feel about it.

There were aspects of this book that i enjoyed and some bits that I really did not care about in the slightest. The tone is totally different to the first book which isn't necessarily a bad thing, I personally found this a more depressing read as we follow

Ciara's

POV for the most part. This definitely left me in a weird headspace.

ok more in depth thoughts:

I did enjoy the exploration of Ciara's thoughts and her past even if I found it a difficult read at times. The allegory of demonic possession as an addiction was pretty well done and it's very easy to see how she snowballed to that point after the treatment she'd received from people around her.

Near the end it felt like Ciara was having a Carrie-esque moment of going mad with power and the want to destroy everything before regaining clarity- and I was half expecting it to end the same way after she was shot through the chest. She's a much more interesting and compelling character than Niamh LOL.

Leonie's sidestory was unfortunately boring imo. I think if we were made to care about Hale's influence as a villain, then her tailing him may have had some stakes to it. Up until the infiltration of Aeaea he just kinda felt like a nebulous big bad.

Wish there was more Holly and Theo.

The very last pages are the most confusing thing and don't make sense, I will be reading the next installment bcs I wanna know how we ended up with Milo as Lucifer.

As with my HMRC review, there is more of the same irt TWs regarding mind reading and additionally, mentions of childhood emotional abuse are more prevalent so take care.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder

Moderate: Child abuse and Emotional abuse

Mind reading/ invasion of thoughts

joliebean's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Hate crime, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Transphobia, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Mass/school shootings, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, Lesbophobia, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Alcohol, and War

jhbandcats's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

3.5

I really liked this right up until the last two pages when it went off the rails. Like the book that preceded it, it was enjoyable and entertaining. The writing was smooth and drew me in rather than complex and dense. It seemed more like YA fare but with non-YA explicit sex scenes. 

We learn a lot more about the character Ciara who was only briefly noted in the first book, and we gradually learn her history. She’s presented as a sympathetic character here although she was distinctly unlikable when introduced. 

I found this book too manipulative and preachy. I agree with everything the author is saying but I prefer to figure things out on my own. That said, I did appreciate the clear references to our divided society, conservative and xenophobic nationalism versus liberal acceptance and globalism. It was still too heavy-handed, though. Ultimately somewhat disappointing, mostly due to the ending. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Hate crime, Infidelity, Misogyny, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Abandonment, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

minervacerridwen's review against another edition

dark lighthearted mysterious relaxing tense fast-paced

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

3.5

Just like Her Majesty's Royal Coven, this was a fast-paced read with spy movie elements in a magical world. I did feel like it dragged a bit in the middle of the book, though the point-of-view changes helped to keep me intrigued about other things that were going on enough to keep reading. Overall the atmosphere was a little darker and less magical, with more focus on characters fucking each other over than on sisterhood (which makes sense, considering the new main character, but also made it a little less appealing to dive back in after a reading break). The pacing of the ending was a lot more satisfying to me than in the first book, and once again there were some interesting twists to make me very curious about the next part!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Infidelity, Misogyny, and Murder

Moderate: Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Self harm, Sexism, Transphobia, Violence, Vomit, Grief, and Religious bigotry

Minor: Animal death, Bullying, Racism, Blood, Abandonment, and Alcohol

readingqueerly's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional tense 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

The last 150 pages just had me yelling 'what the fuck' while gasping and/or screaming over and over. I cannot believe I have to wait for book three.
Truly, these books are such a great depiction of what it means to be a woman in a man's world, even when you KNOW you're better or more powerful than them. There was a very satisfying moment even towards the ending that had me cheering on all of this woman's wrongs.
But it's also imo an incredible piece of fantasy that incorporates some very heavy topics like substance abuse, DV, the complexity of family, the complexity of being human. The way I started out with such a bias against one of the main characters because of how book one was set up; and seeing her story in full learning and growing with her and where she ends up at the end of book two is truly an amazing journey. This author manages to balance plot and character focus so well. 
I must also applaud the story building. I am rarely this surprised by a book, but this and book one have had me in whiplash from all the twists and turns I did not see coming. And the way they just make sense too!!!! Everything is set up so well, making all the plot twists connect and work out to one complete story. 
I cannot wait for book three. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, and Violence

imds's review against another edition

• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Infidelity, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racism, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Transphobia, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Abandonment, War, and Injury/Injury detail

rabelais's review against another edition

3.0

the underlying premise of magic continues to be transmisogynistic. why? why is it necessary to require the entire existence of the world to be based on transmisogyny??? 🤬

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Hate crime, Homophobia, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Racism, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Transphobia, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Kidnapping, Grief, Outing, Cultural appropriation, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Colonisation, and Classism

keya_caivalur's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense 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? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Sexual content, Torture, Toxic relationship, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Infertility, Miscarriage, Misogyny, and War

Minor: Bullying, Child death, Cursing, Genocide, Hate crime, Suicidal thoughts, Dementia, Car accident, Death of parent, and Abandonment

wishbea's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious medium-paced

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

2.0

This was definitely a step down from book 1 for me, I was disappointed. I hoped Ciara would make for a compelling POV read, but I preferred Niamh and missed the found family vibes of Elle, Holly, Niamh, Theo and Luke from the first book.

We get Theo, Chinara and Luke POVs here. I liked Theo's a lot, but found Luke's so boring that I started skipping his POVs when they came up (except for the very last one).

You can really feel the loss of the characters who died in the last book. I found it difficult to care about the characters or the plotlines, Ciara's one was okay, but Leonie's was boring, Theo's was just to set up the cliffhanger and Elle's was for shock value.

Hale took a dive from a potentially interesting villain in book 1 to a generic evil-doer that is hard to take seriously in this book.

I do think my main issue is Ciara. I don't know what to make of her. She has a lot going on mentally, yet I feel like she lacks depth and she isn't compelling to read. Also she

rapes Luke multiple times (he thinks she is Niamh) and that is treated as okay within the narrative.

I disliked her immensely and hated how Dawson seemingly wants the reader to root for her despite all the reprehensible things she does. 

I felt like I had a good grasp on how the magic works in book 1, but there were points where I was incredibly confused by it in this book.

I've completely lost interest in this series and will not be reading the third book when it comes out.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, and Murder

Moderate: Cursing, Sexual content, and Kidnapping

Minor: Transphobia