Reviews tagging 'Sexism'

The Last Word by Taylor Adams

8 reviews

lexithelion's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

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

4.75

This book is incredible, I loved it. It was my first introduction to this author and I picked up this book on a whim before I went on vacation. It took me a very short time to finish because it was very hard to put down; I kept wanting to know what happened next. The author is very good at writing compelling characters and created a beautiful plot line. At one point it does get a little frustrating because people keep “dying” but keep coming back, and in my opinion it happens way too much and at one point I stopped believing that anyone was actually dead. But otherwise I will pick up more books from this author!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Cursing, Death, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Violence, Blood, Stalking, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, and Grief

_fallinglight_'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? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.25

This book made me realize I'm not a dog person (sometimes) bc by the fourth near-miss with Laika I was so over it, I was rooting for her d3ath, ok. A dizzying, maybe overstayed story. It was a propulsive read but I didn't care much for Emma bc she felt too surface level and I was kinda annoyed by her. And there were a lot of cringe moments here: the author intruder being a neckbeard, alt-right, Andrew Tate listening, 4chan incel caricature; Taylor Adams describing Jules hair as "Karen haircut" (?), and the damn dog stuff that kept diminishing my enjoyment but it wasn't a terrible experience and it was sorta fun.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Sexism, Blood, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Alcoholism, Child death, Infertility, Suicidal thoughts, and Stalking

Minor: Death of parent

reahbee's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious 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

THE DOG IS FINE. Lest anyone dnf for fear. No promises on any of the people.

This was so much more than the suspenseful, slasher-y book I thought I was getting into (though it was that too.) A master class on how to end a story, with plenty of twists to keep you guessing.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Violence, Blood, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Alcoholism, Gore, Gun violence, Misogyny, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Vomit, and Grief

Minor: Domestic abuse, Infertility, Physical abuse, Self harm, Medical content, Mass/school shootings, Stalking, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Pandemic/Epidemic

child death

,

car accident

rafiniert's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Body horror, Gore, Gun violence, Infertility, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Blood, Vomit, Suicide attempt, Murder, Pregnancy, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Child death and Sexism

Minor: Grief, Mass/school shootings, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

alexisgarcia's review against another edition

mysterious tense fast-paced

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

2.0

i am so disappointed by this… and before i explain why, the irony of writing a negative review on a book thats plot centers around an author  hunting down a reader for leaving a bad review, is not lost on me. 

i absolutely loved No Exit by this author so i thought this had to be good.  i think the premise is super interesting and different, but it fell short. while this was definitely tense and action-packed, it was almost too much. there was an absurd amount of twists and turns that weren’t executed well. it felt like the authors gun ran out of bullets so they just started throwing rocks. these twists were predictable while also feeling so unnecessary and overdone. also the ending??? what kind of hallmark/lifetime movie did this turn into at the end?

*slight spoiler**** 

also, if you’re an author and you’re writing a mystery or thriller and it is based around one of the main “villains” having a mental illness, just don’t???? this heavily perpetuates mental health stereotypes and stigmas, which simply aren’t true. this is so played out and just downright harmful and inaccurate. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Bullying, Child death, Cursing, Death, Gore, Infertility, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Blood, Grief, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Toxic friendship, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

kristiebringhurst's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence

Moderate: Fatphobia

Minor: Sexism

greatestheights's review against another edition

dark tense medium-paced

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

2.0

I refuse to hide this extremely spoilery review for this very important reason: The dog survives! The book will spend an almost cruel amount of time trying to convince you otherwise, though, so be warned. 

More spoilers from here on out, as I bravely dare to rate and review a thriller about a murderous writer going after the bored, grieving woman who roasted his book on Amazon. I too am bored and grieving, but this is Goodreads, and I promise not to be too mean.

Anyway. 

I am once again absolutely begging thriller writers to please, for the love of God, stop writing villains with mental illness. It is not the fun plot device you think it is! I've known and cared for two people who have Howard's diagnosis, and it's not a goddamn punch line. People with mental illness are far more likely to be the victims of violence than the perpetrators of it. Too, Howard's diagnosis was a red herring. It added nothing to his character except to perpetuate a bunch of gross stereotypes. 

That aside, I enjoyed a lot of things about this book. It was entertaining, creepy, full of twists, and the aforementioned (alive!) dog should have been the narrator. I also spent a ton of time rolling my eyes, sending screenshots to my best friend demanding to know how there could be so many hours left in the audiobook by the fifth time I thought it surely had to be drawing to a close, and wondering how many more times Howard was going to bisect something. 

This is just a PSA to all white ladies: If you smell synthetic butter around your remote rental house and think a shadowy figure is watching you sleep, do not pass go, do not collect whatever the fuck, do not CONTINUE BLITHELY LIVING IN THE HOUSE — just leave. Also, don't play Hangman with random old men who have telescopes. Also also, how did this genius astrophysicist warrior woman not know what Hangman was?!

A BIG TW BELOW:

tw tw tw tw infant loss!!!

Idk why I keep picking up books that have surprise infant loss plotlines, but lol, I keep finding them. The detail was particularly brutal, and even though I knew it was coming, I sobbed for the last hour of this book. 

Lots of other stuff to say about the plot and characters and Emma's interesting range of choices, but I've truly gone on long enough and I'm still not sure how I want to rate it. Twoish stars because...*gestures broadly* 

Taylor Adams, if you're reading this, please don't murder me with a katana.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Child death, Death, Gore, Infertility, Mental illness, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Kidnapping, Grief, Stalking, Car accident, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Alcoholism and Bullying

solenophage's review against another edition

tense fast-paced

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

3.0

 Tone's a little weird. The killer is such a played-up incel stereotype that he can only read as comical, but the other characters seem relatively grounded and we're supposed to take their plights seriously. It felt sort of unbalanced, how 'real' are these characters supposed to be? How much is this satire and how much is it horror? I don't think this book quite hit on a good middle ground.

Otherwise, it was a fun read. It was fast-paced and tense at the right moments, with a heroine that who, while not infallible, was clever and easy to root for. Despite the more outlandish elements, I was never fully taken out of the story and had a hard time putting it down.

And the dog lives, thank god!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Gore, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Gore, Gun violence, Infertility, Mental illness, Blood, Grief, Stalking, and Car accident

Minor: Alcoholism, Sexism, Suicide, Vomit, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Alcohol