Reviews tagging 'Body horror'

A Court of Sugar and Spice by Rebecca F. Kenney

9 reviews

robinwritesallthethings's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring sad tense 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? Yes

5.0

What It’s About: A massively creative, very horny, much darker retelling of the Nutcracker ballet with a gender-swapped Sugar Plum Fairy.

Spice Level: Uh, I need a new scale of spice to describe this book, because it took things to levels of hot I’ve never read before.

Realism: Generally, I don’t like retellings, because I think many of them rely too heavily on the original and don’t deviate enough to make it interesting, but I have to say that this one incorporated everything from the source material and made it its own unique story. Everything fit. The plot made sense, the lore made sense. It’s just good, y’all.

Trope Alert: Enemies to lovers, slow burn, friends to lovers.

Trigger Warnings: There is some serious CNC in here, so skip it if you’re not into that. It is dark romance, so there’s some mentions of sexual assault and also some torture. And this last one isn’t really a trigger warning, but the Rat King is gross, dude.

Final Thoughts: I read this book because it was recommended to me by a Kindle achievement for their reading challenge. I decided to read it because I thought the title was a fun play on the whole fantasy Court of Blah and Blah thing that’s been so popular lately. I had no expectations, yet so many were met. Further proof that sometimes you find exactly what you were looking for even though you had no idea what that was. I will be busy trying all of Kenney’s books now.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Sexual content, Torture, Kidnapping, and Murder

Moderate: Blood, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Rape and Sexual assault

druzyquartz's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark funny lighthearted tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Death, Sexual content, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Murder, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Body horror

Minor: Rape, Sexual assault, and Sexual violence

doahdancer's review

lighthearted relaxing slow-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? No

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Bullying, Confinement, Death, Misogyny, Sexual content, Slavery, Blood, Trafficking, and Sexual harassment

valerie_sjg's review against another edition

dark medium-paced

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

3.75

Mostly nsfw content

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Rape, Sexual content, Blood, and Cannibalism

darkwoodsy_moonchild's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny sad 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Gore, Physical abuse, Blood, and Murder

lauramparis's review against another edition

adventurous dark fast-paced

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

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Sexual content, and Violence

Moderate: Body horror, Death, Blood, Murder, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Confinement, Rape, Slavery, Kidnapping, and Death of parent

tguccione's review against another edition

adventurous dark 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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Body horror, Confinement, Death, Gore, Sexual assault, Slavery, Toxic relationship, Violence, Kidnapping, Abandonment, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Rape, Torture, Grief, Cannibalism, and Death of parent

ta2dlibrarian's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional tense fast-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

4.0

A LGBTQ+, spicy Nutcracker retelling I didn't know I needed. Loved the sisters' story arcs, the Sugarplum Fairy gender bend, and the faerie realm parallel. Looking forward to reading more by Kenney.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content and Violence

Moderate: Body horror and Blood

nikkisreadingx's review against another edition

adventurous fast-paced

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

5.0

I cannot stop raving about this book. Good Lord, it was EVERYTHING I wanted and I cannot stop thinking about it!

The dual romances were perfect. I loved the blend between Clara and Fin's fast paced vs. Louisa and Lir's slow burn. The emotional roller coaster for that one was just wonderful to read and it kept me on my toes.
The horror aspects throughout the book were everything I wanted them to be. It was just. I cannot even begin to describe. From the beginning with the wood automatons, the secret hallway with hunting trophies, and the doll house all the way through the land of Faerie to the Rat King. What a beautifully grotesque part of this story that really highlighted those darker themes of fairy tales.

The characters were amazing. Fin has my whole heart utterly and I cannot even begin to explain why. He was so much fun and then when he fell for her?? That MAN. Ugh, so wonderful. And the tension between Louisa and Lir, how Lir fought his attraction with every fiber of his being while Louisa used it to tease and taunt him. My heart broke for her during their fights, but it was SO satisfying to see how their story grew.

I absolutely love this book, I'm still in a book hangover a week later and I cannot wait to continue the series.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Sexual content, and Violence

Minor: Abandonment