Reviews tagging 'Alcoholism'

Daughter of the Siren Queen by Tricia Levenseller

41 reviews

wad3mil3sgarru2's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny lighthearted relaxing sad 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? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Minor: Alcoholism, Death, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Cannibalism, Death of parent, Gaslighting, and Alcohol

addisonrutherford09's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny inspiring lighthearted reflective sad medium-paced

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

3.5

I liked Daughter of the Siren Queen better than Daughter of the pirate king because this book was a lot more fast paced. There was lots of danger and obstacles that the characters had to face amd this made the plot more interesting, though still a bit flat and predictable over all. I also think that I liked the book for its entertaining storyline, not for the way it is written. 
That being said, most of the characters were well written. Alosa is stubborn and firey, but cares deeply for her crew and for Riden,  which comes through more towards the end of the book. Riden's character is a bit flat,but I'll touch more on that later.
On that note, I'll touch a bit on the romance. In DaSQ, Riden and Alosas relationship is much less flat than in the previous book and I liked that, but still did not feel very genuine. I felt like Riden existed merely to be Alosa's love interest and didn't have much motivation or goals of his own other than her. He was one of the only flat characters in both books.
There is a lot more violence than is nessisary in both books, in my opinion and it gets to a point when there is a lot of unnecessary, gory death described in detail that pulls away from the main plot. If excessive violence and gore bothers you, these books might not be good to read.
       All in all, DaSQ was a fast, fun read that I enjoyed, but I don't think I'd recommend it to someone looking for something deeper and contemplative. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Death, Gore, Violence, Blood, Cannibalism, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Cursing, Physical abuse, Sexism, Sexual content, and Torture

Minor: Child abuse, Confinement, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Forced institutionalization, and Sexual harassment

-Violence: Character have their throats slit, are stabbed, exploded, limbs broken, cut, speared and consumed by sea monsters as well as cannibals. There is lots of blood and gore and

a few members of Alosa's crew are killed which can be sad

. Sirens can be seen dragging men under the water with them and there's much talk of what they do to them under the surface: command them to do terrible things like dancing naked until their feet wear to thr bone and allow themselves to be stabbed with knife by the sirenThe sirens then rape the men and play with their bodies. Sexual assault is mentioned and implied briefly. Sexual Content: There are a few intense/steamy kissing scenes with one of which ending with the characters loosening each others clothing on a bed. Two girls talk about how they would like to see one of the characters naked. There is brief mention of a brothel. The sirens do not wear clothing. Alchohol: One of the characters is an alcoholic for half of the book and is often seen drunk or passed put in his vomit.

Alosa's crew is forced to drink rum when they run out of water

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colorcrystals's review

adventurous 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? No

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gun violence, Violence, Blood, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Child abuse, Confinement, Cannibalism, and Death of parent

Minor: Alcoholism and Alcohol

celery's review against another edition

adventurous fast-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Body horror, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexism, Torture, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Cannibalism, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, Abandonment, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

dblue236's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional lighthearted mysterious relaxing 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

5.0

I've found an affinity for pirate books over the past few years, and particularly ones with female main characters. I really enjoyed the first book in this series, but I think I actually preferred this one. There was more depth to the characters and the story drew me in right from the beginning. I would love to see this series eventually get adapted for a film or TV series, and the author definitely provides plenty of material to work with. This was some of the best multi-layered storytelling I've read in a while. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cannibalism

Moderate: Alcoholism, Confinement, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Medical trauma, Murder, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Sexual content

kwheelzroxx's review against another edition

adventurous medium-paced

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

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Violence, Blood, Death of parent, Abandonment, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Misogyny, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Grief, and Sexual harassment

anne_racovita's review against another edition

adventurous fast-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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Physical abuse, Blood, Kidnapping, Cannibalism, Death of parent, and Murder

Moderate: Alcoholism and Torture

northernbookfox's review against another edition

adventurous lighthearted fast-paced

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

2.75

This did exactly what it needed to for me: it was entertaining and fun to read. However, I felt no sense of tension. 
The characters said exactly what they meant and wanted and felt, except Alosa. Levels of clear communication and self-awareness that would be commendable in real people but all the conflict that is supposed to come from those missed connections just evaporated with little to replace it.

Riden

did all his emotional work off-page. Characters just disappeared -

Draxton and Theris/Vandorn

: who knows what happened to them! For characters that were such threats in the previous book, they were dealt with so easily that it felt rushed. Was it? Was there supposed to be a missing book in the middle where they hunted down

Theris

? Who knows, but it's not here now.
Again, entertaining, kept me engaged enough to read it in a day, but when the only moment I felt tense was when

a child got shot in the head

- in a pirate book! I'm not impressed.
It's a shame because I did enjoy all the individual tropes, this should have been an easy win. Just goes to show, tension serves a purpose.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood

Moderate: Confinement, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Violence, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Alcoholism, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Torture, and Cannibalism

augustar14's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful tense fast-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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Violence, Blood, Grief, Cannibalism, Murder, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Domestic abuse, Infertility, Torture, and Sexual harassment

Minor: Alcoholism and Sexual content

elizlizabeth's review against another edition

adventurous fast-paced

• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No

2.0

Alossa's behavior throghout was so rank and I hated that we were only allowed to feel pain or anger or any emotion if she was feeling it. Lots of things happen only as shock factor or to justify Alossa's decisions so at one point it I stopped wondering about the plot and just let myself carry forward because clearly there is only one captain to this ship and it's the author. Some research into sailing was made, but I wish the author had researched more into pirates and their war strategies in a book this heavy with action. 
In the first book it's not that obvious too but I don't like the way this series portrays men as evil and dangerous and the language, plus some of the gendered mechanics of mermaids rubs me the wrong way.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Cannibalism, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Alcoholism and Confinement