Reviews tagging 'Physical abuse'

Das Erwachen by Marjorie Liu

19 reviews

pastel_princess's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful mysterious sad 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? No

5.0

To start, the artwork in this book is amazing. Sana Takeda (Artist) did a wonderful job detailing the many characters you meet in this book. The story line is very clear and well written. Watching Maika learn about her past and reveal her story is sad and hard, but it is also besetting. I can't wait to read book 2!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Physical abuse, Slavery, Torture, Blood, Death of parent, and Classism

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Murder, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Fire/Fire injury

ithladin's review against another edition

dark mysterious 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? It's complicated

4.5

Gorgeous art, good worldbuilding, interesting history... but all the triggers!! 

I would love to read something more happy/hopeful with the same art/worldbuilding though.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Death, Physical abuse, Rape, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Blood, and Religious bigotry

elly29's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious fast-paced

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

2.5

This was hard to read. At times the plot seemed nonsensical, and it was very, very violent. Like, dismemberment, rolling heads, blood, wanton killings, life-sucking tentacles that make you age in the blink of an eye, etc etc. The art style is mostly beautiful when it's not bloody, and Kippa is cute and Ren the Nekomancer is funny. I'm not sure they and even four-tailed nekomancer Professor Tam Tam can keep me reading the next installment... I have it checked out of the library, so I probably will give it a go...

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Violence, Blood, and Murder

Moderate: Physical abuse, Slavery, Torture, and Trafficking

Minor: Suicide and War

fictionalportal's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious tense fast-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

For real one of the best books I've read, graphic novel or otherwise. Astonishingly good. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Confinement, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Physical abuse, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Violence, Blood, Trafficking, Kidnapping, and Murder

Moderate: Rape and Sexual violence

book_of_the_north's review against another edition

dark emotional sad 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Body horror, Child death, Death, Gore, Physical abuse, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

raccoonsinatrenchcoat's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional 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? It's complicated

5.0

Absolutely beautiful art and really intriguing story. I love the women-focused narrative (most drawn characters present as women) and I am really interested in the magic/lore systems. Well presented, thought out, and written. Can't wait to pick up the other compendiums. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Physical abuse, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Cannibalism, and Murder

house_of_hannah's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious sad fast-paced

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

4.5

I saw this had won a "Best Publication forTeens" award, so I was surprised at how dark and graphic it was in the end. This has a ton of horror elements, but if you cannot handle gore I would not pick this up. 

So the art is 100% 5/5. It is absolutely gorgeous, and I can stare at some of the pages forever. On the flip side of that there are some terrifying scenes. The artist can make someone look beautiful in one panel, and then grotesque when they show their true colors. It's really fantastic. Some character designs and outfits really give off a Final Fantasy feel as well. 

The story is quite interesting, and I am invested in the characters. I for sure want to continue this series, but it kinda falls into the trap of Fantasy books where you don't really understand what the characters are talking about in the beginning, because we don't know the words for the places and people yet. At the end of a lot of the chapters there is an info dump page as well that goes more in depth on the history of the world and why this conflict exists. It just shows how complicated the universe this story is based in is. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Gore, Physical abuse, Racism, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Blood, Trafficking, Cannibalism, Death of parent, and Murder

hanarama's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional tense fast-paced

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

4.0

First off, the art is beautiful. I was first drawn to this book by the art. It's very elegant and expressive even in depicting violence. 

I don't know how much I can say on the story yet. The first volume (issues 1-6) set up a lot of the groundwork for what I suspect will be explored later. This early on, the story consisted mostly of world building and character establishment. 

The world building is very good and is what carried me through most of the book. So early on the characters haven't undergone a lot of character development so it's really the world building that gets you interested in learning more. There seem to be many secrets hinted at, just waiting to be uncovered later on. 

This volume ends on a major twist/reveal, that I think is going to drive a lot of character moments in the next volume. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Physical abuse, Self harm, Slavery, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Blood, Trafficking, Cannibalism, Religious bigotry, and Murder

Moderate: Ableism, Racism, Sexual content, Violence, and Death of parent

scavenger's review against another edition

adventurous dark sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? N/A
• Loveable characters? N/A
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Physical abuse, Slavery, and Trafficking

Moderate: Sexual violence