Reviews tagging 'Gaslighting'

The War of Two Queens by Jennifer L. Armentrout

8 reviews

abicaro17's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny mysterious 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

4.25

holy shit. this was significantly better than the last book! I had my fears but it definitely proved me wrong. Once again this book falls victim to a action packed beginning and end but a relatively boring middle. I think Poppy is wayyy too overpowered in terms of where we started. I will say though between the end, the joining, the Poppy & Castiel reunion, and Tawney I have a lot of positives too. Which is why the book is rated as high as it is. While this book falls victim to a lot of the pitfalls of the 2nd and 3rd book, it is entertaining as hell and FINALLY answers series long questions (despite how ridiculous some answers are). 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Misogyny, Sexism, Sexual content, Terminal illness, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

aklert's review against another edition

medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated

3.0

Taka potężna Poppy a tak łatwo daje się prowokować swojej matce. 
Już myślałam, że to nareszcie koniec, a tu się okazało, że jednak będę się musiała zmusić do czytania kolejnych części 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Torture, Violence, Gaslighting, and War

mightymaite's review against another edition

emotional tense medium-paced

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

4.5

What a beautiful progression of the story. Poppy and Cas being apart so long made you suffer, but also made the character and relationship development in this book possible. The trauma that Cas went through, the aftermath and the impact on Poppy were so gripping! The atrocities of war in this book were written beautifully and so visually that it gripped you by the throat and branded itself on your eyes.
After seeing the relationships between the characters change and develop over multiple books, it was the perfect time for the Joining to happen. Very natural progression to get here. Tastefully written, full of love and friendship.
This book was the perfect bridge between Poppy's and Nyktos' storyline.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Violence, Gaslighting, and War

Moderate: Physical abuse, Sexual content, Torture, Grief, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

roget's review against another edition

slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No

1.0

This reads like a crack fic. 

This series would be so much stronger if space that was given to all the tone-ignorant quipping and pages of unnecessarily aggressive, uncomfortable exchanges were instead given to expanding the lore. 

The real plot is crammed into info-dumps in dialogue—just like, lecture after lecture of some being or another backtracking like “Well, ACTUALLY…” and then re-explaining lore and ancient relationships that’d already been explained and re-explained half a dozen times but apparently incorrectly. The consort? Interesting plot line. I wish we’d have gotten more of that development. 

The Malik-Poppy backstory reveal was absolutely undercut by the series’s penchant for throwing gossip girl-style shocking “twists” at us every five minutes,  not to mention the tonally inconsistent   suggestive and situationally abhorrent illicit comments. The series isn’t respectful to Kieren, either. He’s basically  treated like Poppy’s arm candy this book, and Poppy’s character is shockingly undynamic given the many, many changes she’s been through. She’s still acting like the angry, impulsive, and brash kid who’s playing at power without really understanding it. 

The pacing is weird. 

It takes them over half the book to rescue Cas, then it’s a large chunk of just adult scenes—the most awkward of which occur in the house of a set of resistance people who take them in and offer shelter only to be melted by Isbeth once Poppy and Cas are done using their familial home as a love shack.

As for the content…

There are numerous mature scenes, and if you’re not up for that, you’ll find yourself paging through them frustratedly and wading through neverending passages of violence as you wait for eons for an update about the more integral parts of the plot.

I’m interested to know more about the primals and their clearly warped family tree. I want Poppy to return to Ileesium. I want to see more of those dynamics unfold. I wish the book would spend more time and nuance developing that and Poppy herself. 

Kind of just reading to find out what happens and how it wraps up at this point, which is disheartening. I’m sure some people find this series fun or entertaining, but the issues have sort of spoiled it for me, at least.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, Sexual content, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Gaslighting, War, and Injury/Injury detail

arthur_ant18's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful inspiring tense medium-paced

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

3.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Violence, Murder, Gaslighting, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Cursing, Torture, and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Child abuse, Rape, Sexual violence, and Death of parent

ka_ke's review against another edition

adventurous dark 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? No

4.75

ARE WE GETTING ANOTHER BOOK?!? That is my only thought at the end of this book. I need to know what happens with Cas, Poppy & Kieran. I need closure! 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Death, Sexual content, Torture, Violence, Blood, Grief, Religious bigotry, Murder, Gaslighting, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Ableism, Body horror, Gore, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Alcohol, and Classism

tiana_king's review

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

Boy oh boy did I snort through this book like crack. Several things we’ve all been hoping for FINALLY happened ;) Plenty of plot twists kept this interesting and really my only beef with this book was I feel like so many questions remain unanswered. I look forward to the next book!

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Gore, Sexual content, Violence, Blood, Murder, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

levesc17's review against another edition

adventurous dark lighthearted tense slow-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? No

4.0

The last book in the series ended on a terrible note, Casteel is taken hostage in exchange for Poppy’s freedom. The newest installment, War of the Two Queens, picks up about a month after the events of book two as Poppy and Kieran are in the throes of planning to get Casteel back. The book is tense the entire time, and the dramatic irony is almost frustrating. We know key pieces of information the characters take a long time to figure out. It makes the book feel very long and slow paced. The shining virtue of this book is the relationships between Poppy, Casteel, and Kieran. We also get very strong Casteel chapters from his point of view and those really helped round out the narrative. Now I can’t wait for book 2 in the companion series to find out more about that storyline. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Gaslighting

Moderate: Torture, Violence, and War

Minor: Physical abuse

I will say this book sort of exhausted me because the world is so rich. I couldn’t keep all the terms straight from the companion series, a shadow in the ember, and I think it detracted from the reading experience. The publisher should include a glossary and possibly a timeline.