Reviews tagging 'Child abuse'

The Mermaid, the Witch, and the Sea by Maggie Tokuda-Hall

22 reviews

ettegoom's review against another edition

adventurous hopeful 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? No

4.0

I liked the concept of how magic worked in this world, but ultimately felt that the section with witch and learning magic were a bit pointless. 

Spoiler

The witch was all about how  Flora had to unlock her power... like Flora had this huge important destiny, and then the only time she used it was to travel to the ship...

. It was interesting at the time, but really didn't need to be there? 
The author laid the whole: colonialism is bad, and gender diversity should be normal on pretty thickly. I still enjoyed it though, and found myself rooting for several of the characters. 
A nice book for teens.  

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Bullying, Child abuse, Colonisation, Death, Animal death, Addiction, Kidnapping, Trafficking, Classism, Alcoholism, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Murder, Physical abuse, and Animal cruelty

Minor: Rape

cecinamo's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional funny mysterious sad tense 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

5.0

I love this book! It is incredibly diverse and has really good sapphic, gender-fluid and non-binary rep. It is written absolutely beautifully! Reading it was such an amazing experience. The characters, the world building, the words, everything just fit and was so beautiful. It was so mythical and magical, the author just transports you straight into this amazing and beautiful world. I was invested the whole time, the story never felt dragged out or disconnected. The ending was so sljdlslskslsj T^T. I would 100% recommend this book. Already in the first chapter I knew it would become one of my favorites! 💕🌊🪼

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Colonisation, Death, Gore, Blood, Classism, Drug abuse, Racism, Grief, Homophobia, Sexism, Addiction, Confinement, Death of parent, Violence, Alcoholism, Gun violence, Torture, Misogyny, and Murder

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Slavery, Sexual harassment, and Sexual assault

Minor: Child abuse and Child death

dealingwithdragons's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Classism, Body horror, Biphobia, Alcoholism, Trafficking, Xenophobia, Torture, Sexual harassment, Alcohol, Rape, Sexual violence, Drug use, Death of parent, Homophobia, Sexual assault, Vomit, War, Violence, Suicidal thoughts, Slavery, Sexism, Self harm, Physical abuse, Murder, Kidnapping, Injury/Injury detail, Gun violence, Drug abuse, Death, Cursing, Colonisation, Child death, Child abuse, Bullying, Blood, and Addiction

lilacs_book_bower's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious sad medium-paced

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

3.0

Blurb: "In a world divided by colonialism and threaded with magic, a desperate orphan turned pirate and a rebellious imperial lady find a connection on the high seas."  Very mixed feelings about this one.  There is great LGBTQ rep, and the two leads are POC characters, and I appreciated the discussions and seeing the effects of colonization by the Empire.  The Witch had some great stories.  The world building left a lot to be desired, but there were some cool elements and ideas.  
Other than that, I didn't like most of the characters, and didn't even care about the two leads especially.  They fall in love very quickly.  This book is dark, please check the CW.  CW:

Spoiler

even off-page, I don't want to read about child rape.

There are a few plot holes.  There are two endings and I didn't appreciate either of them.  I get what the author is going for

Spoiler

with Evelyn and Florian, it's their reward and they get to be together, but it didn't feel like Florian really has atoned enough to earn that, and "they both turn into mermaids' fits with the magic of the book, but also feels like a story a five year old would tell.

.  The second ending is about a character that I didn't like, so I didn't care about what happens to them, even though, again, I feel like I understand what the author is going for.  
If you like fantasy, especially with good LGBTQ rep, and like stories on the darker side, I would give this one a try.  In spite of the mixed bag of reactions, I would read another from this author.  

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Animal death, Child abuse, Classism, Drug abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Murder, Cursing, Gore, Blood, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Sexism, Abandonment, Addiction, Animal cruelty, Child death, Colonisation, Death, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Grief, Gun violence, Misogyny, Slavery, and Violence

Moderate: Rape

aexileigh's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional slow-paced

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

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Blood, Child death, Classism, Death, Gore, Homophobia, Colonisation, Death of parent, Drug use, Injury/Injury detail, Slavery, Violence, Misogyny, Sexism, Murder, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Torture, and Trafficking

pineapple_queen's review against another edition

adventurous 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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Classism, Confinement, Misogyny, Murder, Homophobia, Colonisation, Addiction, Kidnapping, Outing, Child abuse, Alcohol, Torture, Blood, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, and Sexism

Moderate: Gun violence, Homophobia, Racism, Physical abuse, Violence, Xenophobia, Animal cruelty, Trafficking, Slavery, Pedophilia, Murder, Mental illness, Grief, and Death

Minor: Rape, Sexual violence, and Sexual assault

ezwolf's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful sad 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

5.0

First of all the way this book deals with gender is amazing and Florian is one of my favorite characters in relation to how they use gender and presentation and it was great. 

Second, if you’re looking for a pirate story sort of similar to Our Flag Means Death this is for you. They’re similar but also quite different. It’s got gay characters and non-binary pirates and nobility escaping their duties. 

I’m not usually one for alternating point of views but I thought all of these characters were great and even if you weren’t meant to root for them; they were still intriguing to read about and read their motivations. 

Flora and Evelyn’s relationship and the stories of love and how they overcome the idea that all love ends in heartbreak was wonderful. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture, Drug use, Animal cruelty, Colonisation, Blood, Death, Injury/Injury detail, and Violence

Moderate: Misogyny, Homophobia, Grief, and Kidnapping

Minor: Sexual assault and Child abuse

ailsaod's review against another edition

adventurous dark hopeful slow-paced

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

4.0

 This was a story that had some very original and interesting takes on the pirate sub-genre as well as gender and mermaids but it was also a little odd. Given the premise of pirates and romance with added cross-dressing I was expecting something a little fun, possibly light-hearted or goofy. Let my tell you now that actually this story is about guilt - everyone is drowning in regrets or has abandoned their morals entirely. Piracy is shown as a harsh, unforgiving lifestyle that brings out the very worst in people and while this is more realistic it was also rather gloomy.

I found the magic system in this book very odd and difficult to get my head around and it ultimately didn't have much of an effect on the story for the amount of emphasis it got in the middle sections? The romance had a similar problem - there is a lot of long distance pining with very little foundation before it and then when they are back together its treated like its the romance of the century. It all feels a little fast to me.

Despite my complaints I think this book was good, it just didn't really align with my tastes. I think there were some really good ideas and some people would absolutely love it

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Sexual harassment, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Colonisation, Rape, Racism, Kidnapping, Drug abuse, Alcoholism, and Mental illness

Minor: Homophobia, Child abuse, Child death, and Religious bigotry

The rape is only implied but features pretty heavily.

dtierra's review against another edition

adventurous emotional sad 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? No

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Death, Gun violence, Violence, Blood, Torture, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Child death, Child abuse, War, Trafficking, and Grief

Minor: Colonisation, Confinement, Death of parent, Classism, and Drug use

There are parts of this book I loved but overall I was disappointed by how little time the main characters had together. Most of the book is spent with them apart and it is painfully slow moving. The pace of the book feels all over the place, parts of it move quite fast and other parts move painstakingly slowly. There are some really beautiful lines on the central romance but I wish there was more. I am extremely disappointed by

Spoiler

the bury your gays trope present in the book, while there is a somewhat happy ending, it felt unnecessary to the plot. The ending of the book, the very last chapter was also a bit unnecessary and confusing to me. It definitely could have been wrapped up better

. The world building was great, I just think Pt 2 of the book could be drastically shortened and I would have loved for Pt 3 to have been given 50-100 more pages!

talonsontypewriters's review against another edition

adventurous medium-paced

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

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Trafficking, Violence, Colonisation, Gun violence, Murder, Slavery, Death, and Torture

Moderate: Gore, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Xenophobia, Alcohol, Confinement, Grief, Sexual assault, Transphobia, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Child death, Classism, Misogyny, Outing, Pedophilia, Body horror, and Vomit

Minor: Homophobia and Lesbophobia

Self-injury for magical purposes. Misgendering of a side character.