Reviews tagging 'Rape'

Obsidian Feathers by N. Cáceres

11 reviews

cass_cgallegos's review

4.25

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual content, Blood, Trafficking, Cannibalism, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Body shaming, Mental illness, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Kidnapping, and Sexual harassment

meat_muffin's review

adventurous dark mysterious fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No

2.5

To be honest, this book BADLY needed an editor - it was 75-100 pages too long, full of flowery prose that didn’t add anything and repeated commentary by each MC on the attractiveness of their own ?? Body ?? It was like the author often forgot whose POV they were writing.

Not to mention that both main characters were absolutely infuriating. You’re 60% of the way into the book before they have AN ACTUAL CONVERSATION - this isn’t even a miscommunication trope, this is body-betrayal-means-we-only-hate-fuck-and-never-say-anything-meaningful. Pissed me the hell off.

Super interesting plot, I liked learning about magic systems from another culture (El Salvador!), but the lack of an editor shone through so obviously it was tough to enjoy 😬

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Death, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Gore, Gun violence, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Blood, Kidnapping, Cannibalism, Death of parent, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Child abuse, Confinement, Rape, Torture, Trafficking, Stalking, Gaslighting, Colonisation, and Classism

Minor: Forced institutionalization and Deportation

featherinthewind's review against another edition

The amount of abuse and rape in this book is not it. I tried to power through but I could NOT. MMC is awful. Absolutely. Awful.

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Rape

avniavnipatel's review

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? Yes

3.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Gore, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Violence, and Blood

Moderate: Fatphobia, Toxic relationship, and Cannibalism

Minor: Body shaming, Rape, and Murder

domnicmtz's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad 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? Yes

4.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Panic attacks/disorders, Rape, Sexual content, Sexual violence, and Injury/Injury detail

leonalikesliterature's review

challenging dark slow-paced

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

2.0

I feel very conflicted about this book because there was a lot I loved about it but there was a lot that I hated about it.

The first thing I loved was the world building and fantasy elements in this book. The fantasy is so beautiful and greatly represents Latine Indigenous mythology and culture. I loved the cadejos! Their powers and communities were so interesting and unlike anything I’ve read before, it was like a twist on werewolves but also so much better!

Next, the writing was beautiful. Although I started to get frustrated with the pacing as it was really, really slow, the descriptive imagery was very poetic.

Onto the things I hated.

The relationship between Xochi and Sal was painful to read. Although I liked Sal at the start of the book, the more I read, the more I disliked him.

He was possessive, controlling, and sexually aggressive. Aside from the fact that he threw out her birth control and ADHD meds, treats her like a prisoner, and basically assaults her multiple times, Xochi was also genuinely terrified of him in multiple chapters.  Her fear of him is never even addressed, it’s just forgotten about, and then they just reach a lovey dovey stage which solves all their problems.

I feel like a big problem was that Xochi was described as a sassy, plus sized mc, but she really isn’t sassy until the end of the book. She is easily manipulated by both her mother and Sal and it’s kind of just sad. Only later does Xochi gain any independence. Although it’s framed that life in the compound is freeing for Xochi, in the beginning, her life in the compound really isn’t any different than her living with her abusive and controlling mother.

The sex stuff was getting WAY out of hand for me. Xochi and Sal were sooooo cringe sometimes. They would be arguing with some literal random person and share the most graphic, pornographic details about their sex life as a flex? and I was so confused why. 😭 It was so painful to read. Not even to mention that they literally

fuck on a dead body as revenge. That was so weird and nasty. Hated it.

I never thought I would read a book where I would think that there’s too much sex, but this book made me a prude lol.

There’s too much going on in this book that just gets dropped, which was disappointing and frustrating, especially for how damn long this book is. There are multiple subplots

with Xochi’s family, this medical cadejo torture slave ring, and this broken goddess

that literally just gets dropped and forgotten about and I’m not reading the next book to figure that shit out.

I was frustrated that this was called a Dark Fantasy Romance because I think that led to confusion for me. I would have preferred this to be a romance with dark fantasy elements, rather than a dark romance with fantasy elements. I think the dark romance was what I hated the most about this book. Anyways, I am just glad this book is over. I feel like 2.5 stars is generous.  There was a lot I really liked, despite what I hated. I think I would’ve really loved this book if like 4-5 scenes were just taken out of it. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Emotional abuse and Sexual violence

ninabest's review

challenging dark hopeful sad tense 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

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Cannibalism, Death of parent, Murder, and Deportation

thirdeyeangel23's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious 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

5.0

This story is so incredibly rich and captivating. Angie is at a tipping point in her life when she’s forced to take a business trip to El Salvador. There she meets Sal, a broody and doting stranger that seems too good to be true. But Sal isn’t a stranger and their connection runs deeper than Angie could imagine. This is my first experience with the story of the cadejo and I am hooked. This story is tense, primal, and seductive. A must read if you love dark and/or shifter romances.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Emotional abuse, Rape, Torture, Violence, Blood, Cannibalism, Murder, and Gaslighting

akafrecks's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional inspiring mysterious reflective 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? No

4.0

“Were I a better man, I would woo you, as you deserve. But I am not. And I am ravenous for you.”

"To call it the best kiss of my life would diminish it. It was the only kiss that ever counted."

“You smell like a promise I’ve been waiting my whole life to fulfill.”

This was the right kind of dark romantacy for me! The writing is beautiful and the story is full of cultural nuances that make it unique. Cadejos are not werewolves but if werewolves are not your jam, this may or may not be the book for you. The spice is **chef's kiss** I can't wait to read the next book!

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Panic attacks/disorders, Toxic relationship, Blood, Grief, Cannibalism, Murder, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Drug abuse, Genocide, and Kidnapping

Minor: Child death, Gun violence, Rape, Self harm, and Deportation

discarded_dust_jacket's review

dark emotional mysterious medium-paced

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

3.0

I have such mixed feelings about my experience with this book, and my thoughts are sort of jumbled. There were some things I really really loved, and some things that disappointed me. (This entire review is going to be spoiler-y so I’m just gonna hide it all, and read at your own risk.)

I should say first and foremost, I really appreciated the focus on Indigenous culture, lore, and characters. Experiencing a glimpse into the lives of Latin American Indigenous people through this story was a treat and a privilege, even if the cultures were somewhat altered to fit in a fictional world. I deeply respect that, and absolutely no criticism of the crafting of this book is meant to reflect anything but the crafting of the book itself.

Now. Having said that. It took me a really long time to actually like and want to root for Sal to be honest. Both he and Xochitl were so all over the place for the first half of the story (maybe intentional? Idk). Sal goes from being this sort of suave, mysterious figure when we first meet him to overbearing, immature, and volatile so suddenly it gave me whiplash. The literal ONLY CHARACTER I liked from the moment they appeared on page to the very end and formed any sort of deep emotional attachment to was César, and I’m so glad that it looks like the next book will center him more (if the final chapter is any indication).

I also feel like there were a lot of plot threads that got dropped in the end (Xochi’s father/grandparents? The neighboring totoco? The broken goddess?) Are these all questions that will get resolved in future books? I know the series will include more, but I’m unsure whether those will be standalones centering different characters or if they’ll be continuations of this particular story.

As far as what I loved about this book, I have to say: it’s like 550 pages long and I managed to read it in basically two days, so. That’s saying something, lol. There was something about this story that had me wanting to keep turning the page, even when I felt tempted to skim, so it definitely managed to capture and hold my attention.

The sex scenes were really good, I’ll say that. And as an avid monster smut reader, the scene where Xochi and Itzatecuani do it while he’s in his spirit form was *chef’s kiss*.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Rape, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, and Murder

Moderate: Body shaming, Child death, and Fatphobia

Minor: Colonisation and Deportation