Reviews tagging 'Emotional abuse'

Strange the Dreamer by Laini Taylor

30 reviews

friendly_neighborhood_grandma's review against another edition

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Infidelity, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Panic attacks/disorders, Racism, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, and Trafficking

uselesspirateraven's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful mysterious sad medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Hate crime, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Violence, Kidnapping, Abortion, and Murder

Moderate: Infidelity, Physical abuse, Grief, Colonisation, War, and Classism

Minor: Physical abuse, Torture, Xenophobia, Blood, Vomit, and Death of parent

oxian_d's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective sad 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

4.5

This book was the first book I've read with eagerness and excitement to finish and read the next after hp, mazerunner and shadow & bone book series. It had been so long that I found all the good and interesting things in a book. The mystery, the drama, the history, the magic, the color of it all so enamored and intriguing for a YA book to read. 

It's more than a fantasy, more than a myth, it is magic and alchemy of words fused in this book. The book cover itself is fascinating and that's how I was drawn to it, from the cover to the title then unbeknownst to me it was a treasure to be held. I got emotionally entwined and time passed around me, but not so much as forgetting. It was strange like the character himself but beautifully strange in ways one would surmise otherworldly enthralling and captivatingly breathless that I finished in about a week. Really a masterful work, excitingly scary, heart wretching, breaking and maddeningly brilliant. It was poetic and magically made, never have I read a nov l like myth so beautifully wounded and bound. The ending is to be continued and I can't wait for more. Kudos to the author for seamlessly concocting magic, myth and science with grace. You truly are the weaver of alchemical words in music, color and dreams. 
Can't wait to read the next and more of your work. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Death, and Blood

Moderate: Body horror, Bullying, Confinement, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Forced institutionalization, Murder, and Abandonment

Minor: Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Slavery, Violence, Kidnapping, Pregnancy, and Colonisation

romaisa_azim's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny reflective 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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Rape, Sexual assault, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, and Grief

arlaubscher's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful mysterious sad 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Racism, Rape, Slavery, Violence, Grief, Fire/Fire injury, and Colonisation

Moderate: Blood and Injury/Injury detail

laurence19's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious tense slow-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Death, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Pedophilia, Racism, Blood, Kidnapping, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, and Colonisation

Moderate: Child abuse, Child death, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, and Violence

bethfern04's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful reflective sad 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, and Murder

marcyh's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious medium-paced

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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Violence

Moderate: Child death

Minor: Emotional abuse, Sexual assault, and Kidnapping

kathrynleereads's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring 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? It's complicated

4.75

As a human, mysteries intrigue me. As a person who devoted years to the study of anthropology, mysteries of culture consume me. 

So a story about a city, mysterious from the beginning, but suddenly lost, disappeared from the world? It felt like magic to have stumbled upon it.

Right from the prologue, Strange the Dreamer grabbed my attention and refused to let go. 

The story, the characters, the settings, the dreams, they all just kept getting better and better. 

Watching the history of Weep unfold bit by bit in tiny little shards of knowledge was mesmerizing.

Other than the gods themselves, there were no characters that I didn’t like. 

The only two who came close were Minya and Thyon, but even the two of them weren’t evil, they just lacked compassion. 

And the dreams.

Laini Taylor’s writing truly encompasses and deserves the word “art.”

I have long wished that I could dive into the worlds I read about, and then there I was, reading about a world I wanted to dive into, and within that world they were doing the same thing.

The connection I felt to Lazlo and Sarai as they dove into dreams together and made their stories was one of the strongest I’ve ever felt with a character (or characters in this case). 

I’m both excited and terrified to learn where the story, and the unseen city of Weep itself, go from here.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Abandonment, Sexual harassment, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Child abuse, Confinement, and Blood

Minor: Homophobia

aksmith92's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious 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? Yes

4.5

This is how you write a YA novel that also appeals to 31 year old :)

In these first 10 pages, I was the most confused I've ever been about a book, but thankfully, that passed, and I was swept away in this novel.

We follow a couple of different characters throughout this book - Lazlo Strange, Sarai, Feral, Sparrow, Eril-Fane, Azareen, and Thyon. However, primarily, it's told from a third POV of Lazlo and Sarai. The book is broken up into parts, and the first part is exclusively for Lazlo, a timid and shy librarian who is fascinated with a distant land called Weep. Weep was called something else years ago, but no one can seem to remember the name. So Lazlo buries his mind into other aspects of the land besides the name - its history, the language, and the culture. Suddenly, he finds himself in an opportunity where he can go to Weep and immerse himself even further.

Sarai is a godling(like) who has a power where she can immerse herself in peoples' dreams. She lives in Weep but at the Citadel, which is high up in the sky. Without spoiling anything, the only thing you know about Sarai and four other godlings is that they are kept a secret from Weep citizens due to a slaughter of the gods fifteen years prior. Sarai and the others must keep their identities secret, but they stumble upon an obstacle when Weep citizens and others brainstorm ways to remove the Citadel from the sky.

The only way I can describe the writing is gorgeous, and I absolutely loved the plot and premise. This is a fantastical world that just had me dreaming like those in this novel. The adjectives were vivid, and the characters were beautiful and never perfect in the best way possible. As typical in YA novels, the main characters were a little angsty. I wished Taylor portrayed them as a little bit older (my common qualm, per usual), and I think the love story was a tad bit rushed, but overall, I absolutely loved it. I cannot wait to read the next one in the series/duology!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Grief, and Death of parent

Moderate: Rape and Suicidal thoughts

Minor: Sexual content

Rape is regularly talked about, but it's most inferred, and the recuperation of it, as opposed to it being on page and in detail. That is why it is in Moderate as opposed to the Graphic. Sexual content is minor (PG-13-like) and also semi-inferred (but well-done!)