Reviews tagging 'Torture'

Strange the Dreamer by Laini Taylor

7 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

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

albireotales's review against another edition

adventurous dark sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

Loved Lazlo. Suffered for Sarai.
Hated Minya. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood

Moderate: Child death, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Torture, Kidnapping, Grief, Toxic friendship, and Abandonment

thecourtofreading's review against another edition

adventurous challenging funny mysterious tense slow-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

"if you're afraid of your own dreams, you're welcome here in mine."

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, and Blood

Moderate: Rape, Sexual violence, Slavery, and Torture

Minor: Sexual assault, Sexual content, and Kidnapping

shoohoob's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious reflective slow-paced

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

4.0

This book is….interesting. To preface, I did really enjoy reading it. Laini Taylor’s writing style is captivating and so beautifully written. She can turn a description of a turd into poetry if she wanted to. That being said, the book was over 500 pages long and the real action happened about 400 pages in. I found myself getting impatient with the characters and the development, and wanted the book to move faster. However, I don’t know that it could have been any shorter? I can’t wait to read the second book in the duology though! 

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Content Warnings

Minor: Animal death, Child death, Death, Sexual content, Torture, and Murder

angelareads's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, and Grief

Moderate: Confinement, Emotional abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, and Torture

Minor: Sexual content