Reviews tagging 'Misogyny'

Ariadne by Jennifer Saint

154 reviews

thalia16's review against another edition

dark emotional medium-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child death, Death, Gore, Misogyny, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, and Alcohol

Moderate: Confinement, Infidelity, Rape, Grief, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Sexual content

reachmars's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes

4.5

Even though it's just a straightforward retelling of the myths, it was very engaging. Especially as someone who didn't know a lot about this specific story going into it, I couldn't put it down. It's a story that makes it make sense that it would survive thousands of years of oral tradition.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Child death, Death, Misogyny, Suicide, Gaslighting, and Abandonment

Moderate: Confinement, Grief, and Alcohol

Minor: Body horror, Domestic abuse, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Blood, Colonisation, and War

bxnny's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful reflective sad tense

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child death, Death, Incest, Infidelity, Misogyny, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Trafficking, Murder, Pregnancy, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Torture, Forced institutionalization, Gaslighting, Abandonment, and War

Minor: Stalking and Death of parent

kayceeisbookish's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad tense slow-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? Yes

4.0

I sobbed a lot and loved it. Loving learning about all the women in mythology.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Animal death, Child death, Death, Incest, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Blood, Grief, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, and Alcohol

kermitluver69's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense slow-paced

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

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Incest, Misogyny, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, and Pregnancy

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Panic attacks/disorders, Rape, and Gaslighting

savvyrosereads's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional medium-paced

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

4.0

Updated review (July 2024):

Rating: 4/5 stars

Ariadne is a princess of Crete when she helps Theseus defeat the minotaur, setting in motion a series of events that will alter the rest of her life.

This was a reread for me, and I really enjoyed it both times! In my first read, I remember disliking the ending, and this time around I understand it more but still find it abysmally sad, hence my rating remaining at 4 stars. That said, the writing here is impeccable, and I love the story structure and alternating chapters from Ariadne and Phaedra’s perspectives. I also feel like this is told in a very approachable way and is easy to understand even without much background context.

This is also super fast paced (I listened to the audiobook in just a couple sittings) and Ariadne is a top tier heroine for me. Thoroughly enjoyed, and a fantastic July pick from my book club!

CW: Death, including animal and child death; sexual violence/mentions of assault; suicide; misogyny/sexism; pregnancy/motherhood

Original rating (August 2021): 4/5 stars

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Death, Misogyny, Sexual violence, Suicide, Violence, and Pregnancy

clovetra's review against another edition

adventurous challenging medium-paced

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

2.0

idk how to feel about this book. honestly i think im becoming a bit… disillusioned with greek mythology retellings at the moment. i honestly think they swing big and either really succeed or meander. and i would say this book follows the later.

i really couldn’t connect with this book at all. the ending felt rushed, and after the minotaur story was completed, the story felt as if it was floundering. obviously the entire book can’t be about life at crete but the fact it barely even covered 100 pages really let this book down. 

ariadne was at best a blank slate to narrate the tales of dionysus, and at worst was incredibly boring and annoying. i understand her naivety is fundamental to her story but it was overdone 200 pages in, and by the end i was over her.

phaedra was kind of likeable i guess. i enjoyed her at the beginning, but as soon as her story moved to her & hippolyta, she became insufferable. seriously when

her & ariadne were fighting over hippolyta

i didn’t agree with either of them. her ending also felt rushed and she lacked any depth being her impulsivity and brash nature.

dionysus was boring as well. he seemed to be all over the place with his characterisation, and his ending felt like it against everything earlier set up in the book. i get that was kind of the point but from a reader’s perspective it’s just a tad stupid.

i also think i became disillusioned with saint’s writing style by the end. to begin with i loved her descriptions and her poetic way of writing, but after the 20th sentence telling us that women always pay the price for a man’s crime i was over it. this book felt like it was going in circles constantly.

now you might ask - why did i finish this? because i own a copy of this, and i was curious to see if it could redeem itself the more it progressed. i don’t like to DNF books i own - if its a library or ebook sure she’s going in the DNF pile. but i paid $26 for this i was finishing it either way. and yet why didn’t i give this a 1-star? because i was still curious to see where this went. i wasn’t invested in the characters but i was invested in where things would go. 

idk i don’t think i had too much fun reading this. the beginning was intriguing, but after ariadne’s arrival at noxus the book fizzled away. and also the ending was dumb, anticlimatic and yet again rushed.

i will defo be taking a break from retellings for a while after this one!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Infidelity, Misogyny, Sexism, Religious bigotry, and Pregnancy

Moderate: Animal death, Child death, Rape, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, and War

kfergy's review against another edition

dark relaxing medium-paced

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

4.0

Enjoyable read - definitely a good fit for those familiar with Greek mythology and always wanted a bit more context to the parables. Good reflection upon traditional femininity and independence, though the ending doesn't necessarily leave you inspired (it's not supposed to) 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Misogyny, Toxic relationship, and Abandonment

Moderate: Child death, Gore, Infidelity, Blood, and Abandonment

Minor: Animal cruelty, Suicide, Pregnancy, and War

lauren_shilling's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.5

This book was amazing! It took me way too long to read it, and it may have been a five star if I wasn't in such a terrible reading slump when I read it, because I don't really have any criticisms of it except that it didn't give me the feeling I get when I know I'm reading a five star book. Again, that may be because of the reading slump. The writing in this book was so gorgeous, and I found some new quotes that I absolutely love. There are definitely some new favorite quotes in this book for me. The portrayal of Ariadne and her sister Phaedra, and how they lead such different lives as a result of one event was so interesting. The way their experiences shape who they become and how they interact with others was very well developed. Their experiences were so different, but in many ways reading about Phaedra's experiences was like holding up a mirror to Ariadne's, allowing me to see it in a more well-rounded way, and Ariadne's experiences felt like holding up a mirror to Phaedra's. It gave a very wholistic picture of both characters, as well as some others, and it was very interesting and very well done. The conversation about women and how they are effected by and punished the carelessness of men, especially in mythology, was so in depth and thought provoking. I would love to reread this book later on when I am not in a slump, because it really made me think. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Death, Misogyny, and Suicide

Moderate: Child death and Pregnancy

Minor: Rape and War

icy_queen's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark informative reflective slow-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Body horror, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Blood, Grief, Cannibalism, Suicide attempt, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, and War

Moderate: Domestic abuse

Minor: Rape