Reviews tagging 'Stalking'

A Strange and Stubborn Endurance by

21 reviews

anderska1011's review against another edition

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Homophobia, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Blood, Suicide attempt, and Outing

Moderate: Ableism, Animal death, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Panic attacks/disorders, Stalking, and Fire/Fire injury

seashel's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious tense medium-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? It's complicated

5.0

A wonderful husbands-to-friends-to-lovers 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Death, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Grief, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Outing, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Confinement, Hate crime, Sexism, Medical content, Stalking, and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Cursing, Domestic abuse, Torture, Transphobia, Abandonment, and Classism

gondorgirl's review against another edition

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? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Emotional abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Rape, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Grief, Suicide attempt, Murder, Outing, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Animal death, Body shaming, Cursing, Gore, Infidelity, Sexual assault, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Kidnapping, Stalking, Death of parent, and Alcohol

bespectacled_lemur's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny inspiring mysterious sad tense slow-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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Homophobia, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Violence, Grief, Suicide attempt, Outing, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Ableism, Animal death, Cursing, Death, Homophobia, Infidelity, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Transphobia, Violence, Grief, Stalking, Suicide attempt, Murder, Outing, Toxic friendship, and Alcohol

Minor: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Homophobia, Infidelity, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Transphobia, Violence, Blood, Grief, Religious bigotry, Stalking, Suicide attempt, Murder, Outing, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

ollie_again's review against another edition

adventurous emotional tense medium-paced

3.0

At some point I was tired of the constant shitstorm happening. If there was a peaceful moment you could be sure it will be interrupted by someone rushing in announcing someone murdered or attacked. I also got confused with who's-who on several occasions and overall the storytelling and pacing was a bit messy for me to enjoy. Some parts of the book are top notch and I will continue with the next book, however it was not the five star I was expecting.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Rape, Sexual assault, Violence, Blood, and Murder

Moderate: Homophobia, Suicidal thoughts, Grief, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Ableism, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Medical content, and Stalking

cheye13's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful medium-paced

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

4.0

I credit this book with reminding me how magical reading can be. This book itself may not be my favorite book ever, but the author automatically leapt to "one of my favorites" status. I will be hunting down everything else they've written.

The worldbuilding was exquisite – nearly tangible. I could easily slip into someone else's story in this universe and that's one of my favorite elements of the fantasy genre. I also loved that not only were politics involved, but they were intrinsic to the core plot of the story. The characters were all so well-rounded, and using a main character in a foreign land as a reader-proxy to introduce everyone was genius. And above all, I loved the writing style. It was chronically readable, but also flowed between gravitas and levity, evocative of whatever mood the scene called for. I'm getting emotional thinking about just how fun simply the act of reading this book was.

Unfortunately, this still isn't my favorite book. The author kindly includes accurate content warnings, and while I think everything was handled well and with care, part of the rape and recovery storyline didn't gel with my reading experience. Unlike many other fantasy stories, I entirely understand why the scene of the assault was included, and I actually appreciate the story including Vel's journey of healing. I think I was mostly put off by

the rapist character's constant return and the amount of plot he carried. While I appreciate Vel getting closure, I would rather his ex not have been on-page so much.

. I also found the plot resolution a little rote and villian-monologue-y, focusing on wrapping up every loose end, when by that time, I was much more invested in the romance than the politics.

But still, overall a complete pleasure to read. I absolutely recommend it for curing slumps, despite the page count.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Death, Homophobia, Rape, Sexual content, Violence, Suicide attempt, Murder, and Outing

Moderate: Panic attacks/disorders, Blood, Grief, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Infidelity, Transphobia, Stalking, and Abandonment

smolhandsdan's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny inspiring lighthearted mysterious sad tense medium-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? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Homophobia, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Stalking, Suicide attempt, Murder, and Sexual harassment

lovelyandmorbid's review against another edition

adventurous hopeful mysterious 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? No

5.0

Darker than I anticipated but surprising exactly the kind of fantasy I enjoy. I really didn't know what to expect going in but I am so glad I read it. Is there a list I can get of books that are a gay romance (arranged romance?) between two people, where one is good at politics and the other is good at fighting and they fall in love but also have to solve a court politics problem? Like this book, Captive Prince, Winter's Orbit etc? Let me know. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Rape, Sexual violence, Stalking, Suicide attempt, Murder, and Outing

Minor: Homophobia

sorayah11's review against another edition

emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Death, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Death of parent, and Murder

Moderate: Gore, Homophobia, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Blood, Stalking, Suicide attempt, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Transphobia, War, and Classism

bookishmagpie's review against another edition

adventurous 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? It's complicated

3.75

I thoroughly enjoyed this! There was no lack of interest whenever I picked it up. I do have so gripes about the world building, more specifically the magic system (though this could just be attributed to my lack of understanding and not a lack of explanation). The characters felt lively and the romance felt genuine. 

I don't know if I'll continue this series, but not for a lack of enjoyment. It felt like a satisfying enough ending with just enough ambiguity and loose-ends to justify a sequel, but not so much that I'm rushing to read it. 

If you pick this up please heed the trigger warnings!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, and Murder

Moderate: Homophobia, Stalking, Outing, and Injury/Injury detail