Reviews tagging 'Emotional abuse'

Poison Study by Maria V. Snyder

25 reviews

auri_underthing'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? It's complicated

3.75

To describe this book in three words:
Metallic. Butterflies. Hazy.
I enjoyed this book, but I couldn’t help but feel there was something missing, something that would take it from good to extraordinary. Anyway, the world building was good and it had an interesting magic system. Ari and Janco were the best vibe. 
Oh and I was pleasantly surprised by the 

Commander being trans. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Rape, and Torture

jgalla's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

2.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual violence, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Kidnapping, Medical trauma, Murder, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

pearlbasilisk's review against another edition

emotional mysterious slow-paced

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

2.0

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Content Warnings

Minor: Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, and Rape

ayah_reads's review against another edition

medium-paced

3.0

This book was the epitome of "go girl give me nothing" yet tell me why I blew through it?? Wanted to keep reading?? Enjoyed it??? 

This books is somewhere between good enough and so bad it's good. The characters have no character, I don't even feel like I had a solid description of their physicality let alone their personality (Valek suddenly had black curls three quarters of the way through??), the writing is so basic, even bad at times, literally repeating what's already been told before, the plot is pretty easy to pierce together, many points had obvious connections and YET I still had a fun time???? IDK WHY. This is the first book I've finished in over a month since spending a semester reading Austen and I think it's what I needed - something so bad that I can't in anyway compare it to Austen and can therefore actually read it in peace 🤣

I think a drive that kept me reading was to see the development of Valek and Yelena. It really had me until the last 50 page being like maybe... we're getting...a slow burn??? Even though all the reviews said otherwise 🤣 It's an insta love that you don't think is gonna be an insta love until basically the ending which is a very odd thing and I don't think I've read an insta love like that before?? Insta loves tend happen halfway through so you're very aware it's an insta love. I don't get why authors are so scared to have their mains confess their love in book 3, like give me a slow burn, three book arc, I'll read for the slow burn, I won't loose interest if you develop it well. With Yelena and Valek it was also odd cos they had a decent amount of time together, solid amount of interactions i.e. page time, but there was still no real romantic implication or development in that sense?? Which is why I really thought we were gonna get a "I don't want you to die and I will save you and protect you but idk pssh what are feelings" (think Kaz "I protect my investments" Brekker) and that's what we got for most of the book (from Valek especially), with Yelena feeling a bit more which I'll give it to her cos he really was saving her life left right and centre, Yelena could not catch a break, everyone wanted to kill her 🤣🤣 But we had to have a love confession come from nowhere and ruin the potential 😭😭😭 The ending has me 👀👀 and it would have worked so well with the above slow burn but now it's like...do I...even...care to see it through??

In speaking of them tho, I cannot not mention the age gap !!! Gahhhh WHY. Honestly this whole story could have been aged out of YA and be adult. Yelena goes through terrible, horrific, traumatic experiences, and it would have just made sense to have her older, with the bonus of balancing the age gap. Or Valek could have been younger and the plot shifted a little but gahhhhh I pretended not to see it so I could continue 😬😭

One thing that did surprise me was Yelena being (ambiguously) a person of colour, and considering this is veryyyy earlier YA, I was impressed. 

Overall, not a great book but I had a great time! 😂 Now to continue with the second book or read an actually good book is the question....

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Gore, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, and Murder

Minor: Transphobia

jenna36's review against another edition

adventurous dark medium-paced

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

4.25

I really liked this book! The beginning up to the middle was very nearly perfect in my opinion, well on the way to a five star read. I did feel that the plot got a bit thin in a few places after the middle of the book. It was not really enough to detract from my enjoyment, but it was enough that I didn't feel like I could justify rating it 5 stars.

I like that there was not a lot of BSing around with the romantic relationship, and there was good communication between Yelena and Valek, which YA often lacks. I feel like this straddles the line of older YA/Adult in the serious topics that it addresses. I'm a little creeped out by the transphobic thoughts Yelena had about the commander, but I think based on the end of the book that she is willing to learn. I am cautiously optimistic that the author herself is not transphobic, but I'm retaining a little suspicion. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Emotional abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Murder, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Transphobia and Violence

Minor: Deadnaming, Self harm, and Sexual harassment

serendipity421'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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Slavery, Violence, Blood, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Rape, Sexual violence, and Suicidal thoughts

sienna1508's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious tense 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? It's complicated

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Grief, Murder, Gaslighting, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

lisa_m's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Don't get me wrong, this was a good book. I might even say it was a great one but it was just nothing special. I really wish I would have enjoyed it more. This could have been a five star read but something was missing. I liked the writing, loved the characters, loved the plot and magic system. My only real concern was that the romance felt rushed and underdeveloped. Since the rest was good I don't really mind though.

I think the reason I didn't like it as much as I could have is how much YA Fantasy I have already read. At some point it just starts to become repetitive. I really hope that is not true though because I love YA Fantasy. :( If I read this book 2 years ago I would have probably liked it more.

Another concern I had was that certain serious topics where discussed quite graphically which I don't like and which always makes me uncomfortable. It was used to establish Yelenas character and her past trauma but still I wished it had been less graphic.

Nonetheless I will definitely be reading the following books of the series. I also hope Ari and Janco will be in the next booka as well since they were my favourite characters. (Btw. I thought their friendship could have been established better. They basically went from not knowing Yelena to wanting to die for her which felt very rushed.) I guess I just wished it was longer but since it is the first book of a series that's not really a big issue.

Edit: One more thing. I didn't expect the romance to be Between thlse two people for two reasons. 1. it was underdeveloped and 2. he is 33 and she is 19!! I didn't even realise it that much while reading the book but at first I did think he was going to be a sort of mentor/father figure. When they started hinting at a romance I aged him down in my mind but now that I finished the book I looked it up and he really is 33! Idk what to think about that tbh

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Confinement, Deadnaming, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Torture, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Kidnapping, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

soniajoy98's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional inspiring mysterious tense slow-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Murder, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

mediocre_omen's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious 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

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Physical abuse, Sexual violence, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Body horror, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Blood, Murder, and War

Minor: Addiction