Reviews tagging 'Toxic relationship'

Dochters van Sparta by Claire Heywood

9 reviews

stobo1kenobo's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional tense medium-paced

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

4.25

Fuck, Agamemnon. Purr, Klytemnestra. I support women’s rights. But more importantly, I support women's wrongs. 

I enjoyed this book a lot! It switches back and forth between the third person perspective of Helen and Klytemnestra in a way that wasn’t confusing and allows you to get a sense of what both sisters are going through as they navigate growing up into wifehood and motherhood. Really enjoyed!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Child death, Death, Genocide, Sexism, Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, Violence, Trafficking, Murder, and War

mothman19's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Blood, Trafficking, Grief, Murder, Pregnancy, Sexual harassment, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Animal death, Pedophilia, Rape, Toxic relationship, and Death of parent

Minor: Body shaming, Confinement, Infertility, Medical trauma, Abortion, and Abandonment

abfabulous17's review against another edition

challenging emotional sad medium-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Sexism, Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, and Pregnancy

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Child death, Infertility, Infidelity, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Rape, Toxic relationship, Violence, Death of parent, Murder, and War

Minor: Physical abuse, Sexual content, Slavery, and Suicide

grisgrisgris's review against another edition

dark emotional tense 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? No

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, Murder, and War

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Body shaming, Child death, Death, Pedophilia, and Death of parent

Minor: Alcoholism, Blood, and Cannibalism

therealslimkatie's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark sad tense slow-paced

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

2.75

Hard to get into but did pick up. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, War, and Injury/Injury detail

catriona99674's review against another edition

informative sad tense medium-paced

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

2.5

I found this book overall to be disappointing. As a book about Helen and Kyltemnestra I was looking forward to a retelling of the myth of Troy from these women's perspectives. However from the beginning to the end of the book both women lacked agency in their own stories. I appreciate that the author was working within confines of the myth and that agency for Greek women in this period was limited but it was remarkable how little action either woman took and for vast amount of the book they were both just passively reacting to things going on around them without evening seeming to want to do anything. This made them feel like props rather than real people and almost entirely unempathetic because how can you empathise with people who don't even think about doing anything? 

Also the frequent time jumping meant that the book never dwelt on anything. Lots of terrible things happen in this book but the author never spends any time in the aftermath. So the thing happens and then we instantly skip forward years ahead so that our characters have already dealt with the immediate consequences of the event. This meant that nothing really landed like it was clearly supposed to and the author failed to evoke and real emotions or look at anything in any real depth. 

The author created some really interesting opportunities to explore different types of abuse and neglect but the constant skipping forward meant that we never spent enough time anywhere to fully feel the weight of these. 

The author also had a chronic case of tell don't show. There was very little dialogue in the book and most of the the word count was made up of the author telling us what Helen and Klytemnestra had discovered in their time jumps about the men around them. Rather than being allowed to come to conclusions ourselves about other characters the author told us exactly what we should think at all times but failed to demonstrate it through action or dialogue in most cases. 

The book was also strangely paced. There was never enough time in this book. The chapters were very short, time was constantly jumping forward and events would be discussed and them dropped. This meant that not only did we spend very little time exploring the events of the book and their consequences and aftermath we also spent very little time in the lives of these two women. Also they seemed to ever do was weave. 

I dont often say this but this book needed to be longer. It did not have the word count to tackle the lives of both these women and the consequence was that nothing was explored satisfactorily. Various plot points were also discarded half way through the book and the ending was unsatisfactory. 

Overall I was left unsure what exactly the theming of this book was supposed to be and what the story the author was trying to tell was exactly. 

Saying all that it was still mostly an easy read and I did finish it. I would be interested in seeing what this author does yet and I hope she will improve in her future writing projects. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Infidelity, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Murder, and War

Moderate: Death, Emotional abuse, Grief, Death of parent, and Gaslighting

Minor: Miscarriage

cr1ssb's review against another edition

dark sad medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death and Death

Moderate: Slavery, Toxic relationship, Violence, Pregnancy, and War

Minor: Animal death and Blood

everyotherpageorso's review against another edition

sad tense slow-paced

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

3.0

I honestly enjoyed most of the novel, but it seemed like all middle and no end. The book itself isn’t so much of a retelling as it is a prequel, which was disappointing. It included two of my pet peeves, as well, being 1.) casting Helen as perpetually self-involved and 2.) the dreaded miscommunication trope. To be fair, I feel as though Heywood does a great job expressing her struggles but she faces almost no consequences and therefore never really grows (in my opinion). Klytemnestra was the strongest character by far. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Misogyny, Slavery, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Rape, Violence, and Pregnancy

rileepickle's review against another edition

emotional reflective 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

I really enjoyed this novel, especially towards the end. I think the biggest issue I had with it was that it shifted from focusing on Klytemnestra to focusing on Helen in the latter parts of the novel. I found Klytemnestra's story much more interesting than Helen's, although Helen's was intriguing as well. I didn't like the way this novel ended, and had more questions about some of the plot points that weren't answered. Overall though, a fun and emotional read with lots of jarring scenes and important themes. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Animal death, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Toxic relationship, Violence, Grief, Abortion, Pregnancy, Alcohol, and Sexual harassment