Reviews tagging 'Toxic friendship'

A Great and Terrible Beauty by Libba Bray

5 reviews

sophiena93's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny mysterious sad tense 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? No

5.0

I first read this series when I was at school and it's been my favourite series since. I regularly reread this. If you want a strongly female cast especially this is one for you. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death of parent

Minor: Drug abuse and Toxic friendship

itsreirei's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective tense slow-paced

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

4.5

This book feels like The Craft set in the Victorian era. I see why some may dislike it but I personally quite enjoyed reading it. Curious to see where the story goes.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty and Animal death

Moderate: Addiction, Bullying, Child death, Misogyny, Self harm, Sexism, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Death of parent, Murder, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, and Classism

Minor: Drug abuse, Medical content, Grief, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail

haleymaxinee's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious slow-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Self harm, Death of parent, and Murder

Moderate: Body shaming, Bullying, Fatphobia, Racism, Sexism, Lesbophobia, Fire/Fire injury, Toxic friendship, and Classism

zombiezami's review against another edition

dark emotional funny mysterious 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

3.75

I first read this book when I was a teenager, and I rated it 5 stars at that time. I value the book for what it gave to me at the time, feeling seen for having experiences like wondering who I truly am and wondering who would ever understand me. Plus, there's fulfillment of the teenage girl urge to have a magical world where you're all powerful for good measure. This book is, in a lot of ways, an aged up spiritual successor to The Secret Garden. 

Reading this as an adult, there are parts that I'm not so enamored with, hence the lower rating. The friendship between the main characters strikes me as much more toxic than it did when I was a teenager, especially since Pippa and Felicity never apologize for tormenting Ann. I also find it hard to root for Kartik to be with Gemma, since Gemma keeps implying threats that she will get him arrested, which, at that time period, would basically be a death threat. That being said, I still really like Ms. Moore as a character. 

I look forward to my re-read of the rest of the series. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Animal death, Bullying, Child death, Death, Self harm, Sexism, Suicide, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, and Classism

Moderate: Addiction, Body horror, Body shaming, Chronic illness, Fatphobia, Racism, Lesbophobia, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, and Sexual harassment

Minor: Infidelity, Sexual content, Fire/Fire injury, and Colonisation

Neglect, Antiziganism, Seizures

atrkula's review against another edition

mysterious tense fast-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? Yes

2.25

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Chronic illness, Racism, Self harm, Suicide, Lesbophobia, Cultural appropriation, and Toxic friendship

Minor: Bullying, Death, Death of parent, and Cultural appropriation