Reviews tagging 'Suicidal thoughts'

The Mermaid, the Witch, and the Sea by Maggie Tokuda-Hall

10 reviews

maeverose's review against another edition

2.5

I think this might be one of those books that just didn’t work for me because I’m not within the target age demographic. I did love the casual non binary and queer rep, even if there is still homophobia (and a sh*t ton of misogyny) in this world. But tbh that’s really it.

I didn’t feel connected or invested in the romance between Evelyn and Flora at all personally. It seemed like their only reason for liking each other was they found the other pretty, and I definitely didn’t buy their love for each other by the end.

Spoiler

It also made me uncomfortable with how okay Flora was with the slaving until she found one of their victims pretty…

. I didn’t feel connected to any of the characters. Evelyn the most maybe, but not until about two thirds in, and even then not much. All the characters felt pretty bland to me, they needed to be fleshed out better.

I found it a bit slow, especially in the middle. Even though there were more povs with different (though still connected) storylines, I found none of them particularly interesting so it felt like it dragged on. Which is weird because it really was trying to do a lot, there were a ton of things happening but it just felt slow to me. Maybe because I didn’t care? I heavily skimmed the last 20%.

This book gets dark at times, almost gratuitously. It’s not extreme I wouldn’t say, it’s still appropriate for upper YA, maybe 14 and up, if they’re okay with reading about death of children, gore and threat of rape (non explicit for that last one but still). To be fair I watched horror movies much more gruesome than this when I was 11, so it really depends on the person.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Gore, Child death, Gun violence, Slavery, Torture, Trafficking, Violence, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, and Murder

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Homophobia, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Colonisation, Excrement, Lesbophobia, and Vomit

Minor: Fatphobia, Rape, Sexual content, Cursing, and Eating disorder

Waterboarding, poisoning.

cecinamo's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional funny mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

I love this book! It is incredibly diverse and has really good sapphic, gender-fluid and non-binary rep. It is written absolutely beautifully! Reading it was such an amazing experience. The characters, the world building, the words, everything just fit and was so beautiful. It was so mythical and magical, the author just transports you straight into this amazing and beautiful world. I was invested the whole time, the story never felt dragged out or disconnected. The ending was so sljdlslskslsj T^T. I would 100% recommend this book. Already in the first chapter I knew it would become one of my favorites! 💕🌊🪼

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Colonisation, Death, Gore, Blood, Classism, Drug abuse, Racism, Grief, Homophobia, Sexism, Addiction, Confinement, Death of parent, Violence, Alcoholism, Gun violence, Torture, Misogyny, and Murder

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Slavery, Sexual harassment, and Sexual assault

Minor: Child abuse and Child death

achay91's review against another edition

adventurous 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? No

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence and Death

Moderate: Torture

Minor: Suicidal thoughts, Rape, and Slavery

dealingwithdragons's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful 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? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Classism, Body horror, Biphobia, Alcoholism, Trafficking, Xenophobia, Torture, Sexual harassment, Alcohol, Rape, Sexual violence, Drug use, Death of parent, Homophobia, Sexual assault, Vomit, War, Violence, Suicidal thoughts, Slavery, Sexism, Self harm, Physical abuse, Murder, Kidnapping, Injury/Injury detail, Gun violence, Drug abuse, Death, Cursing, Colonisation, Child death, Child abuse, Bullying, Blood, and Addiction

talonsontypewriters's review against another edition

adventurous medium-paced

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

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Trafficking, Violence, Colonisation, Gun violence, Murder, Slavery, Death, and Torture

Moderate: Gore, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Xenophobia, Alcohol, Confinement, Grief, Sexual assault, Transphobia, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Child death, Classism, Misogyny, Outing, Pedophilia, Body horror, and Vomit

Minor: Homophobia and Lesbophobia

Self-injury for magical purposes. Misgendering of a side character.

claudiamacpherson's review against another edition

adventurous hopeful medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• 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

Moderate: Blood, Colonisation, Classism, Death, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gore, Grief, Gun violence, Homophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Lesbophobia, Medical content, Misogyny, Abandonment, Addiction, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Murder, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Trafficking, Violence, Vomit, War, and Xenophobia

Minor: Child death

luna_is_superior's review

adventurous challenging emotional hopeful inspiring reflective 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

This book provides a great take on colonialism and its effect and has abundance of representation - especially in terms of gender identity. Overall a great book with excellent world building and memorable characters!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Physical abuse, Colonisation, Emotional abuse, Racism, Blood, Genocide, Gaslighting, Kidnapping, Murder, and Sexism

Moderate: Addiction, Classism, Trafficking, Alcoholism, Death, and Drug abuse

Minor: Grief, Torture, Vomit, Abandonment, Slavery, Rape, Child death, Transphobia, Injury/Injury detail, Homophobia, Suicidal thoughts, and Sexual assault

sssssoup's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful reflective 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Blood, Bullying, Colonisation, Death, Death of parent, Grief, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Murder, Physical abuse, Sexism, Torture, and Violence

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Child death, Dysphoria, Gore, Homophobia, Kidnapping, Lesbophobia, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Transphobia, and Vomit

Minor: Abandonment, Medical content, Religious bigotry, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Trafficking, and War

aboveaveragegeek's review against another edition

adventurous hopeful fast-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Torture, Slavery, Murder, Blood, and Alcoholism

Minor: Emotional abuse, Kidnapping, Trafficking, Suicidal thoughts, and Rape

claredragonfly's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful sad tense fast-paced

• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Blood, and Alcoholism

Moderate: Child death, Gun violence, Kidnapping, Rape, Slavery, Torture, and Homophobia

Minor: Confinement, Drug abuse, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Vomit, and Xenophobia