Reviews tagging 'Child abuse'

Lightlark by Alex Aster

9 reviews

whynterdesaina's review against another edition

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

5.0

I was more of a romance reader than a fantasy, but this book pulled me right into the world of fantasy books. It was NOT my first fantasy book, but it is so far the best. It put me into a reading slump. Definitely getting the second part.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence and Gaslighting

Minor: Child abuse

espurrr's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious fast-paced

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

3.5

I found the premise and the world building to be underdeveloped and honestly a bit silly. This author loves sentence fragments and frequently uses the em dash, so the writing feels choppy and unrefined. The mystery is engaging and the twists are fun. I also found the characters enjoyable. I'll probably continue on with the second book for an easy, light read.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Cancer, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Sexual content, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Grief, Cannibalism, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

ksilvio's review against another edition

adventurous challenging funny hopeful medium-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Suicide, Violence, Cannibalism, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Toxic friendship

readyforit's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense 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? It's complicated

4.0

4⭐️0.25🌶️(one nondescript scene where she gets to 2nd base, pretty much uneventful)

I was promised hunger games with this book but it felt more like fantasy survivor to me! A group of chosen ones go to an island where they take part in various tasks of physical and emotional strengths, alliances are formed and broken, trust is betrayed, and the winner gets to be all-powerful.

I thought the first 7ish chapters were pretty slow due to world-building, but after that I pretty much flew through the book. I started listening to the audiobook alone and I just could not keep up with all the names and places, so I recommend a print version if you’re going to listen to the audiobook.

You have to be okay with isla being an unreliable narrator because she’s so naive, which isn’t necessarily her fault, but it leaves the reader in the dark and confused a lot. There are twists and turns CONSTANTLY. And when you think the climax has climaxed, you get more twists! I think this is a book that needs multiple reads to catch everything. It will be interesting to reread now that I know how it ends. I didn’t love how isla was changing alliances every chapter it seemed. She said multiple times in the book “___ is the only person I trust now.” And it changed every time a plot point happened. Like pick a lane.

I’m not a huge fan of love triangles and idk why they run rampant in YA books. Once again I see a lot of similarities with ACOTAR and Rhys/grim and tamlin/oro. Honestly I didn’t really see a lot of chemistry with either of the love interests! The story is mainly a mystery, with a small romance subplot thrown in at the end. I feel like it was done kind of poorly. Maybe I will feel differently after reading the next book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Death, Violence, Blood, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Kidnapping

lkristin2018's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious tense medium-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? No

2.0

I thought that even though Isla’s age wasn’t precisely defined, and perhaps she was legally an adult, having her love interest literally centuries older than her felt icky.  Also, the curses endured by the various kingdoms were not at all in proportion to each other.  One kingdom simply loses the ability to fly, while another one must regularly eat human hearts in order to survive, and will die if they fall in love.  I find it almost impossible to imagine a society where people exist on eating human hearts.  Even if a person only eats one a month, it means twelve other people have to die every single year of that person’s life.  It just doesn’t feel sustainable.  Yes, it’s fiction, but I can’t suspend my disbelief quite that far.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Death, Physical abuse, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Cannibalism, Stalking, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Sexual content, Death of parent, Gaslighting, and Toxic friendship

Minor: Blood and Alcohol

6 ritual suicides described as self sacrifice and a separate suicide with specific method are mentioned in the book

aiplusyou's review against another edition

mysterious fast-paced

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

1.5

i probably should have read a different book as my first book of the year

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Physical abuse, and Violence

Moderate: Self harm and Toxic relationship

Minor: Vomit

selestre's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious slow-paced

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

3.25

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Content Warnings

Minor: Child abuse, Death, Violence, Blood, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

kaetheluise_nckl's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious sad tense slow-paced

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

1.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Toxic friendship, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Child abuse, Death, and Sexual content

Minor: Genocide, Death of parent, and War

chandlerwood's review against another edition

adventurous hopeful lighthearted mysterious fast-paced

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

4.25

Expected to hate this book and actually loved it. It reads like a decently written YA fantasy, and everything the author promised is here. Not sure what the controversy was about because this book delivered everything it said it would and was impossible for me to put down.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child abuse, Confinement, Blood, Cannibalism, Death of parent, and Fire/Fire injury