Reviews tagging 'Child abuse'

The Cruel Prince by Holly Black

102 reviews

samiilg's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Child abuse, Gore, and Blood

Moderate: Alcoholism and Death

Minor: Infidelity, Sexual content, and Death of parent

noellegrace8's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.5

It took me about 25% of the way through to start truly enjoying this book. Because it takes the path of a slow reveal of situations and motivations, the beginning groundwork can be almost frustrating because you don't know why some people are acting the way that they are. Also, for a book with so much death and otherwise adult themes, the characters and the writing style both are a bit juvenile at times. I struggled at first with the incongruency of a lack of contractions in dialogue mixed with colloquialisms like "that sucks," but I eventually got used to it and do recognize that it makes sense given the setting. I also really hate first person present tense because it feels overdramatic and impractical, and this book uses it throughout.

That being said, I really like the main characters. Some of the side characters are a bit flat, but Jude, Cardan, Maddoc, Vivvie, Dain, Taryn, Oriana... none of them are "good" or "bad." They just are. They make decisions, they have instincts and natures that make those decisions difficult. I love the complexity! I also think this book set up a series (trilogy) well, so I'm hoping to like the next two even more! The worldbulding is awesome. Holly Black has created a very interesting mix of "fae" and "mortal," complete with rich history and quirks and physical descriptions.

I don't factor audiobook reader into my overal star rating, but I give Caitlyn Kelly 3.5/5⭐️. Honestly, I think she was part of the reason I struggled to get into this book, but there's no telling for certain. She oftentimes doesn't seem to read with the same cadence that the words on the page suggest. She also has a cheesy tone when voicing male characters and over-acts when it comes to emotional (and even sometimes non-emotional!) scenes.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Death, Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Child death, Confinement, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Panic attacks/disorders, Racism, Self harm, Slavery, Toxic relationship, Kidnapping, Abortion, Pregnancy, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Alcohol, and War

Minor: Ableism, Body horror, Child abuse, Cursing, Incest, Infertility, Miscarriage, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Xenophobia, Excrement, Grief, Lesbophobia, Gaslighting, and War

mirarreiro's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark tense 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Bullying, Child abuse, Toxic relationship, and Death of parent

lyr1cal's review against another edition

dark tense fast-paced

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

2.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Infidelity, Blood, Grief, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Alcohol, and Classism

dlsmk's review against another edition

slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Death, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Violence, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Toxic friendship, and Injury/Injury detail

dreadspawn's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense medium-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Child abuse, Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Physical abuse, Slavery, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

oddpilot97's review against another edition

challenging mysterious tense 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

I think I might be obsessed with this book. It’s the first novel I read as an adult that gave me the same feeling as when I read as a child. 

 

Enemies to lovers is one of the best tropes in my opinion. And this book did not disappoint. I appreciated that both characters were complex, with dynamic motivations, and that there wasn’t an uncomfortable power dynamic.

The only tiny critique I have is that the audiobook narrator got a bit whiny at times of high tension. It was a tad grating/melodramatic.
 

The main character isn’t a goodie two shoes, and I loved that. The plot had excellent twists and turns without being predictable, and never got too dull. The twists were well established in advance as well, which I appreciated. It's got my favorite parts of YA without feeling immature.

 

Read this! It’s amazing. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Slavery and Death of parent

Moderate: Bullying, Child abuse, Infidelity, Self harm, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Suicide attempt, Murder, Gaslighting, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

evermoresversion's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious 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

3.75

3.75 ⭐️ |
surprisingly, i liked this. i honestly wasn’t expecting to, as many extremely hyped up books on booktok turn out to be not for me.

Jude might be my new <u>favorite</u> FMC. she’s everything. i love her. my queen.
as for the other characters, though… i hate them all except Vivi and Oak (he’s the sweetest). 
now, Cardan. i am the type of person who will <u>never</u> forgive nor forget when people wronged me. so, if someone treated me this way, and then <i>wanted</i> me… yeah, i’m sorry, but no.

the whole vibe of the book was very unique (to me, at least). it made me feel like i was living in one of the fairytale worlds i read about as a child. it felt very <i>cozy</i> to me. i loved it.

the plot was lacking in the beginning, but about 150 pages in it got interesting. although, the plot twists and reveals at the end were my favorite and made the book for me.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child abuse, Emotional abuse, and Violence

Minor: Domestic abuse

diana_raquel's review against another edition

adventurous dark 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: Bullying, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Sexism, Sexual content, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Death of parent, Sexual harassment, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Child abuse, Suicide, and Trafficking

friedowls's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious tense

5.0

Holly Black is the only person allowed to write faerie books. I loved this book so much. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Death, Death of parent, and Murder