Reviews tagging 'Miscarriage'

The Cruel Prince by Holly Black

16 reviews

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

cloudysky123'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? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

The book is a must read for fantasy lovers my fav fantasy read so far this year this is epic shit really!!! Pls I'm begging everyone to read this atleast once guys

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Alcoholism, Bullying, Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Infertility, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Slavery, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Blood, Grief, Stalking, Abortion, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, and War

orakuruno's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious tense fast-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? No

4.25

Fantasy politics is some of the hardest stuff to write about, but this book series is doing it beautifully.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Death, Violence, and Death of parent

Moderate: Alcoholism, Toxic relationship, Murder, Toxic friendship, and Alcohol

Minor: Child abuse, Cursing, Gore, Infertility, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Slavery, Grief, and Injury/Injury detail

ksilvio's review against another edition

adventurous dark hopeful mysterious 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Death, Violence, Blood, Death of parent, and Murder

Moderate: Violence

Minor: Miscarriage, Gaslighting, and Alcohol

alliemikennareads's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced

4.0

This book started off slow and it took me about 1/3 to get invested, but once it finally picks up I was hooked and loving the characters and the slow build to all the threads. There’s some really great banter amidst this slow burn enemies to lovers (ish) trope with lots of lying, betrayal, strategy and trickery befit for a faerie world. Can’t wait to dive further into the series! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore and Violence

Moderate: Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Slavery, Blood, Kidnapping, Death of parent, Alcohol, War, and Injury/Injury detail

wrensreadingroom's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny mysterious reflective tense fast-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Minor: Addiction, Alcoholism, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Infidelity, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Racism, Self harm, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

theintrovertsbooks's review against another edition

dark tense medium-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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Confinement, Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Infidelity, Physical abuse, Slavery, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Body shaming, Child death, Cursing, Infertility, Miscarriage, and Abandonment

Minor: Homophobia, Incest, and Pregnancy

princessrory'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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Bullying, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Death of parent, Murder, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Body shaming, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Infidelity, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Slavery, Suicide, Torture, Toxic relationship, Grief, Stalking, and Gaslighting

Minor: Infertility, Miscarriage, Sexual content, Excrement, and Fire/Fire injury

becca_w_'s review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Body horror, Bullying, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Hate crime, Infidelity, Physical abuse, Slavery, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, Alcohol, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Child death, Incest, Xenophobia, and Abandonment

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Cursing, Miscarriage, Panic attacks/disorders, Racism, Vomit, Police brutality, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, and War

tisya's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional funny mysterious tense fast-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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Death, Violence, and Blood

Moderate: Child death, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, and Alcohol