Reviews tagging 'Misogyny'

The Cruel Prince by Holly Black

12 reviews

dishaslibrary's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional tense medium-paced

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

3.5

HIGH STAKES LETS GOOO. I loved this to be honest, haven’t read such a good fantasy in a while. I felt like I was whisked away. I wanted more of Cardin and Jude but I understand that’s for the later books, which I’m so excited for!!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Death, Misogyny, Violence, Death of parent, Colonisation, and War

luziebohnel's review against another edition

medium-paced

• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

because I think the book is written too simply. It's not engaging and there are too many characters and names to digest in the first 20 pages. I also don't think the death of Jude's parents is portrayed as sad. I also find it strange to describe how they die.Furthermore, some of this book borders on abuse. Just the scene where they practically drug Jude (an apple) and then force her to take off her clothes is not okay. “Enemies to Lovers” is fine to a certain extent, but I think that’s where it ends. In the first 100 pages alone, Jude is almost killed by him twice and he enjoys it in the most disgustingly perverse way. In addition, Jude is somehow strangely sexualized by the author. For example. 
she  doesn't wear underwear under her clothes to appear more "real"?! All in all I'm very disappointed with the book because Holly Black can write really good books (Spiderwicks)but this one was not it,It seems like one of those Wattpad stories



( read the german Version )

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Drug abuse, Hate crime, Misogyny, Sexism, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Gaslighting, and Toxic friendship

readingloon's review against another edition

awful characters, bad writing

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny

Moderate: Physical abuse

bookmark3brodi's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny mysterious medium-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal death, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Death, Drug use, Misogyny, Slavery, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Vomit, Kidnapping, Grief, Abortion, Death of parent, Murder, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Alcohol, War, and Classism

dhutton1997's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced

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

5.0

I loved this book. I fell in love with the characters so quickly.

I thought that Jude and Carden was such an interesting dynamic and had I not known that they were getting together from a spoiler, I would have never guessed it. I think the story line between Locke and the twins was so twisted. He is the villain in plain sight. Black was so talented to make me love him and then get the rug pulled out from underneath me. Taryn made me so sad and mad. How could she not care more? I

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Death, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Violence, Kidnapping, Death of parent, Murder, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Confinement, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Misogyny, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Murder, and Alcohol

bloopyfloopy's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious tense fast-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Trafficking, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

jackieyvette's review against another edition

adventurous slow-paced

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

3.0

I didn’t love it, I didn’t like it, but I also didn’t hate it. It just kind of exists in my mind now. 
Not one character is really likeable. Jude is almost too much for her own good. She switches her feeling around so many times and so quickly it gives you whiplash. You can chalk it up to a teenage girl not knowing what she wants, but this is a whole other level. 
I know the title is “the cruel prince”, but it was over the top. Both love interests are disgusting and vile beings that have no redemption. I cannot root for a villain who is just out right cruel for the hell of it if I don’t get some sort of backstory or redemption ark that isn’t just him being mean for the whole book and then randomly in the last 40 pages being forced to be likeable. 
I feel like I could have liked Vivi if she had a bigger part, but she got about 3 pages worth of dialogue so she never even had a chance. 

Crying score: nah, don’t ask again. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny, Physical abuse, Slavery, Toxic relationship, Blood, Death of parent, Murder, and Toxic friendship

ka_ke's review against another edition

adventurous medium-paced

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

4.5

By far one of the better y/a fantasy novels I’ve read this year. The politics are interesting, I enjoy the power play strategized by Jude and I’ve enjoyed the journey it took to get there. I cannot forgive Locke or Taryn however. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Bullying, Infidelity, Misogyny, Racism, Blood, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Minor: Child abuse, Child death, Sexual content, Slavery, and Grief

stellenelcielo's review against another edition

challenging dark tense slow-paced

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

2.0

I will give two stars because I appreciated certain points of the book. Like, the portrayal of faerie lore and the malicious attitude towards mortals? I did like that. I also liked that there were certain niche memories of Jude’s that felt relatable, like the sticky fingers and television childhood, as well as different descriptions of emotions she was feeling.

However, this book’s pacing was hell on my ADHD and it truly felt like a chore to read. There were parts that were engaging and I had no problem getting through chapters, and others were so slow that I would lose focus and go do something else. This book took me a month to read, which is atrocious and I wish I had a the habit of DNFing a book without feeling guilty, but I don’t so here I am now. 

The characters as well, while relatable at certain points, are infuriating. Jude makes absolutely no sense. Why stay in Faerie if she’s angry and terrified all the time? If the people around her are all fucking terrible? Because you were raised there? You want power? Even though you are viewed as inherently inferior? 

You gonna go ahead and fall in love eventually with someone who ripped another’s wings right off and participated in sexually assaulting you?

Bullshit, sounds like torture porn. 

Vivienne was the only engaging character. I would read three books about her romance with Heather and her grappling with her identity and her hatred, but her determination to love a mortal and live there. 

I didn’t care for the romance either (I mean, I’m gay, so I would never have cared for the het romance anyway) but I bought the book because people were mad about the lack of it, only to find political intrigue. I love political intrigue, but this book was vague at best with the world building and system descriptions. So I found that to be lacklustre as well.

I hear that Wicked King and Queen of Nothing were better, but I don’t think they might be better enough to give a shot, also it will be the last time I take book recommendations from heterosexual booktokers.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Child abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Hate crime, Infidelity, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, Kidnapping, Grief, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, and Sexual harassment

solarel's review against another edition

adventurous dark lighthearted fast-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? Yes

2.5

This was essentially “he’s just bullying you because he likes you” propaganda. Just because his moral code means he doesn’t kill you doesnt forgive him from being abusive. But I know some people like this kind of thing. I just prefer enemies to lovers tropes that don’t rely on abuse to get the enemy point across. 

That being said I kept reading because I found Jude’s journey interesting. I was fascinated with her slowly losing her humanity, recognizing that she can find power, but it meant becoming a monster. 

Not an amazing read for me, but it had some positives. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Toxic friendship, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Alcoholism and Alcohol