Reviews tagging 'Self harm'

The Cruel Prince by Holly Black

60 reviews

spatterson7's review against another edition

adventurous dark 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Death, Violence, and Murder

Moderate: Physical abuse, Self harm, Slavery, Toxic relationship, Blood, Kidnapping, Death of parent, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Drug use, Infidelity, Sexual content, Grief, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, and Alcohol

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

abrielleemory's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.0

This was a bit of a letdown after all of the hype on IG and TikTok. I listened to this on Spotify, so please don’t judge me for how I spell the names of characters.

I thought Jude was insufferable. She did the classic. I’m a strong, independent woman thing while also being too scared to stand up for herself half the time her obsession with her twin sister was so weird to me and that twist at the end made me very proud of Taryn. Vivienne was SO ANNOYING like she really tried to be the disinterested, cool older sister but was so removed that she had no character development. 

I know this is framed as an enemies to friends situation, but I wish they would’ve stayed enemies the weird love thing just really didn’t click for me. 

The authors overuse of descriptive language was really distracting. I understand she was trying to describe the world or do some world-building, but it kind of fell flat for me and was really over exaggerated.

I thought her becoming the spy was cool and I liked the other spy characters, but she just really annoyed me as a female main character. 

I don’t think I’ll be reading the next books and I’m kind of glad that I listened to this as a free audiobook. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Self harm, Violence, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, and Murder

yasaman's review against another edition

adventurous lighthearted mysterious tense 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

Graphic: Bullying, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Infidelity, Self harm, Slavery, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, Alcohol, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Alcoholism

emileecarter's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny mysterious medium-paced

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

5.0

This is my favorite fantasy series/ trilogy of all time. You are meant to hate some of the main characters. 
I find Jude highly relatable. 
Please be aware that this is a political fantasy. While it does contain a romance or two, it is not the focus. Please only read if you are ready for a mysterious, action packed, political fantasy. 
This book has never read as YA to me. It contains some heavy, heavy themes.

For example, Jude dealing with the confusion of loving Madoc as the father that raised her and hating him for what he's done, and how she feels wrong for her feelings.
Truly, an incredible read. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Death, Gore, Self harm, Violence, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Toxic friendship, and War

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

picaresquedreamer's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional inspiring tense fast-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Violence, Blood, Death of parent, Murder, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Alcoholism, Self harm, Toxic relationship, Kidnapping, Grief, and Toxic friendship

Minor: Racism and Classism

ladypalutena'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

4.25

The last time I read a book by Holly Black, I was in middle school. It was Tithe, and I found myself unable to wrap my head around her writing style, so I've sort of avoided everything else by her since. I'm now more than 15 years older (man, that hurts to say) and I've found that after reading a ton of other fae-related books lately, this one is easier to understand. 

It was a struggle through the first 20% or so of this book, but after that, I was able to wrap my head around the world and I settled down to read. I guess I've been on a "crotchety female lead" kick here lately, because this is the third series I've started this year with a main character that starts off unlikable (the other two being El from The Scholomance and Celaena from Throne of Glass). I was really frustrated with Jude in the beginning of the book - she had seen this fairy general murder her parents in front of her and take her away, and yet she's somehow never left? Even when Vivi, her older sister, attempted to take them back to the mortal realm, she begged to go back. And it makes sense - she was only seven when it happened, and kids of that age don't have too much object permanence.

Which is why I was surprised to find that Jude is really only here for revenge. There's a deep anger underlying everything she does, a way to get back at those who hurt her, a way to rise above being "just another mortal" and wanting to prove herself to the fae, and become a knight in one of their households. I can work with this, I thought. 

And then halfway through the book, everything goes completely sideways.

I had only figured out the twist a few pages before it was to happen, and was still shocked. And every time something else happened and Jude had to work her way through "Wait, what was that?", I was on the edge of my seat, because I found that even though I was working it out ahead of her, I was only just ahead of her.

The writing itself is a little simple, and it's easy to follow, and this is solidly in the YA category, so you do have some teenage shenanigans, but the last 30% of the book had me on the absolute edge of my seat. I don't know what I would have done if I wasn't reading this years later, and had to wait for the next book to be written. As it stands, I have to wait for the next one to be available on Libby, but that's a small price to pay instead of waiting years. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Blood, and Death of parent

Moderate: Self harm and Injury/Injury detail

annick's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful mysterious fast-paced

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

4.25

I enjoyed this. I’d happily recommend as young/adult fantasy. 

 books I rate over four stars mean I’d recommend to others and I’d be likely to reread in future (from being willing to likely and on to definitely and occasionally: imminently)

Once I got around 70pages in, I really got into it and ended up reading on until 3:30am. And excited to start book two the next day

It has flaws. I dislike the US-default of this writer’s fairy-based fantasy writing. Some twists were not a surprise (and most of these weren’t disappointing when revealed)

The psychological tensions between the twins feels undercooked. maybe it’s  a slow burn into the series. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Suicide, Death of parent, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Death, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Self harm, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Stalking, and Alcohol

dagmar_gorter8's review against another edition

adventurous dark hopeful medium-paced

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

5.0

Love Cardan so much

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Torture, Violence, and Murder

Moderate: Bullying, Self harm, Slavery, Blood, Kidnapping, Death of parent, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Grief