Reviews tagging 'Body shaming'

Three Dark Crowns by Kendare Blake

6 reviews

nitecrtlvr's review against another edition

dark informative sad slow-paced

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

3.5

As a first book it’s definitely more focused on world building and giving the reader a grasp of each character and the background/setting of how life is there and the expectations.
Due to that it is a bit of a slow read, it is written well and quite descriptive but definitely more political and not action driven.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood

Moderate: Body shaming and Animal death

Minor: Sexual content, Physical abuse, Religious bigotry, Infidelity, and Confinement

martereadsbooks's review

adventurous dark funny hopeful mysterious sad tense slow-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Violence, Blood, Gore, Murder, Physical abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Emotional abuse, Death, and Body shaming

claragweny's review against another edition

dark 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

An interesting, though poorly described, world and a very compelling ending. I'll probably continue reading the series but I hope that Blake builds the world around them some more in the other books. 

I can't really recommend reading this without going through all the content warnings. It is very triggering in many, many ways.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Body shaming, Bullying, Death, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Physical abuse, Violence, and Vomit

Moderate: Abandonment, Animal death, Child death, Infidelity, War, and Sexual content

soswiin's review against another edition

challenging 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

2.0

i tried so hard to like this book. you have no idea

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Infidelity, Animal death, Blood, Body horror, Vomit, Physical abuse, and Violence

Moderate: Eating disorder and Body shaming

booksthatburn's review against another edition

challenging dark sad tense slow-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

So that was dark and stressful.

THREE DARK CROWNS doesn't pull punches and lives up to its name. It's the kind of story where if you ask "does the dog die", the answer is not only "yes", but begs the follow-up "do you want to know the fates of any other animals?" In the canon of books where sisters raised apart must fight to the death for only one can be queen, this stands out for having understandable reasons why. There's a goddess who at least supposedly wants everything to go this way, but more importantly there are large, driven, and complex political factions full of individuals pushing for power and prestige. The triplets have been apart from each other and mistreated by their various handlers for nearly a decade, each one being told that the other two will be just as ready to kill her as she must be. The three sisters are very distinct from one another, and their various clusters of friends, allies, and manipulators were fascinating to read.  When things go wrong (and they just keep going wrong) there's a known reason (at least to the reader).  

The worldbuilding is detailed and vibrant. The three largest factions each are backing a Queen whose ability matches theirs, but there are two more power-based factions and then the (supposedly neutral) Temple. We learn that sometimes there are four babies instead of three, and other kinds of messiness that the power systems have worked around, redirected, or incorporated to their own ends. I love how these little explanations make it feel like a system that people within it might actually want to perpetuate, which is so vital for a story so full of deadly machinations and impetuous decisions. Arsinoe is my favorite character though I gradually warmed to Katherine and I like her much more by the end. I like how Mirabella is handled, but I didn't warm to her as a person. The Poisoners are my favorite faction, Natalia is a driven and manipulative guardian for Katherine, and Pietyr completes the picture in a way that's good for the plot but doesn't bode well for anyone around him. The nice thing about having the factions and multiple protagonists is it feels like there's room to like and dislike any permutation of characters as people and still enjoy the story. 

I love the ending, the last chapter transformed my general interest into needing to get the next book as soon as I feel emotionally recovered from this one. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Child abuse, Animal cruelty, Animal death, and Death

Moderate: Sexual content, Alcohol, Vomit, Violence, Body horror, Body shaming, Medical content, Medical trauma, Self harm, Suicide, Child death, and Murder

Minor: Death of parent

grayscale08's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional tense medium-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Blood, Cursing, Eating disorder, Murder, Self harm, and Vomit

Minor: Body shaming, Death of parent, and Sexual content

Most of the mental illness/eating disorder content comes from Katharine’s content. Although self harm and eating disorders are never explicitly addressed, Katharine frequently eats things that are toxic and ends up in pain and has many scars from other poisons.