Reviews tagging 'Gore'

The Mermaid, the Witch, and the Sea, by Maggie Tokuda-Hall

21 reviews

aexileigh's review

adventurous dark emotional slow-paced

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

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Blood, Child death, Classism, Death, Gore, Homophobia, Colonisation, Death of parent, Drug use, Injury/injury detail, Slavery, Violence, Misogyny, Sexism, Murder, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Torture, and Trafficking

its2early4this's review

adventurous dark inspiring reflective fast-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

This book was a wonderful, fast read. The world was rich and lovely. The characters felt incredibly real, and I absolutely adored the diverse representation. I would love to read more set in this universe. Unfortunately, the ending was a major disappointment for me. I couldn't see how the author was going to make a happy ending work, but was okay with that because I love a well-written tragic or bittersweet ending. However, the author forced a happy ending that, in my opinion, made no sense and came out of nowhere. Not to mention (spoiler ahead)

Spoiler

I couldn't stop thinking about the fact that Flora and Evelyn are swimming around living "happily ever after" while the original Evelyn's corpse rots at the bottom of the sea. Will they encounter it at some point? Just. What the heck? Kind of spoils what was supposed to be a happy ending, anyway.

I was left with the sense that the author was either told that they shouldn't, or didn't want to write a sad ending, but - like me - couldn't find a logical conclusion, so they just stamped something at the end and called it good. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Colonisation, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Sexism, Slavery, Torture, War, Addiction, Child death, Death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Genocide, Gore, Murder, Rape, Trafficking, Violence, and Xenophobia

Moderate: Deadnaming, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Abandonment, Alcoholism, Dysphoria, Homophobia, and Religious bigotry

This book is VERY HEAVY with a lot of its content. But if the potential misgendering/deadnaming is worrying you: it did make me a bit uncomfy at first, but as the story unfolds, it becomes clear that

Spoiler

Flora/Florian's relationship with their gender isn't clear-cut. Both names apply as do all pronouns, and a major part of the story is them coming to terms with that and growing comfortable being who they are unapologetically.

harvest_moon's review

adventurous dark tense fast-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Death, Gore, Injury/injury detail, and Torture

Moderate: Blood and Rape

Minor: Genocide

queer_bookwyrm's review

adventurous emotional mysterious fast-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? No

4.0

 4 ⭐ CW: violence, misogyny, torture/whipping/water boarding, suicide mention, slavery, homophobia, implied rape mention, descriptions of blood and gore 

"There's freedom in stories, you know. We read them and we become something else. We imagine different lives, and while we turn the pages, we get to live them. To escape the lot we've been given." 

The Mermaid, the Witch, and the Sea by Maggie Tokuoda-Hall is a stand alone fantasy that has everything you could ever want: pirates, mermaids (obvs), magic, nonbinary pirates(!), Sapphic love, spies, and sentient Sea. Do I even need to say more? 

No. But I will 😆. We follow Flora/Florian, a gender confused pirate on the Dove who is assigned to watch over an Imperial girl, Evelyn. Evelyn is incredibly sheltered and doesn't really understand the danger she's in, but decides to teach Florian to read, and thus starts their love story. Flora and Evelyn escape with aid from the Sea, since Evelyn figured out how to save a captured mermaid, and though they end up separated, both go through transformations. 

I loved the characters in this! Flora/Florian is one of the only Black people aboard, and I loved seeing their journey toward gender acceptance and understanding that they can contain both of their identities. Evelyn is spiteful af and I'm here for it. I love the way Tokuda-Hall uses the story within a story as a device to connect the plot as well as the circular nature of it. The magic being propelled by a story is a love letter to those of us who believe and hold stories in our hearts. Tokuda-Hall shows us that stories can and do change us. 

I also appreciated the criticism of imperialism and colonialism and the governments who claim they are "saving" or "civilizing" other nations, when they are in fact the barbarians bent in war and conquest. I almost wish this were a series, so I could continue to follow Flora and Evelyn as well as the Pirate Supreme (who I'm pretty sure is agender 😍).

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Gore, Torture, and Blood

Moderate: Misogyny, Slavery, and Homophobia

Minor: Rape and Suicide

talonsontypewriters's review against another edition

adventurous medium-paced

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

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/injury detail, Trafficking, Violence, Colonisation, Gun violence, Murder, Slavery, Death, and Torture

Moderate: Gore, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Xenophobia, Alcohol, Confinement, Grief, Sexual assault, Transphobia, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Child death, Classism, Misogyny, Outing, Pedophilia, Body horror, and Vomit

Minor: Homophobia and Lesbophobia

Self-injury for magical purposes. Misgendering of a side character.

claudiamacpherson's review against another edition

adventurous hopeful 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

Moderate: Blood, Colonisation, Classism, Death, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gore, Grief, Gun violence, Homophobia, Injury/injury detail, Kidnapping, Lesbophobia, Medical content, Misogyny, Abandonment, Addiction, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Murder, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Trafficking, Violence, Vomit, War, and Xenophobia

Minor: Child death

dariusmortee's review

adventurous dark emotional mysterious 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

5.0

A true rollercoaster of a book. Amazing and praise all over. 

I must say Evelyn annoyed me a bit, but that may have been intentional and she was a nice contrast to Flora/Florian as a great way to reflect for all of us white girls who grew up loving stories. Especially the ones who also grew up rich. 

Flora/Florian was a great protagonist and I loved reading from their point of view. She is the right amount of courage, but without being oblivious to the consequences. His journey of self discovery throughout the book is amazing. 

If you like LGBTQAI+ stories, pirates, mermaids and witches this is absolutely a book for you. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Misogyny, Murder, Sexism, Slavery, Torture, Addiction, Colonisation, Drug abuse, Alcohol, Blood, Trafficking, and Violence

Minor: Child death

grace_bunty's review

• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Blood, Child abuse, Child death, Colonisation, Death, Gore, Injury/injury detail, Misogyny, Murder, Slavery, Torture, and Trafficking

foreverinastory's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional 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

Oh my god, this was soooo fun! So glad I finally read it.

Rep: Japanese inspired cast. Dark skinned genderfluid queer MC, sapphic cis female MC, dark skinned male side character, nonbinary side character, indigenous cishet male side character.

CWs: Torture (water boarding), violence, blood, death, murder, slavery, alcoholism, alcohol consumption, trafficking (slaves), colonisation, gun violence, physical abuse, grief, addiction, gore, rape, injury/injury detail, misogyny, sexism, sexual assault, child death, confinement, xenophobia, general queerphobia/queermisia, drug use, emotional abuse, sexual harassment, animal cruelty (mermaids), drug abuse, child abuse, racism. Moderate: vomit, genocide recounted, pedophilia, kidnapping, death of parent, lesbophobia/lesbomisia, classism, gaslighting, war. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Trafficking, Colonisation, Emotional abuse, Drug use, Animal cruelty, Racism, Violence, Gun violence, Child abuse, Misogyny, Sexual harassment, Confinement, Murder, Physical abuse, Sexism, Torture, Blood, Child death, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Grief, Addiction, Gore, Death, Slavery, Drug abuse, Injury/injury detail, Xenophobia, Rape, and Sexual assault

Moderate: Kidnapping, Lesbophobia, Vomit, Genocide, Classism, Pedophilia, Gaslighting, War, and Death of parent

katkinslee's review

adventurous dark emotional hopeful inspiring sad tense fast-paced

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

4.0

This is a really cool about how knowing who you are gives you power!

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Sexism, Violence, and Gore

Minor: Rape and Sexual assault