Reviews tagging 'Emotional abuse'

The Midnight Lie by Marie Rutkoski

59 reviews

malhale's review against another edition

adventurous dark fast-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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Emotional abuse, and Classism

Minor: Physical abuse and Torture

angstifies's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious tense

• 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

just everything about the setting was perfect, i can’t get over how much i loved the magical elements in this world. i think i’ve never been as invested in a fictional relationship as i was in this book, oh i LOVED IT.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Emotional abuse, and Blood

Moderate: Death, Drug use, Homophobia, Murder, and Alcohol

Minor: Child death, Sexual content, Death of parent, and Abandonment

k_aro's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious 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? It's complicated

3.75

I really didn't expect much from The Midnight Lie—be as it may, I'm a little bit of a snob over fantasy novels due to the fact that I read a large quantity as a kid, and I saw it recommended from BookTok, which, based on my previous BookTok books has been... a mixed bag. Admittedly I wasn't shocked by many of the reveals, but I don't think that's a critique of the book; I think it's smart about revealing just enough that it makes sense on re-reads.

That said, I did not expect the ending! It's not like, a cheap plot twist, but it's such a painful refusal of closure that it hurts me just thinking about it. I didn't cry over the ending, but sheesh, I'm really looking forward to reading the next book. I also think it's a super well-written villain ending—I've read some books *coughs* The Young Elites *coughs* that REALLY muck up the villain ending and essentially spoil the experience of having read the book at all.

I do have some things I don't love about this book: for one, that Nirrim is so blind to Raven's consistent emotional/domestic abuse, despite her ability to spot it in other people (i.e. Aden). Like, I get that Nirrim and Raven's relationship is different to that of her and Aden's, but it just feels kind of weird that up until the proper reveal of who Raven is, Nirrim's insistent on thinking of her as the same one-dimensional mother figure who sometimes makes mistakes and hurts her. I'm not saying Nirrim has to be on board to condemn Raven the first time she does something bad, but it's just... weird, I guess.

I also think that the first like... fourth? Of the book is a little slow. It's got a lot to set up, so I'm not, like, mad that it's slow, but it does make it a bit hard to get into.

Also, there's certainly NO commentary going on about how the Half Kith's body parts are literally being used for the pleasure of the High Kith. Nope. No commentary at all. Not even about how Raven extorts families to get them families to move up in the world. Nada. Zip. Nothing. (This is sarcasm—sometimes, fantasy caste systems can be a bit... overstated, which to a certain degree could be true here, it also I think treats it with a bit more real parallels that it feels more verisimilitudinous to me.)

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Confinement, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Police brutality, Trafficking, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Sexual harassment, and Classism

Moderate: Drug use, Rape, and Murder

Minor: Child death, Homophobia, Misogyny, Death of parent, and Lesbophobia

A note on the moderate content warning for rape:

The only reason I hesitate to put it under graphic is because, under all stops, the line between whether or not Aden rapes Nirrim is... concerningly thin, but still technically there. It's highly coercive and under most circumstances, would probably be considered rape—and this is not to downplay the real sexual trauma for whom coercive sex was the source of it—but Nirrim (until a certain moment) is technically never threatened verbally/coerced verbally. Is it highly coercive and at the very least dubious consent? Yes. But is it rape? I really can't tell, and given the purpose of trigger warnings as warnings that might *trigger* someone, I'm not 100% sure what to categorize it as.

Aside from that, the homophobia/lesbophobia is rarely actually acted out character-on-character; it's only as a facet of the fact that the lower Kiths are not permitted to have same-sex relationships. The actual brass tacks of characters being in same-sex relationships are not considered *morally* wrong.

paperbackprincess19's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious 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? It's complicated

3.75

This is a fast paced fantasy world with a cast system which reminded me of The Hunger Games.

The characters were interesting but the world building was what kept me turning the pages.

However, mid way I lost the attention towards this book, which is funny as that's when their travel begun and the adventure begins.

I still finished it, but I did lose momentum and nearly DNF. However I think I'll still give book 2 a go as I enjoyed the world and the writing.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Biphobia, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Sexual content, Slavery, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, and Colonisation

erynpaige's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racism, Sexism, Xenophobia, Police brutality, Grief, Murder, Lesbophobia, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Rape, Sexual assault, and Sexual violence

readingpicnic's review against another edition

adventurous hopeful mysterious medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse and Physical abuse

Moderate: Homophobia

giuliaprim's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious fast-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, and Classism

emilywasbored's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional tense 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, and Blood

Moderate: Physical abuse and Murder

Minor: Child death, Sexual assault, and Death of parent

i_kin_cardan's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional hopeful inspiring medium-paced

• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, and Physical abuse

emily_2002's review against another edition

adventurous challenging mysterious reflective fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated

3.25

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, and Violence