Reviews tagging 'Emotional abuse'

Gild by Raven Kennedy

219 reviews

ishanigs12's review against another edition

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

5.0

Highly enjoyable read, this has adventure, tension, is fast-paced, dark and disturbing but full of courage and sacrifice. The characters are described well, vivid and layered. I listened to the audio as I read, the narrator of Auren's voice did an amazing job, she really bought the character to life, all the characters. As for Auren, wow, her backstory will hopefully be explored more in the series, I really need to know more! Raven Kennedy has created a world of wonders. The most intriguing is King Ravingers commander, who is he?? I can not wait to read book 2!

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thesuperawesomesarah's review against another edition

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adventurous dark reflective sad medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0


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bookworm_vevans's review against another edition

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challenging dark sad slow-paced

2.5

Book had a good idea with King Midas and his prized pet, but it felt like too much and not enough. Not enough on the MMC, not enough to fall in love with the FMC though she has promise, and the last 1/3 of the book was rushed. I left the book not understanding the motivation behind any of the characters and don't like any enough to care. I'd love to see if the next books in the series do a better job of tying things up, but I'm not sure I'll read the next. 

Lots of sensitive topics and triggers come up. I read the book warning, so it didn't influence my aforementioned opinion. 

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kristis_bookshelf's review against another edition

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

5.0


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queer_bookwyrm's review against another edition

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

3.0

3 ⭐ CW: Violence, sexual content, emotional manipulation, rape/sexual violence, blood, death

Gild by Raven Kennedy is book one in the Plated Prisoner series. I bought the first two books in this series in an effort to support this indie author when Amazon was giving her trouble, so I didn't really know much going into it other than it was a King Midas retelling. This was not for me. I finished it, but I won't be finishing the series. 

We follow Auren, a gilded girl and favored 'saddle' of King Midas. She literally lives in a gilded cage, and is at the beck and call of the king. It was bold of the author to open the book with a full on orgy with our MC watching. Auren is in love with the king, who saved her from a wretched life, but she has no freedom or autonomy of her own, and is used as a pawn in his political scheming. After ten years of never leaving her cage, King Midas sends for her in another kingdom, and she finally gets to be outside. Unfortunately, for her and the rest of the saddles, bad things happen. 

For a book of this length, nothing much really happens. The plot is kind of meandering and doesn't seem to have a central thread. Auren is plucky, but ultimately pretty one dimensional. I kept waiting for her to realize that Midas is not the good guy. There is a lot of power and control happening along with some hypocritical shit. Midas claims to want to stop a flesh trader, while at the same time owning men and women to be his sex slaves. It just really felt like we were meant to see Midas as the strong romantic type, but he just grossed me out. Every single man (apart from two) are the most disgusting misogynistic beasts I've ever read. 

There is an unnecessary amount of violence and sexual violence. The world building was a bit lacking, and then suddenly there are fae? The concept of Auren being golden along with her ribbons was interesting, but it's not enough to hold my interest. 

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annikenr's review against another edition

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

3.0


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shellyrosebee's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional 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

5.0


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liv_182's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? N/A
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75


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akhays's review against another edition

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

4.25


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thelibraryofjen's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? N/A
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

Gild - Raven Kennedy 
BOOK ONE of The Plated Prisoner Series 

Synopsis ~~
I picked this book right when I bought it because I was just so excited. This story is a King Midas retelling, with a much darker twist. We follow our main character Auren who has been caged up in the castle for over 10+ years. She is King Midas favored and we know why he is her favorite because she is completely gold. 

Now for the things I didn’t like about this story is how late we meet the love interest. I was told this was a spicy romantasy and I just didn’t get that vibe at all. So if you go in expecting spicy scenes you will be disappointed. This story read more as a prequel book than has the first in a series. Be warned that there is a lot of grape scenes and the FMC has Stockholm syndrome so the choices and things she says can be a little weird for us, but for her that is all she knows. 

The things i enjoyed is the pacing of this book it was really good to follow along too. This book I would say is more character driven than plot, but the plot that is in their is good there’s just way more character development. I really enjoyed the ending and how it left us on a cliff hanger. I also really enjoyed how Auren’s character transformed, she isn’t a scared girl anymore. She has so much potential and I really hope the author does her character justice in the later books. I also enjoyed her relationship with her royal guard that was a cute daughter/father relationship. It was so sad when Sail died, I rarely cry to books but that made me tear up a bit. The author’s writing was really captivating and made me keep reading. People have complained that this story doesn’t feel like an adult fantasy but for me it really did. 

If you love:
⚜️ Fae
⚜️ Mythical Creatures 
⚜️ King Midas Retelling 
⚜️ Abused FMC 
⚜️ Fantasy 
⚜️ Magical Powers 
⚜️ Character development for FMC
⚜️ War
⚜️ Character/Plot driven story 

Genre/Type: Adult Fantasy, Romance (very little) 
Format: Physical Book (462 pages)
Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.⭐️ (4.5)
Spice: NONE (THERE IS GRAPE 🍇) 
Series or Standalone: First in a Series 
CHECK TRIGGER WARNINGS ⚠️⚠️‼️‼️‼️ 

TikTok: @j3nslibrary_
Amazon: Jenesis 

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