Reviews tagging 'Mental illness'

The Queens of Innis Lear by Tessa Gratton

3 reviews

cmbohn's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional slow-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? Yes

3.5

I wanted to love this book. I love Shakespeare retellings. I love magic. It seemed like a perfect combination.

Instead I am conflicted. The characters were well done. But the story was SO SLOW. Elia dithered for hundreds of pages. The writing was beautiful, but sometimes too much. So many descriptions! And then so many POVs. I mostly enjoyed that part. 

This one is hard to rate. I feel like it will really stick with me, but it had too many flaws for 5 stars. And the ending made me mad. So I'm going to leave it at 3.5 for now. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Infertility, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Blood, Grief, Murder, Pregnancy, and Injury/Injury detail

cerilouisereads's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious 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

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Bullying, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Violence, Blood, Death of parent, Acephobia/Arophobia, Murder, and War

Moderate: Ableism, Infertility, Miscarriage, Transphobia, Dementia, Grief, Pregnancy, and Gaslighting

Minor: Misogyny, Sexism, Sexual content, and Religious bigotry

lipstickitotheman's review against another edition

adventurous dark sad tense slow-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? Yes

3.0

I wanted to really love this, but I didn't. I liked a lot of elements. The magic system is metal as hell, and I love it. Rory is a wonderful charismatic bi slut; Gaela is a wildly brave, intimidating aroace; Regan is a tragic beauty; Ban,,, sure is a character; and poor Elia with socially brilliant Aefa. But something about the story or writing style just didn't vibe with me. I can see other people loving it, but I just didn't. 

Maybe I would like it more if I had actually read King Lear?? I'm not sure.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Death, Infertility, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Dementia, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Misogyny, Sexual content, and Medical content