Reviews tagging 'Drug abuse'

The Final Strife by Saara El-Arifi

114 reviews

pipn_t's review against another edition

Not my thing, too dark for me. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Drug abuse, Torture, and Alcohol

lisztaffe's review against another edition

did not like the writing, found the exposition poorly done, questionable premise 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence

Moderate: Addiction, Death, Drug abuse, Physical abuse, Slavery, Torture, Blood, and Alcohol

aiirglow's review against another edition

adventurous dark 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Drug abuse, Violence, Blood, and Classism

Moderate: Emotional abuse and Sexual content

Minor: Death, Fatphobia, Suicidal thoughts, and Vomit

saphfics's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional 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? It's complicated

4.25

I really feel like this is a book that I can only accurately rate after I have read the whole series 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse, Racism, Violence, Blood, and Vomit

Moderate: Violence and Injury/Injury detail

briannad4's review against another edition

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse, Genocide, Gore, Violence, Blood, Grief, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

emk5's review against another edition

slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No

3.0

I think 3 stars is pretty generous. I wish more of this book focused on Hassa. I don't think Sylah needed to be likeable, and...she very much wasn't... 

The world building was good but frankly not enough for me to want to read the other books in this series. At some point I wrote down a note of "I'm supposed to dislike Sylah and Anoor right???" Anoor was a more believable(?) character than Sylah but still extremely naive and cliche! Verbatim from Anoor: "the prison she would build would be bigger" after being horrified by the size of a cell??! 

Sylah was frankly really immature and selfish?? For a lot of the book she kept being like "she (name redacted for spoiler) stole my life from me/that should've been mine etc" even though the Sandstorm carried out the BABY SWAP! They were babies!!! Or if this was trying to show that her "upbringing" didn't give her "the heart of a Duster" I dunno, it didn't land. Maybe the author is playing 3D chess and I was reading checkers...

One of my main gripes is it was really unclear how Sylah and Hassa are "friends" (Sylah is not a friend to Hassa!!!!!)

ALSO NONE OF THE ROMANCE WAS BELIEVABLE. I did think it was funny that we got a fairly thorough sex scene between Sylah and (redacted) but basically faded to black for Sylah and (redacted)!!!!!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Drug abuse, Slavery, and Torture

Moderate: Child abuse

Minor: Fatphobia

katerinovaaa's review

medium-paced

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

2.5

It took me 9 months to finish this book and if I could, I would've given up within the first 50 pages. The characters annoyed me sooo much I just couldn't read more than 10 pages a week. The changes of POVs were super chaotic and hard to follow (like 3 changes within 2 pages, help). The beginning was painful.
2.5 stars because I see the world-building must've been time-consuming, the plot made sense, and there was loads of representation.

Trigger warnings / Tropes
🗡mild sexual content
🗡murder, blood, war, poverty, discrimination,...
🗡drugs (a lot, MC; also drugging other people)
🗡alcohol
🗡cruel punishment of children (physical and psychological)
🗡mention of SA at the end (not MC directly)
🗡death of loved ones

🔮3rd POV
🔮w/w relationship
🔮betrayal
🔮love triangle, jealousy
🔮strong bisexual MC
🔮elements of feminism and marxism
🔮competition (multiple challenges)
🔮appreciation of curly hair and curvy body (fat-shaming mentioned)
🔮zero tension between the characters😔
🔮detailed glossary, map

I'm really proud of myself for finishing it. I read the last 300 pages in a week because I had a deadline and FINALLY there was some plot.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Body horror, Death, Drug abuse, Violence, Police brutality, Grief, Murder, and Classism

Moderate: Child abuse, Fatphobia, and Sexual content

Minor: Body shaming, Fatphobia, Slavery, Torture, and Kidnapping

scifi_rat's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense medium-paced

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Racism, Sexual content, Slavery, Violence, Grief, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Alcoholism, Child abuse, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Blood, Death of parent, Murder, Abandonment, Alcohol, Colonisation, and Classism

the_lesbrarian's review

slow-paced

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

4.25

I really loved this book and can’t wait to read the rest of the series. It suffered from some pacing issues that had me put it down a few times, but it has so much going for it that I kept returning. The characters are rich and nuanced with relationships that feel like they could jump off the page. It uses familiar fantasy tropes and situations (gamelike trials for leadership, a girl trained as an elite warrior, an underground world of crime, a secretive magic) in new and engaging ways, making for a story that feels familiar and exciting all at once. 


 The world is queernormative, all characters are Black, and there is a slow-burn main sapphic romance. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Child abuse, Drug abuse, Physical abuse, Slavery, Police brutality, and Murder

Moderate: Confinement, Sexual content, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Child death, Kidnapping, Mass/school shootings, and Death of parent

lindsaybethlyons's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful 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? Yes

5.0

I loved this book. There is a lot of violence, be warned. The characters, plot, and world-building were incredible. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Torture, and Violence

Moderate: Child abuse, Death, Drug abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Blood, Trafficking, Death of parent, Murder, Alcohol, Colonisation, and Classism

Minor: Rape