Reviews tagging 'Physical abuse'

Poison Study by Maria V. Snyder

53 reviews

marcellaluna_author's review against another edition

dark

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, and Sexual harassment

noellegrace8's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced

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

5.0

This type of fantasy is so hard to come by. It's more traditional, with the slow pace and less of a view into the emotions of the characters. They're more static than dynamic, coming into their own if changing at all. The combat scenes are the type of thing I would go back to read only THAT paragraph just for the fun of it (the mug scene, anyone?!). There is no sensationalism or glamorizing of the sexual assault in the book, which I appreciated. On the same note, I liked the represenation of someone whose romantic and sexual desires are unaffected by her past trauma even if that trauma(PTSD) does show up in other aspects of her life. There were no attachment disorder issues or anything, just a strong, decisive relationship. Readers who are looking for a very emotionally charged fantasy, especially on the romance side, will be disappointed in this, as the actual world-building and plot are where it shines. I honestly loved this book so much. Ready to read the others.

The one giant low point for me, despite my 5⭐ rating, is the 19 y/o with the 33 y/o thing. Gross. But to be honest, I genuinely can't imagine Yelena as any younger than 28. So... that's what I choose to believe she is lol. There's this whole section at the end of the book that has the writer going into her chapter notes on the book, and I was so disappointed to hear that a lot of her plot points were not planned, because in hindsight, I can see it. I wish I hadn't known tbh. That being said, the worst was the whole "I didn't plan for the age gap but it was the only thing that made sense." Nah. You can almost ALWAYS make writing work for your vision, you just have to have the skills to do so. Yes, Valek needed to be older to be the commander's first in command. But Yelena could have been older. Make a caste system, it seems like that's already a thing anyway with the way she's not even allowed to defend herself. She could have been owned by Reyad or something, making her disobedience punishable. There are so many ways the age thing could have been above board but Snyder deliberately chose not to put the effort in. So, again, in my head, Yelena is close to Valek's age, because she also ACTS like she is. NO 19 y/o would make the mature decisions she makes.

I give Kristin Atherton 3.5/5⭐. Sometimes she REALLY just HAS it, you know? With the way her voices are all different and recognizable especially. But she has way too much of a monotone most of the time, emotionless (that more stuffy British sound) or without enough pauses and inflection. More than that, however, is her pacing. I NEVER listen to dramatized readings at higher speeds than recorded because that, to me, is like watching a movie at high speed and therefore incorrectly depicts the art of the performance. But I listened to this on 1.5x without remorse. It was unbearably slow otherwise.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Violence, Blood, and Murder

Moderate: Confinement, Cursing, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Excrement, Vomit, Grief, Sexual harassment, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Minor: Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Self harm, Transphobia, Medical content, Trafficking, Death of parent, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Fire/Fire injury, Outing, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Alcohol, Dysphoria, and War

tiredlad's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense fast-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual violence, Torture, Vomit, Murder, and Sexual harassment

vidotson's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark informative mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Torture, Violence, Blood, Vomit, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Murder, and Sexual harassment

themoodreader's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Rape

Minor: Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Torture, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Kidnapping, Murder, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

ekcd_'s review against another edition

adventurous tense fast-paced

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

2.0

I read this in high school (15 years ago) and I have thought about it regularly since then. What a good book it was, how I knew it was the beginning of loving fantasy. 

Decided to read it again and uh. It’s kinda bad? The prose is trash, like truly trash. FMC is a little annoying, a little too situationally perfect. Valek is whatever. Of course the only loveable characters are the hulking loyal body cards Yelena befriends by being ~so smol and fierce~

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Deadnaming, Death, Drug use, Gore, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Toxic relationship, Transphobia, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Kidnapping, Stalking, Outing, Abandonment, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

lost_luna's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny mysterious tense 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Child abuse, Death, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Vomit, Kidnapping, Murder, and Sexual harassment

moobell55's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse and Violence

Moderate: Physical abuse, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicide, Torture, Trafficking, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Sexual harassment, and War

falkenbsigrid's review against another edition

dark funny reflective 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse and Physical abuse

Moderate: Sexual assault, Torture, Blood, Vomit, Murder, and Outing

Minor: Child abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Rape, Self harm, and Suicidal thoughts

spaghettii'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

4.75

I could not put this book down! I had a hard time predicting a lot of the book, which was a nice change.

I knew Rand was going to betray her at some point because of how Valek described him, but wow. I like that despite being portrayed as the bad guy there was still depth to the chatacter.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Animal death, Bullying, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Transphobia, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Vomit, Kidnapping, Murder, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail