Reviews tagging 'Toxic relationship'

Daughter of the Moon Goddess by Sue Lynn Tan

22 reviews

lilo000's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes

4.25

I appreciated some of the inclusions of Chinese tradition/culture in here. I think the adventure was definitely my speed, but I read this book in too close conjunction with one with a few too many parallels, which is no fault of this book's. I appreciate the main character and her strong sense of character + strength in general. I think I got fed up with the love triangle, so (assuming the following book hashes this out more) I'm not sure I'll be reading the second book. Would still recommend, since the ending was ending enough to not need the second book (I say without having read the sequel)

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Toxic relationship, Violence, Murder, and War

Minor: Injury/Injury detail

krumanda's review against another edition

adventurous inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Toxic friendship, and War

Moderate: Death, Emotional abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Violence, Vomit, Death of parent, Toxic friendship, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Minor: Confinement

julierambaeck's review against another edition

adventurous fast-paced

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

3.0

I felt like this book was all over the place. The pacing was off, which really took me out of the story for most of the book. It took 200 pages for me to care for the characters and the story, and I think after the 200 page mark was where the pacing started making sense (kinda). The love triangle was one of the worst I have ever read. INCREDIBLY stupid characters, I did not like a single one of the love-interests, and I did not understand why the love-interests even liked the main character who changed her mind every other page. 
The plot was kind of strange, there were soooo many quests and dangerous situations that by the end I didn't really care, because they were so easily solved, and then we just moved on. 
I won't continue in the series, and I also think you can see this as a standalone, it wraps up nicely by the end of the book.
But overall it was kind of enjoyable...

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Toxic relationship, Violence, Death of parent, and War

leligavi's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful mysterious sad tense slow-paced

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

1.0

WHAT THE FREAKING HECK. I THOUGHT THIS WAS GOING TO BE A WIN.

BUT WHY THE HECK MY MAN WENZHI HAS TO GO AND BETRAY OUR GIRL LIKE THAT? I was all for them from the very beginning. Liwei was done because he made his choice and hurt her. I thought that this would be Xingying's true, supportive match. A sweet love that conquered all. Where they would be all BA together. BUT THEN HE BETRAYED HER? At this point in my life, I am not in a state of mind where I find those kinds of plots enjoyable. The betrayal is not fun and games for me. It ends the game. Finito.

I literally skimmed the last 15% of this book but I'm counting it as a book read if it's going to make me go through all of that.

And I read spoilers that it was going to be about WENZHI and her in the next book but honestly I don't even think I can recover from that. I truly loved them. It feels unredeemable.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Toxic relationship, Gaslighting, Colonisation, and War

polaris1117's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious tense fast-paced

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

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence

Moderate: Kidnapping and War

Minor: Misogyny, Toxic relationship, and Death of parent

kenny_2288's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional hopeful tense 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Classism

Minor: Toxic relationship and Death of parent

kelseyr713's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.0

Excellent, creative fantasy romance. I felt a little distanced from the main character (I feel like we never really get to know her beyond the surface level, despite being in her head for the whole book) but I still liked her. Very much looking forward to the sequel, and I appreciate that the first book still ended in a satisfying way and not on a cliffhanger!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Violence, Blood, Murder, Gaslighting, and War

Moderate: Confinement, Toxic relationship, Kidnapping, Grief, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Sexual assault, Sexual content, and Death of parent

The sexual assault is attempted, not completed, and alluded to vaguely.

theespressoedition's review against another edition

3.5

Just some quotes I loved:

What use were adventures when there was no one to share them with?

Today, I had finally dared to gaze at the sun, allowing its radiance to blaze through me unhindered, spilling through my veins until I was aglow. Never did I imagine such luminous joy existed, and never again would I be content to remain in the shadows. and never again would I be content to remain in the shadows.

kings were not always as just as in the stories, and the mercy of gods was sometimes flawed.

Not everyone’s past was a path through sunlit fields. We each had our own corners that we preferred to leave in the shadows.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gore, Torture, Toxic relationship, Blood, and Murder

Minor: Sexual harassment

clairew97's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful tense medium-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? N/A

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Bullying, Confinement, Misogyny, Slavery, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, War, and Classism

solarel's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful sad 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? Yes

3.0

At the end of part 2 I was ready to say this fell in a 2 star range. The main character reads like a YA heroine, quick to swoon and quicker to anger. Her perspective was repetitive, and this grew very little as the book went on. She stars out angry about her mother and her own honor disrespected, and she ends that way too. 

I loved the world, though. It was fun and I found it immersive. It felt rich and saturated, though at times repetitive. 

What bumped it up to 3 stars for me was a twist that I had misread the signs for as overused tropes. I was delighted about this turn in the plot and it was a lot of fun to see it play out. 

Overall I think this book is very charming and worth a read. Parts of the plot felt like they floated by without enough weight, and others felt as if they were drawn out far too long. I’m looking forward to the second one. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Toxic relationship, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Kidnapping, Murder, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Death of parent

Minor: Infidelity