Reviews tagging 'Pregnancy'

A Biblioteca dos Livros Mágicos by Emma Törzs

8 reviews

aseel_reads's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious medium-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? It's complicated

4.5

This was a lot more enjoyable than the title gives (random I know but the title turned me off for so long). I liked the premise of the world and the mystery of the parental figures. I figured out most things before the main characters did but it was still fun to read 

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Gun violence, Violence, Blood, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Body horror, Child abuse, Death, Emotional abuse, Racism, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Abandonment, and Classism

booksemmahasread's review against another edition

dark hopeful 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? It's complicated

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Grief, and Death of parent

Moderate: Torture, Violence, Murder, and Gaslighting

Minor: Child abuse, Death, Toxic relationship, Medical content, Kidnapping, Pregnancy, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail

logicsmessystudy's review against another edition

adventurous dark 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? It's complicated

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Death of parent, Murder, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Child abuse, Chronic illness, Cursing, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Torture, Medical content, Grief, Abandonment, Alcohol, Colonisation, and Classism

Minor: Animal death, Racism, Excrement, Car accident, and Pregnancy

cozy_tea_reader's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad 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

4.25

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Death, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Self harm, Blood, Medical trauma, Death of parent, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Chronic illness, Confinement, Drug use, Gore, Toxic relationship, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Pregnancy, Colonisation, and Classism

navayiota's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective sad 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

Aggressively good. Saskia Maarleveld has incredible taste in books. If she's narrating it, i know it will be a banger. And she's amazing at what she does!
I really, really enjoyed this story. The plot twists made complete sense and I felt proud of myself whenever I managed to see one coming, the characters are lovable, (I want to give all our protagonists a hug) and the descriptions of sensations were vivid and visceral. I loved every moment. 
It was also a stunning portrayal of how people deal with trauma, especially trauma inflicted by one's primary caregivers. Excellent work!

My one critique would be that they struggled a bit with writing the 4-person conversation between Ester, Johanna, Nicholas and Collins where the 're trying to decide what to do with the wards. It felt forced and repetitive, and constantly reminded me of the fact that this is a story written by a person, and not just me being a fly on the wall for a real life conversation. I didn't notice this with any other conversation.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Chronic illness, Sexual content, Medical content, and Alcohol

Minor: Pregnancy

aksmith92's review against another edition

adventurous dark hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective 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? No

4.5

Sometimes, there is nothing better than a book about books!

The setup: The novel follows two sisters, Esther and Joanna, born and raised in a magical family - those who can read magic from books and cast certain spells. While Joanna can produce this magic when reading it, Ester seems untouched by the magic. When she reads the books, nothing happens. More perplexing, magic seems to have no impact on her. Esther and Joanna's family is complicated, and we are met with many fascinating tales about mothers, fathers, stepmothers, and overall familial ties.

In addition, we also travel alongside the tale of someone named Nicholas and his bodyguard, Collins. We know little about Nicholas and his ties to Esther and Joanna's story, but he lives in The Library, a heavily guarded magical library in London. Nicholas is a Scribe, meaning that he writes magical books.

Throughout the novel, we learn of the characters, the magic, and their connection through many ups and downs.

What I liked: I found this novel quite innovative and original. The theme of magical books has no doubt been done before, particularly in witchy settings, but I just thought this one was unique. Additionally, the writing style and prose were just lovely. I found it atmospheric but still grounded in modern times, which was an interesting touch. To me, this seemed to sway to the side of magical realism versus fantasy, but it is about magical books and spells, so I can see why it wouldn't necessarily be too close to real life. Either way, I just thought it worked so well. There were also a couple of twists and turns throughout this novel that I didn't see coming, which I always LOVE!

What didn't hit the mark: The beginning was slow, and while I loved the character development, once the connection was there between plots, I felt some things were a little rushed. That said, I gave this 4.5 stars, so it didn't impact my overall reading experience and love for the book.

I recommend this as a nice in between of magical realism, contemporary literature, and fantasy. It was super readable, yet poetic at times, and I loved the plot. I look forward to checking out this author's other works in the future!

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Gore, Medical content, Medical trauma, Pregnancy, and Alcohol

bencaroline's review against another edition

adventurous funny mysterious medium-paced

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

4.5

Not ready to write much about this yet! But I really loved this book. Extremely fun.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Death, Violence, Blood, Trafficking, and Medical trauma

Moderate: Cursing, Domestic abuse, Gore, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Self harm, Torture, Xenophobia, Police brutality, Antisemitism, Kidnapping, Grief, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, Alcohol, Colonisation, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Genocide, Gun violence, Infidelity, Sexual content, Vomit, Pregnancy, and War

Does the [dog] die?

No animals die or are harmed!

elizabeth_lepore's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced

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

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Blood, Kidnapping, and Death of parent

Moderate: Death, Gun violence, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Pregnancy