Reviews tagging 'Body horror'

Elektra by Jennifer Saint

3 reviews

ohyeah_karyn's review against another edition

dark emotional sad medium-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Gore, Infidelity, Misogyny, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Violence, Blood, Grief, Cannibalism, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Abandonment, War, and Injury/Injury detail

nicnevin's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional reflective medium-paced

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

4.0

Good story but I feel like the titular character honestly didn't have much to do with her own story, especially since the more interesting aspects were with Cassandra and Clydemnestra.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Grief, Cannibalism, Death of parent, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

hmatt's review against another edition

dark emotional tense slow-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? Yes

3.25

I really like the way this author writes women's voices, and I think it particularly suits this sub-genre of Greek myth retellings. I hope they continue to write in this genre and I will happily pick up whatever comes next.

That said, I didn't find this retelling quite as compelling as I've found others. Cassandra is the only one of the three POV characters who is arguably likeable at all, which is definitely intentional, but also it did impact my reading. It was a struggle for me to empathize at all, really, with the other two. I also wasn't quite convinced by the choice to just narrate from these three specific characters. Elektra and Clytemnestra make sense but, again, Cassandra is a bit of a random pick/stretch for me. It felt like it was a choice made deliberately so that this book wasn't too similar to A Thousand Ships - which, honestly, read that before you read this.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Confinement, Death, Infidelity, Sexism, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Genocide, Misogyny, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Kidnapping, Fire/Fire injury, and Sexual harassment

Minor: Animal death