Reviews tagging 'Physical abuse'

Two Twisted Crowns by Rachel Gillig

70 reviews

chanlo1994's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional 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

Again, the prose in this book is stunning. So much lovely poetry and creative writing. Rachel Gillig is a beautiful writer.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Body horror, Bullying, Chronic illness, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Grief, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Pandemic/Epidemic

Minor: Child death, Infidelity, and Vomit

eedle_cacleberry's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense 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? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Gore, Physical abuse, Torture, Violence, Blood, and Abandonment

Moderate: Alcoholism, Child death, Death, Mental illness, Sexual content, and Death of parent

Minor: Confinement and Emotional abuse

alrsto's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious tense fast-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? It's complicated

4.25

The author made an interesting choice with this second book in her duology: the narrator and protagonist from book 1, Elspeth, plays a much lesser role in this second half of the story.

Elspeth is there but much less present, and because there's little action she can take, she's not one of the characters moving the story forward.

Instead, it's her love interest (Ravyn) and three secondary characters from book 1 who take center stage. We readers follow the story mainly through two of those characters' (Ravyn and Elm) third-person points of view.

Along the way, those secondary characters—Elm, Ione, and the Shepherd King (a.k.a., the Nightmare)—become much more fully fleshed out.

In the first book (One Dark Window), I had mixed feelings about Elspeth, but I liked the ensemble of fairly well-rounded other characters she was surrounded by. Those characters, plus the story's distinctive system of magic, are what kept me reading. 

In one way, I actually enjoyed this second book more than that the first because Elspeth faded back, and the characters I found more interesting—and whose fates I found myself caring a lot about—came to the fore. 

The action throughout the story is strong and well paced, and it builds to a satisfying denouement, which is no small storytelling feat. For that reason, as well as the characters, I'd recommend the book. 

But I'd add a caveat: some of the writing was distractingly awkward. For example: 

"[H]er eyes crashed into Elm's."
"Elm's hand crashed into his pocket."
"[His] gaze collided with Ravyn's."
"the only noise between them was the clenching and unclenching of his jaw."

Then there are descriptors of little physical actions that I'm guessing are intended to convey a character's mood or emotions in a subtle way, but just get distracting because of how often they're used. 

Characters are frequently said to bite the insides of their cheeks. Their mouths become thin, fine, or tight lines. Or the corners of their mouths or lips are twitching or curling. 

There are also a couple plot points that, to me, aren't cleared up sufficiently at the end. 

When does Ione finally get free of the Maiden card when Hauth used it on her again, for example? And does she ever use it again?

What exactly happens to the extra Providence Cards that weren't used as part of "uniting the deck"—like the ones in the Rowan family's vault? The story implies that they still exist, are in circulation among the Blunder populace, and still work magically, but it seems like that fact should be a bigger deal in the kingdom, given what the characters have learned about them?

What did Elspeth's relationship with her father look like after the all that had happened? What about her relationship with her stepmother and twin stepsisters? The latter three are fairly prominent in book 1, so I expected them to be at least mentioned in book 2. But they aren't.

I do think it's a tribute to the rich storytelling and immersive world-building that I could even wonder about such details and care about how the characters' lives went on after all the drama concluded. 

Overall, this book is a satisfying romantasy. Just be prepared to overlook some of the writing quirks and loose plot ends. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence and Blood

Moderate: Physical abuse, Torture, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Bullying and Murder

isabelleroyall's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Murder, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Addiction, Gore, Self harm, Sexism, Torture, and Vomit

Minor: Cursing, Infidelity, Grief, and Death of parent

taryn_g's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious tense 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? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Physical abuse, Violence, and Murder

Moderate: Child abuse, Toxic relationship, and Death of parent

Minor: Sexual content

sxndaze's review

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? Yes

4.5

My darling, you’ve always had a choice.

an incredible sequel and an incredible duology. the mutilple povs give us so much more to digest and understand and while it took me a bit to get into elm’s story (not him though as i do adore his character), it comes together beautifully in the end.

everything is wrapped up beautifully and maybe too neatly, but im a sucker for happy endings and don’t crave angst too much.

the nightmare is my favourite and his banter with everyone is fantastic.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Blood, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Confinement, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Torture, and Violence

Minor: Child death and Alcohol

bibliokayla's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful mysterious fast-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? Yes

4.25

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Physical abuse and Sexual content

Minor: Vomit

bethann_coleates's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful mysterious 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Body horror, Bullying, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Torture, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Grief, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail

oxfordcommas91's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated

4.5

I love a duology because it moves the story along but gives you enough time to delve into the important aspects of the plot. This book was a satisfying conclusion to the story of Elspeth, Ravyn, the Nightmare and the whole cast of characters working to try to unite the deck of Providence cards and save Blunder from the encroaching fog. I really liked that we got to dive more into Ione and Elm's stories and their unique motivations alongside the stories of Elspeth and Ravyn. Tying all these storylines together gave us a better insight into the history of the Providence Cards and makes for a very rewarding outcome. The last 100 pages were tense - I blew through the back half of this book because I needed to know what would happen as time was running short. A truly enjoyable series and would recommend it to folks looking for a dark/gothic fantasy that you can tackle in a short amount of time with a romance sub-plot. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Child death, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Gore, Physical abuse, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Alcohol

malakabdullah's review against another edition

2.0

- This book holds the same feeling as the first, I can’t consume the story in one sitting. I need it in chunks otherwise it’s not that good. I loved getting my hands on some Elm and Ione plot. But so far, it’s all just not enough to be captivating. I am enjoying it though don’t get me wrong. I’m just not obsessed.
- Reading this book has put me in a reading slump as I continued reading it! The first book, One Dark Window, I had to read in chunks at a time to enjoy it. The second book.. I had to read a chapter a day to avoid DNF’ing it. Aside from the typos and the -too much going on- storyline, I don’t regret reading this duology.
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Ravyn and Elspeth walked so Renelm and Ione could run. The story ended nicely, I'm quite pleased with how they resolved the providence cards issue after the mist was lifted.

This isn't a series I'd recommend to others but I enjoyed it nonetheless. Again, still not over the moon about anything that happened.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse and Torture