Reviews tagging 'Child abuse'

Lies We Sing to the Sea by Sarah Underwood

6 reviews

ntstucky's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny sad tense fast-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? Yes

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Domestic abuse, Genocide, Grief, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Murder, Kidnapping, Death, Violence, Suicide, Physical abuse, Child abuse, Child death, Sexual harassment, Sexism, Rape, Blood, and Slavery

lizy's review against another edition

challenging emotional medium-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child death, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Child abuse, Rape, and Sexual content

Minor: Sexual harassment, Death of parent, Slavery, and Grief

ssmylie's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny 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? No

3.0

I thought the book was a fun ride, even made me tear up at the end. However, I can't just ignore the comments under the Goodreads section. While I don't think you need an advanced degree in the classics or be an expert in Ancient Greek history, I do think it's very important to read to read the original source material before you write a "retelling". Then, you should familiarize you're self with other retellings to see where people have taken these stories. Finally, you should have consulted with experts in Ancient Greek history and the classics to see if what you were creating lined up with correctly. Authors are researchers as well and many travel, consult with experts and read many texts as they are going from their initial idea to a published work. Research doesn't stop imagination and creativity, it expands what you can do and how realistic you can make the characters.

Now, I'm thinking "what was everyone thinking?" From the idea to the writing process to pitching the story to publishing the book to the marketing? As everyone in the comments said, this didn't have to be called a "retelling", it could have been marketed as a book related to Odyssey's return home to Ithaca. 

I hope the author takes this into consideration in her next books. I think she is talented, but she can do much better than this and she has too.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child abuse, Cursing, Misogyny, and Sexual assault

Minor: Torture, Suicide, and Violence

shetland_pone's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny hopeful mysterious sad tense slow-paced

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

4.5

I cried.

It's not perfect, but my only real complaint is the love triangle. Apart from that, it's wonderful.

TW: sexual abuse

Something I think the author wrote extremely well is Melantho's experiences and character. She's afraid of men. It's never said outright but you can see it in her behaviour. And it's nuanced. She knows Mathias isn't a bad person, she even comforts him at one point despite her distrust of him. Her feelings of guilt and pain were something I was able to relate to as someone who has experienced another type of sexual abuse. It felt healing to read.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual assault, Blood, Child abuse, Child death, Death of parent, Sexual violence, and Death

rossandhissandwich's review against another edition

2.0

If you want to write a book that's a retelling of another book, READ the book it's based off first.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Sexual assault, Death, and Rape

Moderate: Child abuse

hanne_'s review against another edition

dark emotional sad medium-paced

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

2.0

Gods, what a slog. Had one early moment with properly horrific use of familiar imagery (the feet, what else?), and then… kinda fell apart. This could’ve been sweet and lush, but tried to do too much with too little and was narratively all over the place. It’s a reimagining of how the Odys— okay, it’s not really doing that rigorously but it’s an intensely personal exploration of— nope, it’s one of those “monarchic inheritance acts like a reality show competition” books— but don’t worry, this YA love triangle’s *bisexual* and even drifting toward polyam— oh wait, now we’re doing the senselessly tragic nature of capital-F Fate— whoops, have two sudden twists… and it’s over. Exhausting. 

I think the author needed to pick one or two things to really commit to: the worldbuilding as an extension of The Odyssey, the consistency of the magic and plot elements she wanted to include, Leto and Melantho’s first-person voices (which started out refreshing and distinct but soon blended together), the three protagonists’ relationships, or the political/governing elements. Instead, the story rushes past each in turn in service of the others, and the only reliably well-developed element is actually… the violence? If you for some reason want to read a lot of detail about people, mostly children, being disturbingly murdered and assaulted, this is the book for you. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Violence, Gore, Grief, Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Death, and Child death

Moderate: Child abuse, Confinement, Injury/Injury detail, Slavery, Misogyny, Murder, Sexual violence, Blood, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Infidelity, and Sexual content

Minor: Abandonment, Pregnancy, Toxic relationship, Alcohol, Animal death, Toxic friendship, Emotional abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Terminal illness, Mental illness, Rape, Suicide, Bullying, Classism, Child abuse, and Domestic abuse

It’s not creepy if the centuries-old entity having sex with a young woman also looks and acts like a young woman, right? No, nope, wrong, absolutely creepy, and some memory loss to reduce the weight of her years of experience does not fix it.