Reviews tagging 'Kidnapping'

Elektra by Jennifer Saint

19 reviews

faythfarrar's review against another edition

medium-paced

• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No

2.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death of parent, Grief, Rape, Child death, and War

Minor: Abandonment, Classism, Infidelity, and Kidnapping

sirenricobooks's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative sad tense medium-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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Emotional abuse, Death, Sexism, Child death, Grief, Death of parent, Trafficking, War, Classism, Gore, Violence, Child abuse, Misogyny, Murder, and Slavery

Moderate: Cannibalism

Minor: Incest, Sexual violence, Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Kidnapping, Rape, Confinement, Pregnancy, Sexual assault, Abandonment, Sexual content, and Sexual harassment

gondorgirl's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional sad tense slow-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Blood, Murder, Sexism, Slavery, Cannibalism, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Violence, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Alcohol, Animal death, Child death, Death, Grief, Kidnapping, War, Gore, Infidelity, and Sexual assault

shaylac's review

dark emotional tense slow-paced

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

3.0

I honestly could not get into this book. I was able to finish it but it took me longer than I expected and I'm not sure if it was because of the 3 different perspectives that didn't really coincide with each other or if it was the the way nothing was really exciting. At some points the plot gets interesting and it holds my attention, then the plot dies and turns to a different perspective.

Spoiler

I was excited to read a book with female POVs but I can't wrap my head around why Cassandra's POV was included in this book. I think it was nice to have her perspective as a princess of Troy but I don't feel that her POV was necessary for this book. Also, I was waiting for the point for all 3 of their perspectives merge into 1 but that didn't happen either. I'm not sure if it's because I don't have the most in depth knowledge of Greek mythology but I couldn't get into this book at all.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death and Death

Moderate: Grief, Murder, War, Infidelity, Kidnapping, and Death of parent

ienbdri's review against another edition

dark emotional tense slow-paced

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

2.75

a lot of daddy issues and incest even for greek mythology

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Sexual assault, Gore, Infidelity, Kidnapping, Incest, Rape, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Sexual violence, Slavery, and War

nialiversuch's review

dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Child death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Misogyny, Suicidal thoughts, Murder, Ableism, Blood, Infidelity, Sexism, Sexual assault, Pregnancy, Rape, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Toxic relationship, Abandonment, Colonisation, Confinement, Death, Death of parent, Grief, Violence, and War

kristen_spencer's review

dark emotional tense medium-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War and Murder

Moderate: Kidnapping, Sexual assault, and Rape

ghostlyprince's review against another edition

dark reflective sad slow-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Slavery, Grief, Kidnapping, Confinement, Death of parent, Murder, War, Abandonment, Child death, and Death

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Animal death, Gaslighting, Alcohol, Animal cruelty, Infidelity, and Misogyny

Minor: Cannibalism, Sexual violence, Rape, Sexual assault, and Incest

aseel_reads's review

challenging dark medium-paced

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

4.0

I liked the writing style of this book and I thought the events (that I already know) were told well, I just didn't care about some of the povs and I thought the ending was a bit underwhelming. Still a good overall story 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Grief, Murder, Animal cruelty, Child death, Violence, War, Animal death, Blood, Death, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Pregnancy, and Rape

maaikereadsbooks_'s review

dark emotional mysterious sad medium-paced

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

3.25

Many thanks to Headline Audio and Jennifer Saint for the advanced audio copy of Elektra via NetGalley, in return for my honest and unbiased review. Quick note: I don’t recap plots in my reviews, as it’s easy enough to read the book’s synopsis and blurbs, I purely focus on my feelings & opinions of how the books makes me feel. 

Disclaimer: the negative slant on the audio perspective is largely due to my misophonia. I have an intense dislike for ‘mouth noises’. Audible swallowing, smacking noises, general un-edited auditory mouth *stuff* really gets to me and put me off this audiobook. 

Elektra follows an interesting retelling of the Trojan war, from some of the key women’s point of view. Jennifer Saint has woven in figures of myth and legend along with those of flesh and blood with a matter-of-fact-ness, which isn’t seen as often in this type of retellings. Often in this type of story there is a veil of supernatural syrup, a ‘playing with the gods’ tale. But this story felt much more solid. This is told in a more ‘this is real life’ sort of way. And real life just happened to have the occasional god, or demi god, walking around in it. As you do. 

I suspect that ‘Elektra’ was not Saint’s original title of choice, as she was not the protagonist of the book. But as Clytemnestra was already taken this season, it would have to do. Perhaps a different title may have suited the story better, however. 

The narrators suited the individual characters well. However, I found it extremely difficult to get into the story as, after the first three chapters, they did not announce the character at the beginning of the chapter, instead expecting the listener to have already memorised the narrator’s voice. Unfortunately I’m not that good and I was confused, and annoyed. And as my misophonia had me well and truly distracter, I almost stopped listening at this point. Eventually I got the hang of who was who, and got into the story. It definitely took me a while, though. 

Overall, the story was interesting. It was perhaps a bit over-long for my taste. I hope there is a final edit to smooth out the ‘mouth noises’ for future listeners’ enjoyment! 

Spice: 1/5 

Trigger warnings: Animal death, Blood/Gore, Cheating, Death, Death of a family member, Kidnapping, Murder, Physical or mental abuse, Pregnancy, Rape, Self Harm, Sexism, Sexual abuse/assault/harassment, Slavery, Suicide, Torture, Violence, War 

Rating 

Story: 3.5/5 

Audio: 3/5 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Child death, Slavery, and Murder

Moderate: Abandonment, Physical abuse, War, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Rape, Blood, Suicide, Kidnapping, Pregnancy, Torture, and Violence

Minor: Gore, Animal death, Sexism, Death of parent, and Self harm