Reviews tagging 'Sexual violence'

Phaedra by Laura Shepperson

28 reviews

alexis_baldwin92's review

challenging dark sad

• 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? It's complicated

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicide, Violence, Pregnancy, and Sexual harassment

madelinemariegeorge's review against another edition

challenging dark sad medium-paced

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

2.75

I know Greek mythology is intense, but this retelling felt particularly dark, hopeless and a little flat. A painful read for me. Almost quit after the particularly gruesome scene, but decided to finish it, so I guess it had something that kept me reading. 
 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, and Violence

nicoles_reading_corner's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Misogyny, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Violence, Murder, and Pregnancy

Moderate: Suicide

Minor: Child death

carmelien's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense slow-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

2.5

This book retells the myth of Phaedra and Hippolytus, first told in play form over 2000 years ago. This flips the play around however, having Hippolytus force himself upon Phaedra and the results thereof. Woven throughout this is the story of other women in Athens and across Greece, of the suffering they experience daily. Despite the tough themes and content, I found this book to be a disappointing read. It felt like every man involved was evil and every women suffered at the hands of the men around them, and this grew tiring and repetitive to read. It felt that the women had no agency and no way to impact the world around them, and even strong female characters like Medea fell victim to this in this novel.

If you want a Greek retelling there are many better out there, I would suggest Ariadne by Jennifer Saint or Medea by Rosie Hewlett. The writing was good however, and I will pick up the next book published by this author, I only hope the themes are covered more respectfully than in this first attempt.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, and Suicide

korotasz's review against another edition

dark emotional sad slow-paced

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

3.0

The ending was very anticlimactic and it felt rushed. I don’t feel like loose ends were tied up well.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Sexual assault, and Sexual violence

Moderate: Self harm, Suicide, Murder, and Pregnancy

Details of sexual assault are sprinkled throughout the book, so there is not just one place that a reader can skip over

rqnee's review against another edition

dark sad medium-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Sexual assault, and Sexual violence

oakotoks's review against another edition

challenging dark reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Rape, Sexism, and Sexual violence

Minor: Death, Gore, Violence, and Murder

carriemae's review against another edition

adventurous emotional medium-paced

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

3.25

The author jumped from character to character a lot, making it difficult to follow. Over all, interesting take on this story.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Violence, and Sexual harassment

andrwa's review against another edition

• Strong character development? No

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Sexual violence, and Violence

Moderate: Rape

acrosstheskyinstars's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense slow-paced

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

3.25

I wanted to like this one a lot more than I did. I'm the first person to love a feminist myth retelling. The point of view shifting so frequently hindered the book in my opinion. It made it hard for me to feel truly connected to any of the characters. Don't get me wrong. I love a Greek tragedy, which this certainly is and I knew that going in. But the tone of this book was very dark, so definitely be warned that the subject matter is heavy. I preferred the book Ariadne by Jennifer Saint and Ariadne Unraveled by Zenobia Neil. Both of those were 5 star reads for me.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, Kidnapping, Grief, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail