Reviews tagging 'Emotional abuse'

Vredens gudinnor by Katie Lowe

8 reviews

anni_swanilda's review against another edition

dark mysterious slow-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Body shaming, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Gore, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Grief, Murder, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Child death, Domestic abuse, Car accident, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, and Classism

Minor: Forced institutionalization

gondorgirl's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Animal death, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Grief, Stalking, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

ifoundcallie's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective tense slow-paced

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

2.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body shaming, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Violence, Blood, Murder, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Alcoholism, Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Domestic abuse, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Vomit, Car accident, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, and Gaslighting

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Eating disorder, Gore, Pedophilia, Forced institutionalization, Excrement, and Grief

ritual sacrifice, false accusations, slut shaming

chonkooch's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

3.5

While this was very well written and thoroughly enjoyable I did have several issues with it. The descriptive writing is gorgeous and strangely homoerotic female friendships are very much my jam. I also was a big fan of the horror elements, delicious.

However at certain crucial points the writing style made it difficult to tell what was actually going on: for example,

when the dean was dying i was exceedingly confused

and also

when robin died i had to flip back and forth a few times because i didn't understand.

i'm not 100% that a boarding school was the right setting for this? the school element did feel a little underused and the segments with annabel giving speeches were definitely the weakest parts of the book. despite the heavy emphasis i can tell we're supposed to feel on female rage/revenge i actually feel the better parts of the book are the parts that center around the complex relationships between the girls. if it was more character study and a liiiittle bit less witchcraft i think it could've been great. i also think the ending is a little bit of a cop-out. i think the book Oligarchy by Scarlett Thomas does a pretty good job of what i wish this book had done- that is, expose how insular and ingrown and fake the obsessive cult-like world of the girls is, and how this religion of girlhood-as-pain is, while very real, ultimately something you have to grow out of.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, and Sexual harassment

Moderate: Addiction, Body shaming, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Homophobia, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Toxic relationship, Vomit, Grief, Stalking, Death of parent, Lesbophobia, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Alcohol, Dysphoria, and Injury/Injury detail

madeleinebay's review against another edition

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child death, Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Rape, Sexual assault, Violence, Blood, Car accident, Murder, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Body shaming

cosycourtney's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.5

Dark witchy academia meets murder mystery; sign me up. Listening to this on audiobook had me wanting to walk for as long as I could each day. The story was compelling, layered, intense, entertaining and infuriating. I couldn’t tell which friend was worse or if anyone deserved my sympathy. The characterization was so strong; we all know the exact archetype from school and when you’re young you want anything to be friends with her but when you’re older you’re glad you weren’t. This book unpacks the obsessive nature of friendship as a teenager and the commitment to questionable friends people uphold about it all. I found it pleasantly infuriating as I wanted to scream sense into everyone but I was hooked on every word. Thoroughly enjoyed and look forward to reading more of Katie Lowe’s books in the future! Please consider content warnings before reading x

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Suicide, Violence, Grief, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, Toxic friendship, and Injury/Injury detail

jenniferpalmblad's review against another edition

dark mysterious 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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body shaming, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Violence, Blood, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, and Alcohol

alyciareads's review against another edition

dark mysterious medium-paced

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

2.5

Violet is a new student at a boarding school. When she meets and is befriended by three girls in her year, Robin, Alex, and Grace, she unknowingly begins on the ride of her life. 

Trigger warnings for drug use, under-age drinking, sexual themes, violence, and death. 

I didn’t love this, though I really wanted to. The characters aren’t likeable, and frankly I found myself wanting to shake them all. Even the teachers and parents in this book were abhorrent humans. There isn’t one redeemable character in the group. For a character-driven story (there isn’t a lot of plot), the characters felt two-dimensional and fake in a way that had me rolling my eyes when I should have been feeling tension or suspense. It wasn’t horrible, but I don’t recommend. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, and Sexual content