Reviews tagging 'Toxic relationship'

Fairest of All by Serena Valentino

4 reviews

ria_carina's review against another edition

dark emotional sad medium-paced

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

2.5

Als Liebhaberin der klassischen Disney-Filme habe ich mir mehr von dem Buch erwartet. Sprachlich hat es mich gar nicht abgeholt (es ist wohl eher für Kinder geschrieben, der Sprachgebrauch ist sehr 'leicht' und wiederholend); der Fortschritt der Geschichte war stolprig — manchmal zu langsam, manchmal viel zu schnell. Die Charaktere fand ich teilweise flach und lieblos hingeklatscht, manchmal aber wieder spannend. Die Grundidee selbst finde ich grandios, aber der Plot wäre eindeutig ausbaufähig gewesen. Schade, vielleicht sind die anderen Bände mehr nach meinem Geschmack.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Emotional abuse, Toxic relationship, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, and Gaslighting

Minor: War

reading_books_as_escapism_lol's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• 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: Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Suicide, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Grief, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Gaslighting, War, and Injury/Injury detail

housedesignerking's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

4.0

This is the Evil Queen's backstory. One of the things Disney seems to be doing lately is creating slight or complete retellings of their classics or masterpieces. Valentino did a good job making the reader want to root for the Queen throughout this. But anyone who's seen the movie knows what an exercise in futility that would be. I'm not sure if these ideas were strictly Valentino's or if she was guided by Disney in some way to put this series together (my money's on the latter, but I could be wrong), but either way, it's an interesting take on it. The writing focuses quite a bit on description instead of commentary, which I found to be a tad disappointing. Snow White and the Seven Dwarves was never my favorite animated Disney movie, but with the well-crafted backstory, this is actually better than the movie, which got 3 stars from me. This book gets 4.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Toxic relationship, and Gaslighting

Minor: Death and Death of parent

z_thatsit's review against another edition

dark reflective sad slow-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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Grief, Death of parent, and Abandonment

Moderate: Addiction, Slavery, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Murder, and Toxic friendship

Minor: Gore, Infertility, Cannibalism, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, War, and Injury/Injury detail