Reviews tagging 'Child death'

The Mermaid, the Witch and the Sea by Maggie Tokuda-Hall

52 reviews

greywolfheir's review against another edition

adventurous dark reflective medium-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Child death, Death, Physical abuse, Torture, Violence, Blood, Murder, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Rape

kananineko's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

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

3.0

There were a lot of things I liked about this book, including the short chapters, focus on pirates and mermaids, the sea as a character, and the way the worldbuilding was developed. Overall, I enjoyed reading it. But ultimately, I don’t think it was super memorable, and I didn’t really care about the characters, unfortunately. For some reason the only character I really cared about was Rake. Honestly, couldn’t really tell you why. The romance was cute, yet a bit rushed. Everything in general felt a bit simplified and not super memorable to me. 

I still think a lot of people will love this book, though. If the description sounds interesting to you, go for it!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gore, Violence, Blood, Murder, Colonisation, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Gun violence, Homophobia, Misogyny, Slavery, Torture, Trafficking, Mass/school shootings, Lesbophobia, Abandonment, and Classism

Minor: Alcoholism, Child death, Rape, Sexual assault, Outing, and Alcohol

discarded_dust_jacket's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional fast-paced

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

3.75

I really enjoyed this! 

One of my biggest pet peeves when it comes to YA fantasy in particular, is when I can tell that an author is patronizing or talking down to their reader. I think sometimes the distinction between “accessible” and “clumsily over-simplified” can get muddy. 

I notice it in particular when I read an author who’s known for their adult books, but who writes YA every now and then. The writing in the YA book will be so obviously adjusted to what, presumably, the author believes will be more “palatable” to a younger audience. I don’t think that’s always being fair to young readers. There’s obviously nuance here, but I think it can seem to communicate a lack of faith in their ability to understand complexity, dark themes, or challenging language.

This book was a pleasant surprise in that regard. I didn’t feel condescended to as I read, but it was still distinctly easy to read. The narrative flowed smoothly and kept my attention. The characters were easy to care about (I appreciated the expanded points of view as the story went on), and the plot didn’t shy away from dark or heavy material (like the impacts of colonialism, the ethics of survival at all costs, etc).

I also loved that the magic system in this book takes the shape of stories and storytelling; I thought that was really beautiful and unique.

There’s quite a few loose threads left dangling at the end of this book, which I hope get picked up in the forthcoming sequel! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Child death, Death, Physical abuse, Violence, Blood, Grief, Colonisation, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Gun violence and Murder

Minor: Gore, Homophobia, Sexual assault, Slavery, Torture, Vomit, and Death of parent

kibberbl's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious sad 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? Yes

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Child death, Death, Drug use, Gore, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Blood, Trafficking, Murder, and Colonisation

Moderate: Misogyny, Rape, Sexual assault, and Sexual violence

Minor: Homophobia

audreyreadz's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark inspiring fast-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? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Child death, Death, Genocide, Slavery, Torture, Blood, Vomit, Trafficking, Grief, Alcohol, Colonisation, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Religious bigotry, and Abandonment

overtheedgeofthewild's review against another edition

adventurous medium-paced

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

2.0

Was sadly underwhelmed by this book. I am regretting buying it instead of checking it out from the library. Poor world building; flet the characters could have also used more development. Interesting concepts that could have been fleshed out more and just didn't land for me. 

the romantic relationship could have also developed more. I wished there was more of a slow burn, some more interpersonal conflicts, etc. It felt very on the surface, I just personally could not get invested in the romance. Why did they love each other, what really brings them together, makes them right for each other....I guess all it takes is because Evelyn taught Florian to read....

Also not a fan of the second ending. It was about a character I didn't like anyway. If the second book follows this character, I won't  be reading further

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death

Moderate: Slavery and Trafficking

Minor: Pedophilia and Rape

dokushoka's review against another edition

adventurous dark medium-paced

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

2.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Death, Physical abuse, Blood, Alcohol, and Colonisation

Moderate: Addiction, Misogyny, Rape, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Trafficking, and War

Minor: Child death and Murder

maeverose's review against another edition

2.5

I think this might be one of those books that just didn’t work for me because I’m not within the target age demographic. I did love the casual non binary and queer rep, even if there is still homophobia (and a sh*t ton of misogyny) in this world. But tbh that’s really it.

I didn’t feel connected or invested in the romance between Evelyn and Flora at all personally. It seemed like their only reason for liking each other was they found the other pretty, and I definitely didn’t buy their love for each other by the end.

It also made me uncomfortable with how okay Flora was with the slaving until she found one of their victims pretty…

. I didn’t feel connected to any of the characters. Evelyn the most maybe, but not until about two thirds in, and even then not much. All the characters felt pretty bland to me, they needed to be fleshed out better.

I found it a bit slow, especially in the middle. Even though there were more povs with different (though still connected) storylines, I found none of them particularly interesting so it felt like it dragged on. Which is weird because it really was trying to do a lot, there were a ton of things happening but it just felt slow to me. Maybe because I didn’t care? I heavily skimmed the last 20%.

This book gets dark at times, almost gratuitously. It’s not extreme I wouldn’t say, it’s still appropriate for upper YA, maybe 14 and up, if they’re okay with reading about death of children, gore and threat of rape (non explicit for that last one but still). To be fair I watched horror movies much more gruesome than this when I was 11, so it really depends on the person.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Child death, Gore, Gun violence, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Blood, Trafficking, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Homophobia, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Suicidal thoughts, Excrement, Vomit, Lesbophobia, Alcohol, and Colonisation

Minor: Cursing, Eating disorder, Fatphobia, Rape, and Sexual content

Waterboarding, poisoning.

colloreda's review against another edition

adventurous emotional reflective medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gun violence, and Violence

Moderate: Child death, Misogyny, and Xenophobia

Minor: Alcoholism and Death of parent

sea_sea's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional funny mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

I love this book! It is incredibly diverse and has really good sapphic, gender-fluid and non-binary rep. It is written absolutely beautifully! Reading it was such an amazing experience. The characters, the world building, the words, everything just fit and was so beautiful. It was so mythical and magical, the author just transports you straight into this amazing and beautiful world. I was invested the whole time, the story never felt dragged out or disconnected. The ending was so sljdlslskslsj T^T. I would 100% recommend this book. Already in the first chapter I knew it would become one of my favorites! 💕🌊🪼

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Confinement, Death, Drug abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Homophobia, Misogyny, Racism, Sexism, Torture, Violence, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Alcohol, Colonisation, and Classism

Moderate: Sexual assault, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, and Sexual harassment

Minor: Child abuse and Child death