Reviews tagging 'Drug abuse'

The Raven King by Nora Sakavic

144 reviews

nikoops's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

As with the rest of this series, it’s hard to describe. The characters are engaging, the plot, ridiculous, and the writing decent. This might make it sound like you shouldn’t read it, and honestly? Despite the 5/5 stars, you probably shouldn’t. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Bullying, Child abuse, Confinement, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Homophobia, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Grief, Suicide attempt, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

The Raven King picks up exactly where The Foxhole Court ends. The story remains in Neil’s POV, starting with the Foxes spending Halloween all together; it becomes apparent that it was definitely Riko behind Seth’s untimely death; however, with Seth gone, the team does seem to start to work together more cohesively on the court. They start to rank up wins, and there is hope for them to make it to the semifinals. Things start to go downhill when Nicky’s family invites him and the twins home for Thanksgiving. The invitation comes with the directions that the twins have to come or else Nicky cannot go. Desperate to see his family again and hopefully reconcile their differences, Nicky asks Neil to get Andrew to agree to go. Neil does, but not for Thanksgiving; Nicky’s family is accommodating. The meal comes with an unexpected and devastating surprise—they have invited Drake (Andrew’s former brother to be, had he been adopted by the Spears), and he is waiting upstairs secretly for Andrew. Luther (Nicky’s father) tricks Andrew into going upstairs where he is knocked over the head with a bottle by Drake and assaulted. Neil suspects Andrew is in trouble, when Luther mentions Drake, and goes upstairs with Aaron to see. They wind up breaking down the door to find Andrew being assaulted, Aaron winds up killing Drake. Aaron is arrested for the murder, but is allowed back until his trial due to Matt’s mother posting bail. Betsy makes the choice to have Andrew go off his meds due to the circumstances, which requires him going to Easthaven for 24/hr supervision as he comes off them. During this all, the team grows closer still as the team decides to stick together as often as possible—Aaron also gets to spend time with his girlfriend Katelyn. At the Christmas banquet, Riko tells Neil that he has to come to Evermore for winter break—he threatens Andrew’s safety should Neil refuse. Neil, of course, agrees to this, and is subjected to torture for the entirety of winter break. He returns to Palametto unsure of how he got there, with new scars, his natural eye and hair color back, and a four tattooed on his cheek. He calls Wymack for help, and reveals some more truth to him, the book ends on him wondering how their season will go, and how he will survive it.

skykes's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense 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? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Animal death, Child abuse, Drug abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Rape, Sexual assault, and Murder

tylercrow's review

tense

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Forced institutionalization, and Murder

Moderate: Addiction, Incest, Pedophilia, and Religious bigotry

andiballi's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious 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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault and Blood

Minor: Drug abuse and Violence

riv_erb's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Drug use, Homophobia, Mental illness, Sexual assault, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Religious bigotry, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Drug abuse, Hate crime, Homophobia, Pedophilia, Rape, Self harm, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Grief, Car accident, Death of parent, and Abandonment

abelh's review against another edition

dark emotional sad 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? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Bullying, Child abuse, Confinement, Cursing, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Violence, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

farireadsbooks's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny mysterious sad tense 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

5.0

The book where I truly may reiterate please be mindful of the content and trigger warning associated. This books goes into so triggering topic and is pretty graphic in its depictions. 

the darkest book yet. This books foes so well on building more on many of the sides characters in this series and really builds on Neil’s relationship with the foxes out side of just the monsters. The Raven King also does a lot to build on Kevin and Andrew as characters separate from Neil. We get a deeper look into Kevin’s past and a idea of what his time with the Raven would have looked like, and we get a very graphic look into Andrew past and how they’ve formed him into the trouble person Neil meets. 

It’s dark, gripping, a difficult read at times, but overall extremely enjoyable. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Child abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Pedophilia, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Medical trauma, and Injury/Injury detail

elliott_the_clementine's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

luilesa's review against another edition

5.0

Best thing after ToG I have ever read. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Child abuse, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Self harm, Sexual assault, Torture, Blood, Medical content, Car accident, Death of parent, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

lennie_reads's review against another edition

dark emotional tense fast-paced

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

4.5

Please don't expect a coherent review because this is mostly overtired babbling but anyway...

If you think the first book is dark then oh boy do I have news for you!

The thing with these books is that despite the spelling / grammar mistakes, being confusing to read, the fact that it could probably do with an editor all fall by the wayside when stacked against wanting to know what happens to these damaged characters. 
Seeing the mysteries of their lives unfolding, the horrific incidents they've been through / go through, the constant tension of when they'll 'go too far' just absolutely grab hold of you. Or they did for me anyway!
I read almost all of this book in one day; I stayed up until 2am last night to finish it. 

And christ there are some horrible disturbing scenes in this book. But all I can think about is that I wish I had today off to read the last book 😅 
What sorcery is this?? 

CW: violence, blood, vomit, rape, child abuse, paedophilia, toxic relationships, death, murder, kidnapping, torture, forced medication, drugs, alcohol, homophobia, religious 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Homophobia, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Vomit, Kidnapping, Car accident, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail