Reviews tagging 'Grief'

Ariadna by Jennifer Saint

134 reviews

alli_e_oop's review against another edition

dark emotional sad medium-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Infidelity, Misogyny, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Grief, Murder, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, Abandonment, and War

nightlight_reader's review against another edition

emotional slow-paced

3.0

I should’ve just DNF’d this, but it’s really that the style didn’t vibe for me. It was slow and I just could never quite tell where we were going and felt like the synopsis didn’t tell me just how much we were going to cover. Some of this is due to my lack of knowledge of this specific chunk of Greek mythology, but like this was a ride I don’t think I would’ve signed up for had I known it would cover Ariadne’s entire life.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty and Animal death

Moderate: Child abuse, Child death, Infidelity, Rape, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Blood, Grief, Pregnancy, and Abandonment

thalia16's review against another edition

dark emotional medium-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child death, Death, Gore, Misogyny, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, and Alcohol

Moderate: Confinement, Infidelity, Rape, Grief, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Sexual content

reachmars's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes

4.5

Even though it's just a straightforward retelling of the myths, it was very engaging. Especially as someone who didn't know a lot about this specific story going into it, I couldn't put it down. It's a story that makes it make sense that it would survive thousands of years of oral tradition.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Child death, Death, Misogyny, Suicide, Gaslighting, and Abandonment

Moderate: Confinement, Grief, and Alcohol

Minor: Body horror, Domestic abuse, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Blood, Colonisation, and War

kayceeisbookish's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad tense slow-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

4.0

I sobbed a lot and loved it. Loving learning about all the women in mythology.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Animal death, Child death, Death, Incest, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Blood, Grief, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, and Alcohol

shadereads's review against another edition

It really wasn’t what I wanted out of a retelling of this myth. Ariadne feels like she has no agency, and everything seems to be told second hand. Phaedra has more agency than our main character, but I can’t help but wonder how much we’d miss out on page in her chapters from this point too.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Blood, Grief, and Abandonment

Minor: Body horror, Gore, Cannibalism, Pregnancy, and War

avrija's review against another edition

emotional reflective tense slow-paced

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

1.75

The writing was quite alright, the characters interesting enough but I was searching for the plot all along. Like yes, there were scenes that could resemble plot somehow but there was no character motivation, no goal to reach. The characters just kinda float through what is happening, sometimes with motivation or a goal for a scene but not for long.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Confinement, Suicide, and Abandonment

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Death, Infidelity, Sexual assault, Grief, Murder, and War

isaaah's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful reflective sad medium-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Death, Sexism, Suicide, Violence, Blood, and Pregnancy

Moderate: Animal death, Child death, Infidelity, Rape, Grief, Death of parent, and Alcohol

Minor: Confinement, Incest, Slavery, Colonisation, War, and Pandemic/Epidemic

kalliopekat's review against another edition

emotional reflective tense fast-paced

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

5.0

I have loved the Greek stories my entire life. As a woman who is currently examing the place of women in history, a Greek tale from a woman's point of view that was sitting on a shelf in my library intrigued me enough to check it out and I was not disappointed in my choice. 
Still a young girl, Ariadne watches what happens to her mother and wonders if she, too, will one day become a victim in a game between the gods and men. She is a lucid narrator who leaves the reader sympathic to not only her own story, but the stories of many other women in the book, from the first page to the last. This tale of courage, love, motherhood, heartbreak, and the ever-fickle gods is just what the Greek stories were lacking. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Suicide, Violence, and Death of parent

Moderate: Animal death, Child death, Infidelity, Sexism, Blood, Grief, Pregnancy, and Gaslighting

Minor: Rape and War

icy_queen's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark informative reflective slow-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Body horror, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Blood, Grief, Cannibalism, Suicide attempt, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, and War

Moderate: Domestic abuse

Minor: Rape