Reviews tagging 'Toxic friendship'

The Raven King by Nora Sakavic

29 reviews

tayjah22's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious 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? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual violence and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Mental illness, Rape, Sexual assault, and Murder

Minor: Child abuse, Self harm, and Torture

wilms_rudi'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? Yes

I think this is the first time I can't give a rating to a book. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Torture, and Violence

Moderate: Drug use, Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Domestic abuse, Homophobia, Blood, Death of parent, Toxic friendship, and Alcohol

lizardgod's review against another edition

dark emotional funny sad tense slow-paced

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

3.5

• My review is for all three books
• The series is wonderful yet Sakavic found a way to ruin it every time it began to shine. From the unneeded
  sex
  scenes-which frankly felt forced and were included for the sake of fanservice, entire lulls in between rushed arcs, to the edgy, dramatic, and repetitive situations all come off as above average quality Wattpad mafia fanfics. That being said Sakavic still had me wanting to find out what happened to the characters despite my aversion to sport themed content normally. Finally, the ending felt entirely too rushed and highlighted how Sakavic uses trauma as a romance plot rather than the seriousness it should have been dealt with.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Bullying, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Homophobia, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

fevalente's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad slow-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

3.25

what in the actual fuck???
this book wasn’t supposed to hurt this much

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Abandonment, and Sexual harassment

Moderate: Homophobia, Racism, Rape, Suicidal thoughts, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Gaslighting, and Toxic friendship

jenny_librarian's review

dark emotional tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated

3.75

I think I'm a little bit traumatized...

Everyone always says how much they love this series, but they never mention just how freaking disturbing it is. Like, there's an on-page rape scene (the end of it, but the description is pretty obvious as to what happened) and really dark discussions of past trauma.

There's a violently arophobic passage in the middle that caught me completely off guard. Again, something nobody ever mentions.

I still barely see the main couple's attraction, and I've looking for it because that's all anyone ever seems to talk about when they mention this trilogy. Two books in and there isn't much to go on. I get that it's supposed to be slow burn, but this is almost non-existent burn... At this rate, it would take 2 more books for it to be somewhat believable if they ever get together.

So yeah, it's addictive, but I wouldn't recommend it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Bullying, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Toxic friendship, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Confinement, Self harm, Torture, Forced institutionalization, and Religious bigotry

Minor: Death, Drug abuse, Homophobia, Suicide, Vomit, Car accident, Death of parent, Acephobia/Arophobia, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Outing

katerina_l's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Child abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Murder, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

bigpenis's review against another edition

dark emotional funny 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? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Homophobia, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

janeesjournal'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? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Wie auch beim 1.Teil, sollte es hier definitiv wieder Trigger-Warnungen geben.

Der erste Teil hat mir schon sehr gut gefallen und hier entwickelt sich die ganze Handlung nochmal deutlich weiter und wird richtig intense und spannend, so dass ich es zu, Teil gar nicht aus der Hand legen konnte.

Man ist einfach so unfassbar in die Leben von jedem einzelnen der so interessanten und tiefgründigen Foxes und noch sehr natürlich in das wirklich verzwickte Leben des Protagonisten Neil’s. Ich kann gar nicht in Worte fassen, wie sehr ich mit den Charakteren mitgelitten und gefühlt habe. 
Jeder einzige hat eine wirklich interessante und tragische Hintergrundgeschichte, die auf ihre ganz eigene Art definiert, wie die Charaktere sind.

Besonders bei Neil fragt man sich immer wieder, ob und wie seine Vergangenheit ihn letztendlich einholt. 

Der Schreibstil ist zwar recht distanziert und einfach, aber er passt wirklich sehr zu den Charakteren und auch deren Gefühle werden trotzdem wirklich gut rübergebracht. 

Auch Exy wird immer spannender und obwohl ich gar kein Sport-Mensch bin, fiebert man total mit den Foxes mit, feuert sie an und hofft auf einen Sieg - ganz besonders gegen die Ravens.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Bullying, Child abuse, Cursing, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, and Alcohol

Moderate: Self harm, Sexual assault, Torture, Violence, and Toxic friendship

fanboyriot's review against another edition

dark 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

5.0

Read For:

Good Humor

Chaotic Gays

Found Family

Fictional Sport

Hurt/Comfort… Mostly Hurt

Ugh, the relationships in this book really develop so much and it’s so good.  The plot really comes to life, problem after problem shows up and Neil is just stupidly there.

I used to not like this book as much as the other two, the angst was just too much but after so, so, so, many re-reads I love seeing how the characters develop, how the relationships build, platonic and romantic, Neil shares more, learns more about Andrew and it’s actually written really well.

Plus it’s super funny to re-read this and see just how much of a simp Andrew Minyard is for Neil so early on.  It’s something I don’t remember noticing through my first read but no I can’t unnoticed it.  Neil just being like, “I just asked.” the whole time.  Meanwhile, the foxes are just staring at him horrified Andrew didn’t kill him yet.

The end with Wymack picking Neil up at the airport after Christmas gets me every time, the emotional damage, the wholesomeness of David Wymack doing everything for his Foxes.  So good and so damn depressing all at once.  Pain and suffering but also iconic quotes and laughing at a short little blond man with knives simping for a pathological lair who is very much not “fine” at any point in his life.

Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ (5/5)

Release Date: 10, July 2013

POV: Third Person

Spice: n/a

Rep: Demisexual (MC), Gay characters, Mental Illness

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Cursing, Gore, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Kidnapping, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Addiction, Child abuse, Death, Drug use, Homophobia, Blood, Medical content, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Emotional abuse, Pedophilia, Self harm, Acephobia/Arophobia, and Alcohol

glorpy's review against another edition

dark emotional funny reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.25

basically, i absolutely loved this book. but, I also didnt. there r a lot of issues w it, especially andrew and how his character is written. a lot of things make no logical sense. characters make choices that are like 100% obviously not a good choice, and they should know that having been through what theyve been through

My critiques/questions abt this book pasted from my GR review

Again, Nora, what medication is Andrew on.

Also why wasn't Renee with them for the little Christian thanksgiving dinner? Why did Neil let Andrew be by himself at Nicky's parents house?

Why hadn't Bee already called in for Andrew to be put in rehab? I just don't understand. I am stupid, so I probably passed over where it was explained, but so many things just don't make logical sense.

ALSO HOW IS 5FT TALL OVERLY MEDICATED ANDREW SOME KIND OF PROTECTOR AGAINST A LITERAL ORGANIZED CRIME/MOB GROUP THAT HAS JUDGES AND PROSECUTERS ON THEIR PAYROLL???? IT DOESNT MAKE SENSE . WHY IS RIKO SO SCARED OF AN ILL LITTLE MAN? </spoiler/

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gore, Homophobia, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Grief, Religious bigotry, Toxic friendship, and Alcohol

TW list [as much as i remember]; rape, child abuse, physical/emotional abuse, toxic relationships, normalized bad coping mechanisms, homophobia, religious homophobia, drugs/alcohol, death, grief, torture, gore, violence, ableist portrayal of mental disorders, ableism, slur usage/casual ableism [r slur]