Reviews tagging 'Child abuse'

Ash Princess by Laura Sebastian

13 reviews

esterslibrary's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious sad 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Sexual harassment, Slavery, Toxic friendship, Blood, Death, Death of parent, Grief, Kidnapping, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Torture, and Vomit

prunechips's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense slow-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Torture, Violence, Child abuse, Colonisation, Toxic friendship, Racism, Death of parent, and Slavery

Moderate: Sexual harassment

fossilreads's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

It took me a while to get into the story, but it was still worth it for me. 

It's a bit of a tough read with all the violence towards children and minors, but I also understand how it added to the plot and is meant to show the horrors of war and how awful the kaiser and the invaders are.

I really enjoyed the twists and turns, they didn't feel too far fetched and were honestly believable. A lot of the things that surprised Theo were things I can believe everyone around her sheltering her from.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Torture, and Child abuse

Moderate: Genocide, War, Xenophobia, Slavery, Physical abuse, and Murder

allybean07's review against another edition

challenging dark 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? It's complicated

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, and Grief

Moderate: Murder

Minor: War

sweetordinary's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious sad tense 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

At the beginning, I was wholeheartedly intrigued and invested in the characters and plot. However, I found myself utterly dismayed and highly disappointed with the development of the main character. Her mentality has glimmers of shifting towards this powerful force; yet, moments later its dashed into a frustrating blend of selfish nativity for who she is as a character and what she's supposed to become in the future.

The political courtship navigation is a huge reason why I was intrigued to read this story. How Theodosia navigates it is quite painful to read let alone to follow along. I understand that I'm supposed to feel sympathy for her and rally behind her. However, there are events that occur which completely go off the rails because of her. Thus, my interests shift towards Blaise, Cress, Art, Heron, and Soren as more interesting lines of inquiry. I want to know more about their story, interests, personality, etc.

If I decide to read the sequel, it will be because of those characters not because of Theodosia.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Classism, Violence, Body horror, Blood, Grief, Death, Slavery, Death of parent, Torture, and Murder

Moderate: Slavery, Adult/minor relationship, Antisemitism, Child abuse, Child death, Toxic friendship, Torture, and Toxic relationship

Minor: Domestic abuse, War, Slavery, Sexual harassment, Sexual assault, Pedophilia, Sexual violence, Violence, Torture, Rape, Physical abuse, Cultural appropriation, and Murder

bzliz's review against another edition

challenging dark tense slow-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? Yes

3.75

Theodosia is the princess of a conquered country, kept in her stolen castle and abused by the Kaiser who invaded her lands and enslaved her people. Her every move is watched and she suffers greatly for every act of rebellion anyone dares make. After being forced to take a life herself, she learns to fight back and begins planning her own rebellion and escape for the good of her remaining people. 

Readers should beware that any glimpses of hope are few and far between as Theo plays a game she barely knows the rules to while everyone else wins by cheating. Like so many YA series, there are two more books so it’s not surprising truly how little is accomplished in this one. My biggest complaint is the same I have with so many other similar books- these characters fall in love so easily for no reason at all! I know the romance is a big draw for readers but it would be nice to see some of these protagonists stand on their own. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Sexual harassment, Violence, Confinement, Death of parent, Torture, Blood, Physical abuse, War, Child abuse, Slavery, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Toxic friendship, Emotional abuse, and Death

tiana_king's review against another edition

adventurous dark 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: Confinement, Death of parent, Death, Emotional abuse, Colonisation, Grief, Child death, Classism, Cultural appropriation, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Child abuse and Mental illness

Minor: Domestic abuse

hapalyn's review against another edition

adventurous dark 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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Bullying, Child abuse, Colonisation, Cursing, Death, Death of parent, Genocide, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Slavery, Torture, Violence, and War

Moderate: Vomit, Toxic friendship, Physical abuse, Fire/Fire injury, and Alcohol

Minor: Adult/minor relationship and Rape

onefineelephant's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense 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? Yes

4.5

9/10. This book was much better than I was expecting. There are not many times when I am genuinely surprised by a book, but there were two parts of the book when my jaw dropped. I also really love both of the love interests even though I am not usually a fan of love triangles. I am very much anticipating what could happen next in the other two books.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Physical abuse, Sexism, Slavery, Blood, Chronic illness, Classism, Cultural appropriation, Death, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Kidnapping, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Adult/minor relationship, Violence, War, Body horror, Child death, Forced institutionalization, Gore, Child abuse, Colonisation, Confinement, Genocide, Grief, Suicidal thoughts, and Torture

Moderate: Alcohol, Alcoholism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Rape, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Mental illness

kristakp's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.25

While reading this book, I did not connect with any of the characters. I don't think that most of the "character development" was earned; the weak characterization wasn't immersive enough to make me believe how they were influenced by the plot. Overall, whereas this book was written to feel like a high-stakes scenario, it really fell flat on that front for me. I am stubbornly inclined to read the rest of the trilogy because I hate starting stories without finishing them, so my rating reflects that.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Slavery, Child abuse, Pedophilia, War, Murder, Physical abuse, Domestic abuse, Death, Colonisation, Child death, and Racism

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Death of parent, Stalking, Sexual harassment, Injury/Injury detail, and Gore

Minor: Fatphobia and Fire/Fire injury