Reviews tagging 'Domestic abuse'

Rache im Herzen by Xiran Jay Zhao

416 reviews

leftovergarlicbread's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense fast-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

4.0

This book was so angry and raw and you could just FEEL the passion that this was written with. I loved the characters so much they were so interesting to read about i LOVED the parallels they drew between Zeitan and Shimin.

I absolutely LOVED that this turned out to be a corruption/go all the way down the path of revenge. It added a rather dark tone to tue book at the end and i ate it UP!! I fucking love when characters shlnap and completely lose it. Also seeing Yizhi shift from timid rich boy to "screw a cabin in the mountains, let's rule the fucking world" was SO WELL DONE. It creeped up so slowly until it finally hit and uou saw it all at once.

I only have rather minor complaints. Mostly in the form of little threads left unanswered. Like, what did Yizhi's tattoos mean? What happened to the Nine Tailed Fox chrysalis? I have some more thoughts but im writing this on my phone at 6 AM, i might come back and add more later.

COMING BACK TO ADD MORE!!! I've also been looking at some other people's reviews of the book and found myself agreeing with some of their points. I saw a lot of people talking about how the writing did feel a little immature and would simply tell instead of show in a lot of situations. I do agree with that. I found that the writing didn't take away from the reading experience for me, but i do definitely feel like a more refined writing style would have absolutely benefited the story.

The critique I saw that i did really enjoy was someone talking about how this is a feminist story. This is a story of how women get systematically oppressed through entirely artificial reasons and the men who create them often go entirely unpunished and even benefit from these actions. Despite this, all of the supporting characters are men. By that I mean all of the characters on Zeitan's side are men. ALl of hte other women in this book are mean, or spiteful, or traitors, and are just not supportive at all. Every other female character plays a somewhat antagonistic role in the story, and all of Zeitan's true allies are men; which feels a little antithetic the main themes of feminism and female empowerment of the book. We see so many women who were so thoroughly beaten down by the system and we never see any of them break free from it or try to. It's only Zeitan who "escapes" and I feel like if we got to see her influence inspire other women to try and change things or at the very least question their role in the world and their position in society that they fully accepted. It gave Zeitan this very strong "not like other girls" presence that I feel like didn't work out quite like the author was hoping.

Overall though I did have a good time reading this, the twist at the end was very interesting, and I will be reading the next book when it comes out!  

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Murder, War, and Classism

Moderate: Confinement and Medical content

Minor: Homophobia and Blood

While the main character is not explicity suicidal, she talks a lot in her inner monolouge about how she feels her life is worthless and how she doesnt care if she dies, even actively baiting death at multiple points.

happysoullovesyou's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective tense 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

Xiran, take my soul already.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexism, Grief, Murder, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Ableism, Addiction, Confinement, Death, Drug abuse, Self harm, Sexual assault, Torture, Xenophobia, Blood, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Colonisation, and Classism

Minor: Bullying, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Mental illness, Rape, Mass/school shootings, and Death of parent

mandieroz's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.75

This book starts out a little slow. The main character can be whiney and really annoying to follow when she's clearly ignoring things happening around her. Zeitan wants very much to believe that everyone should just believe what she wants them too, while simultaneously wanting to buck a 200+ year old system. Which is a haunting task in itself, but to try and do so with absolutely no help and no support is ridiculous even for a strong headed, passionate, killing machine (literally). She eventually does start to open her eyes to the society she's stuck in and learns to work around it...only to windup in a new hell towards the end. Overarchingly, I really enjoyed the book I will definitely read the next one because I'm invested in knowing what happens next. Not 5 stars, but it's right there, I'm here for it. 

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Content Warnings

Minor: Alcoholism, Body horror, Body shaming, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Sexism, Sexual violence, Slavery, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Medical trauma, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, War, and Classism

niki_minja's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional 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? It's complicated

5.0

I have no words for this book it was…. Unique and beautiful and heartbreaking and I wanted to slap all the characters at some point in the story but OH MY GOD 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Alcoholism, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Torture, Grief, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

margaret_k30's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional 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: Animal death, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Sexism, Torture, Violence, Murder, and War

Moderate: Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Medical trauma, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Genocide, Gore, Homophobia, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Death of parent, and Gaslighting

vipersinapit's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark inspiring 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? It's complicated

4.0

I enjoyed it, but I hope for more world building and the twist at the end was pretty good.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Sexism, and War

bubblebot's review against another edition

adventurous inspiring fast-paced

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

5.0

3RD REREAD LET'S GOOOOOOO!!
heavenly tyrant im waiting for you!!
now time to go read some fanfic hehehehe

will buy when the series is finished. CANT WAIT

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny and Sexism

Minor: Addiction, Alcoholism, Body shaming, Domestic abuse, Genocide, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Grief, Murder, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, War, and Classism

justasillygirl04's review against another edition

adventurous 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? No

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Violence, and Murder

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts

ezriamongthestars's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racism, Sexism, Torture, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Alcohol, Colonisation, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Rape, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Xenophobia, Suicide attempt, and Sexual harassment

Minor: Ableism and Homophobia

gkaltam's review against another edition

dark inspiring reflective tense fast-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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Torture, and Blood