Reviews tagging 'Alcohol'

Das begabte Kind by Juno Dawson

41 reviews

amberinpieces's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious medium-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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Transphobia

Moderate: Body horror, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Misogyny, Blood, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Animal death, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Infidelity, Racism, Kidnapping, Grief, Car accident, Outing, Gaslighting, Colonisation, Dysphoria, and Classism

taleofabibliophile's review against another edition

adventurous dark hopeful mysterious reflective 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? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Bullying, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Deadnaming, Death, Homophobia, Misogyny, Racism, Sexism, Suicide, Transphobia, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, Alcohol, Dysphoria, and War

Moderate: Fatphobia, Infidelity, Medical content, Car accident, Fire/Fire injury, Outing, Toxic friendship, and Colonisation

Minor: Emotional abuse, Gore, and Vomit

azebrareads's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful mysterious reflective 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: Biphobia, Bullying, Confinement, Deadnaming, Death, Homophobia, Panic attacks/disorders, Racism, Self harm, Sexism, Torture, Toxic relationship, Transphobia, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Police brutality, Kidnapping, Grief, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, Lesbophobia, Fire/Fire injury, Outing, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

annelihghh's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content, Transphobia, Blood, and Abandonment

Moderate: Animal death, Bullying, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Gore, Infidelity, Physical abuse, Racism, Torture, Violence, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Car accident, Murder, Outing, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Colonisation, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Vomit

clairew97's review against another edition

challenging dark funny mysterious 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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Animal death, Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Confinement, Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Sexism, Sexual content, Transphobia, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Car accident, Abortion, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Outing, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Alcohol, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

antmalllow's review against another edition

adventurous funny tense medium-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

5.0

Brilliantly written characters. Frustratingly so. I actually wanted to strangle some of them at times but we move

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Animal death, Racism, Transphobia, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Lesbophobia, Outing, and War

Minor: Drug use, Infidelity, Sexual content, Car accident, Abortion, and Alcohol

anapthine's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional 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? No

4.75

Thank you Net Galley and HarperCollins Audio for giving me an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

First off, Nicola Coughlan was incredible at narrating this book. I was in awe of how well she portrayed the many characters just by voice. The accents were amazing, the way she made me feel when listening to this audiobook, how she made you sympathise with each character - just everything was perfect. 

Her Majesty’s Royal Coven is a low fantasy novel set in a small Yorkshire town in the UK. Niamh comes across a child who is misunderstood and shields them from the dangers. This book is about friendship, trust, love and understanding. The diversity and LGBTQIA+ representation in this novel is beautiful, along with the many different stories told. The trans rep is compelling and gorgeous. I loved this novel so much. Also a complex villain? That makes it even better. 

I would recommend this to everyone, I think there is a bit of everything. Do read the content warnings before starting as there are some major mentions of transphobia, racism, violence, (and white supremacists). 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Child abuse, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Racism, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Transphobia, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Kidnapping, Car accident, Fire/Fire injury, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, and War

Moderate: Abandonment

Minor: Infidelity and Vomit

booknchaoswithmarz's review against another edition

adventurous emotional 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: Homophobia, Racism, Transphobia, Violence, and War

Moderate: Animal death, Cursing, Death, Blood, Kidnapping, Car accident, and Alcohol

Minor: Confinement, Eating disorder, Panic attacks/disorders, Forced institutionalization, Abortion, Colonisation, and Classism

bookishflower's review against another edition

challenging reflective slow-paced

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

3.5

 3.5*

Thank you Harper Collins/HarperVoyager and NetGalley for providing me with an audiobook arc in exchange for an honest review.

I have mixed feelings about 'Her Majesty's Royal Coven' which is a shame because I was really looking forward to it.

Nicola Coughlan does an amazing job narrating the book, I don't think there is an accent she can't do! The politics of this book are really important and it is worth reading for that alone, however I found myself struggling with the pacing and writing style.

There were a lot of pop-culture references in this which don't normally bother me, but there is only so many times I can hear about the Spice Girls before I need you to 'stop right now thank you very much'. I also, unfortunately, found the writing style to be very blunt and I struggled to remain engaged even during tense moments.

Most of the action happens in the last 20% of the book, making the first half feel much longer than it is and the ending too rushed. I was tempted to DNF multiple times but instead just listened on double speed. However, I will say that once I got to the last 20% I enjoyed the book significantly more.

'Her Majesty's Royal Coven' is a low urban fantasy about witches with important queer political commentary, but the fantasy world building was lacking and as such felt more like a political essay using witches as a metaphor rather than a fantasy novel. This is not necessarily a bad thing, but I was disappointed as this was sold as an 'epic fantasy' which it wasn't. There is nothing escapist about this. (Perhaps the world building will develop in the rest of the trilogy?).

Overall, I think this contains a really important discussion and is worth reading for the politics, but if you are not more interested in that than the fantasy aspect, you might struggle with 'Her Majesty's Royal Coven'. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Deadnaming, Death, Hate crime, Transphobia, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Murder, Outing, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Sexual content, Car accident, Fire/Fire injury, and Alcohol

Minor: Animal death and Body shaming

extinctpanda's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny medium-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? No

3.75

It was a bit too good vs evil for me, I like a bit more nuance. And I didn't love the writing style, though it grew on me as it went on. However, I did find the story fun, and I liked the characters. I think it also covered some important/interesting themes that I haven't seen in fantasy very much at all, especially adult fantasy.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Transphobia and Grief

Moderate: Cursing, Death, Blood, Kidnapping, Outing, and War

Minor: Body shaming, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Racism, Suicidal thoughts, Car accident, Abortion, Death of parent, Lesbophobia, Fire/Fire injury, Cultural appropriation, Gaslighting, Alcohol, Colonisation, and Classism