Reviews tagging 'Bullying'

The Golden Enclaves by Naomi Novik

9 reviews

sweets's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny reflective medium-paced

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

4.0

I read the scollomance series this week and after just finishing the last book i took a shower to think about it (and wash some Maw-mouth off). After the first 2 books i thought this was going to be a 5 star read for me for i had enjoyed myself a lot during the first 2 books. Reading the last book i had prepered myself to be devestated and cry my eyes out as was the setup from the sequel however, this just did not happen for me. After reading the first 2 books i thought the story was heading for an eppic end. And yes the end was pretty memorabele but also a little bit to clean for my liking. The hole story went on a return to balace and karma route. You reap what you sow in theorie. In practice that meant i think some of these caracters should have pand a higher price. So i enjoyed the series a lot but in a world of three books that has been so torturous for our students im a little disapointed by how NICE everything wraped up. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Child abuse, Death, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Blood, Grief, and Death of parent

Moderate: Self harm, Sexual assault, Violence, and Murder

searchandrescueteam's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny hopeful mysterious sad 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

4.5

This is the final of the Scholomance trilogy and I read it in about two days (I was on leave!).  I think if you have read the previous two books - your understanding of the Scholomance world is deeper, but it’s not essential to reading this book.  Understanding the extremes of the Scholomance world certainly helps understanding of the characters’ motivations, actions and frustrations.
Again, the author works with the complexities of friendships, alliances, cliques, conspiracies.  Another layer is added - as she walks through power (its use and abuse) and hierarchies.  The impact of a single person, with and without the support of others (a few and many) gives the reader much to reflect on.
It’s not a gentle book, not a walk-in-the-park.  But I was glad to read it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Torture, Death of parent, Murder, Cultural appropriation, Gaslighting, Colonisation, and War

kelisabeth's review against another edition

adventurous emotional tense medium-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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Child death, Cursing, Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Homophobia, Panic attacks/disorders, Violence, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, Alcohol, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

whynotreadwithalex's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense slow-paced

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

1.0

I absolutely hate disliking books. It honestly causes me physical pain because I love stories and I want to love each story I come to. But every so often I pick up a book that is just too painful, frustrating, or disappointing to like — and I’m so very sad that this has been the case with The Golden Enclaves. Especially because I absolutely adored the first two books and had every expectation that I would love this one. 
Unfortunately, there are a many number of things, characters, story elements, and plot choices that I found underwhelming but what really disappointed me the most was that all of the character development we saw in El over the course of the first two books was completely undone in the first half of this one, and then not adequately built back up again by the end. This left me feeling like I didn’t know her, which is not how you want to feel at the conclusion of a series. So many of the things I had come to love about her (such as her resilience, her discipline, her strong foundation of morals, and her journey of personal growth that allowed her to let people in) either faded into the background or completely flipped. She lost her voice, her passion, her ferocity, her community, her drive. And that just wasn’t realistic, interesting, or relatable for me. Not only that, but it made me really really sad. 
The wrap up regarding the creation of enclaves and how that is tied to malia was interesting — but the conflict with Ophelia, the revelation of the prophecy, and the resolution weren’t enough to make up for the other ways I was really disappointed. 
Finally, I love Orion. And I truly believe he deserved better. Not just from the other characters, but from the author. 
Honestly, really heartbroken with this one, guys.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Bullying, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Mental illness, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Grief, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

cutevamp's review against another edition

challenging dark hopeful mysterious tense fast-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

Dark at times but ultimately hopeful! My favorite:)

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Bullying, and Death

aseel_reads's review against another edition

adventurous 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

4.0

A huge fan of El and all the other side characters, I really liked the linking of certain monsters to the world building, I am happy with how the series and ended, just wished the writing was a bit less descriptive at times 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Body horror, Bullying, Death, Gore, Violence, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail

ashlikes's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional medium-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Death, Torture, Violence, Grief, and War

Moderate: Bullying, Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Blood, Medical content, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Addiction, Body shaming, Confinement, Fatphobia, Homophobia, Xenophobia, Dementia, Religious bigotry, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, and Colonisation

uranaishi's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful reflective tense medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief

Moderate: Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Drug use, Infidelity, Sexual content, Violence, Vomit, Death of parent, Abandonment, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Minor: Confinement, Homophobia, Racism, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Blood, Medical content, Dementia, Suicide attempt, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, and Alcohol

fivecatsinacoat's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional inspiring 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? It's complicated

4.5

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for this advanced review copy.

When I tell you I gasped and had to close my kindle 60% through....

I very much enjoyed this final installment of the Scholomance trilogy. I was concerned the final book wouldn't live up to the others as it's not set in the Scholomance, but it was a fun adventure! The Golden Enclaves was quite different than the prior two, and the world-building wasn't quite as precise, but that didn't distract from my enjoyment of it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Violence, Grief, Death of parent, Gaslighting, War, and Classism

Minor: Bullying