Reviews tagging 'Toxic friendship'

Ash Princess by Laura Sebastian

14 reviews

mariyah_reads's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious 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

4.25

I love Theo. That's it, that's all I have to say.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Sexual harassment, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Colonisation, and Classism

meghansarmiento97's review against another edition

adventurous dark sad tense fast-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Genocide, Panic attacks/disorders, Slavery, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Grief, Murder, Toxic friendship, and Injury/Injury detail

auddiev_quinn2's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious 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

This is one of the best books I have ever read 100% recommended 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Death, Genocide, Gore, Physical abuse, Torture, Blood, Death of parent, and Murder

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Child death, Domestic abuse, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Slavery, Suicide, Grief, Stalking, and Toxic friendship

Minor: Rape and Sexual assault

sweetchocolatez's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Physical abuse, Racism, Sexism, Sexual assault, Torture, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Cultural appropriation, Sexual harassment, Colonisation, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Animal death, Mental illness, Misogyny, and War

Minor: Violence, Toxic friendship, and Alcohol

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

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

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

Moderate: Sexual harassment

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

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

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

rinku's review

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

3.5

Ash Princess is your typical YA fantasy centred around a chosen one that has to earn her right place back by killing the hot prince™. The story is as cliché as it sounds, but still enjoyable because of the characters and the interesting and dark world which is why I gave it 3.5 stars. 

Like I’ve said, this general plot is not the most innovative, but I still liked the way that it was told. The main character Theo came into this situation because the Kaiser and his people conquered her country, killing the queen, her mother, in the course of it. Theo is now stuck at the Kaiser’s court as a kind of trophy while realizing that she finally has to do something against it. The story is quite dark already at the beginning where she’s forced to

kill her dad

which intrigued me immediately. There are many other dramatic moments in the story which were written so well, like

Elpis sacrificing herself

. Sadly, some plot lines were quite cliché and predictable, like

the main character almost having to marry an older man, or the masquerade ball. It was furthermore so predictable that Theo wouldn’t kill Søren and that her plan with the poison would fail as well

. 

The atmosphere of the story is just so dark and angsty which I absolutely love. The stakes are so high and there were some situations where I didn’t know how Theo would get out of them. Additionally, the lore around the magic and the stones is so interesting but was sadly info dumped at the beginning. It’s especially dark how Theo’s people are treated and how the stones are used by the Kaiser and his people as jewels while they are something holy for Theo’s people. It was also interesting how Theo didn’t use her magic because she didn’t want to risk not going to the afterlife, showing how strong her belief is. 

Looking at the characters, I quite liked Theo as the main character. She has a great character development and change of mind in the course of the story. It’s obvious that she struggles with her loyalties and needs time to figure out what the right thing to do is. Her hatred and anger are so powerful as well, I love it. What I didn’t love though was the romance. Theo of course has to fall for the first guy she meets aka prince Søren. It was interesting to see how she was getting closer to him, but their friendship developed a bit fast for my taste. Their relationship didn’t develop fully as I would’ve expected, so that was a little surprise. Sadly though, we also get a love triangle where the other part doesn’t interest me. 

Furthermore, what annoyed me was the lack of important female characters besides Theo and Cress and the villain being constantly described as fat. Talking about Cress, her over-the-top jealously annoyed me and

it was obvious from the beginning that she couldn’t be trusted but my heart still dropped when she revealed Theo that she knew everything about her. She could be an interesting villain in the following books

. 

After the dramatic ending, I’ll definitely continue the Ash Princess series. The world and the characters have so much potential, and I hope that this potential will be utilized.  

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Blood, Death of parent, Murder, Cultural appropriation, Toxic friendship, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Fatphobia, Vomit, Kidnapping, Sexual harassment, and War

Minor: Rape and Abandonment

saara_ilona_muu's review against another edition

challenging dark tense medium-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Infidelity, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Sexism, Slavery, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Toxic friendship, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

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