Reviews tagging 'Trafficking'

Gild by Raven Kennedy

206 reviews

writerbarbie92's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious medium-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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Sexual content, and Trafficking

thelongroadtosanity's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

5.0

"You can have all the gold in the world and yet lack everything of real worth."

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Well, I am now officially obsessed. I loved this book from start to finish. The timeline and pacing is perfect and I enjoy that there isn't a ton of world-building in the beginning. It's nice to get snippets of the history and the world as you go along. I also think the writing style is very straightforward, without extravagant descriptions of everything that can happen in any fantasy novel. Sometimes settings and events can get lost in translation, but I think this author does such a wonderful job conveying her message without beating around the bush. 

I am curious to see what's in store for Auren in the next book and to see how everything is going to unfold. I sense that there may (or may not) be a new shadow-daddy in my future. 

I also find it refreshing that so far, our FMC is not the "immediately-all-powerful" troupe and that she makes incredibly stupid decisions in order to follow her heart and help someone in their time of need. She seems to have a heart of gold  (pun intended) and it does translate  quite well in this book and allows me to relate to her just a little bit more. I really really really want to see how her character develops in the rest of the series. 

Midas seems like such a d**k so I am happy to sit back and watch him squirm a little bit. 

I typically seem to always have a few things spoiled for me with higher-rated fantasy series. So far, so good in this series so I am looking forward to that as well! It would be nice for a change to not have important parts spoiled for me on social media, haha! 
(06/2024) 

5 out of 5 stars 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Confinement, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Violence, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Murder, and Sexual harassment

mostlyharmless42's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Sexual assault, Violence, Trafficking, Gaslighting, and Toxic friendship

jennipea382's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Infidelity, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Trafficking, Grief, Murder, Gaslighting, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Cursing, Blood, Alcohol, and Classism

lizzyspooks's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense fast-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Trafficking, and Sexual harassment

Minor: Violence and War

makaylastep's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional tense 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? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Cursing, Death, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Murder, and Sexual harassment

elgef's review against another edition

dark sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, and Violence

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Sexism, Trafficking, and Kidnapping

Minor: Alcoholism, Vomit, and Alcohol

agustdefault's review against another edition

• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

this book is so bad. like truly awful. the phrase “balls deep” is used on literally page 2 and i cant even count how many times they said the word cunt. i saw a review that said it was all worldbuilfing but there literally?? wasnt any?? no info on the origin of orea or how the kingdoms formed. no info on the saddles or why theyre called that. very little info on aurens life before midas and like a few paragraphs sort of explaining how they met but no relationship development from then to now. three pages of info on the fae/magic system. the fae and pirates were introduced very suddenly without explanation. and pretty much no info on how the magic works or why everyone has different powers or anything. also there is no romance.

when you finally are introduced to a likeable character they almost immediately kill him off. theres also absolutely no romance in a book thats marketed as fantasy romance. im assuming there will be in future books but the guy who i assume is going to be the love interest isnt even introduced until the last like 20 pages???? and so far there has been literally no talk about how shes in love with an abuser

so. this book is bad. but also somehow entertaining. it kind of felt like watching trash tv and i lowkey might read the next one. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Violence, Trafficking, and Sexual harassment

fdoubledashx's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense medium-paced

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

3.75

Strong presence of sex-related topics which I’m not a huge fan of, but the plot kept me hooked and I finished it in one sitting. Auren has severe Stockholm syndrome. Sail and Digby are by far the most likeable characters so I really hope Digby survives. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Sexual content, Violence, Trafficking, and Murder

khaylaa's review against another edition

adventurous dark 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? It's complicated

5.0

I went into this book as a blind read. I didn’t know what to expect but I really liked this book. I can’t wait to start book 2. It was an unexpected journey with some twists and turns that I didn’t see coming.

There are trigger warns for this book so if you are sensitive to some content make sure you check the warnings! 

This was a fun adventurous twist on the Midas touch mythology and was an easy smooth read for me! 

My only wish some of the relationship development was more in depth. I don’t want to give spoilers but I feel like I didn’t get enough time with the relationship forming between two characters and I loved their dynamic I just needed a little more time with them to have them fully wiggle their way into my heart. 

Highly recommend this book!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Violence, Blood, Trafficking, Kidnapping, and Murder