Reviews tagging 'Emotional abuse'

Six couronnes écarlates by Elizabeth Lim

30 reviews

nclausel25's review against another edition

adventurous hopeful mysterious medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Emotional abuse, Grief, and Death of parent

bubblypxt's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional sad 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? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Violence, Blood, and Death of parent

Moderate: Death of parent and War

mariahmmm's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful mysterious relaxing tense medium-paced

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

3.0

This is a beautiful retelling of my favourite fairytale (Grimm's "The Six Swans"), transported to an Asian-inspired fantasy world mixed with traditional myths and folklore. 

When Princess Shiori stumbles upon her hateful stepmother (the Nameless Queen) casting dark magic, her stepmother retaliates by transforming Shiori's six brothers into crimson cranes and cursing Shiori to be unrecognisable. The only way to reverse the curse is to gather and weave a net of the wickedly painful starstroke nettle and cast it over her stepmother while saying the Nameless Queen's true name. On her journey with Kiki (a paper crane she brought to life), Shiori will cross paths with an insufferable dragon, warlords, assassins, and her loathsome betrothed. Through it all, Shiori must guard her tongue, and her heart, as for each sound she utters, one of her brothers will die... 

The Asian twist made so much sense and really enhanced the story! However, there was far too much going on and it felt like there were multiple disconnected stories crammed in. Most of the twists were incredible, but the major one was disappointing and definitely felt wrong for how the whole book had set things up (but I still wept like a baby after the revelation...). The romance, too, felt unnatural with unbelievable choices and circumstances pulling me out of the story.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Animal cruelty

estock36's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death

Moderate: Violence and Murder

Minor: Body shaming, Emotional abuse, and War

williamabookworm's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional 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

3.75

An immersive read, a strong and authentically written, genuine appearing female main character, a cute quirky sidekick, a very cute slow burn and of course magic and a dragon, all set in ancient china. This was a premise of what I liked, what I didn't care for was the changing pace that was too slow sometimes, hence the often dragging story, the tenseness and so the lack of light-heartedness and the amount of pain that is thrust on the main character.

</Also the lack of a happy end was displeasing (not that there wasn't one), it just basically immediately started with the second book without any celebration of the overcome hurdles and problems./ In conclusion a magical mythical read which was good but not great on my opinion. Still looking forward to the second book. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Confinement, Emotional abuse, Torture, Violence, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Death, Sexism, Blood, Fire/Fire injury, and Abandonment

Minor: Grief and Death of parent

claudan's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious 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? N/A

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Confinement, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Torture, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Grief and Murder

fragrant_stars's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective relaxing sad tense medium-paced

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

4.5

My god I am starstruck by this book. I cannot wait to devour the sequel!! I loved the characters, and my heart genuinely ached for the main character as she went through her struggles. The Wild Swans was one of my very favourite fairytales as a child and as a Chinese person seeing this beloved myth retold as a East Asian fantasy was so thrilling to me that I procrastinated for maybe a whole year. I was so nervous because I desperately wanted to love this book, but if I could go back now I'd be shrieking at my past self to dive right in post haste.

One of the things I loved best was how much agency was given to Shiori as a character. The blurb on the back of the book suggested to me that she would be getting a lot more help from Seryu, but as I read the book

that didn't seem to be the case. Yes, he helped Shiori in some key moments, but most of the time Shiori got on using her wits. I also thought, based on something Seryu had said in an earlier chapter, that Shiori being forced to not use her words would eventually figure out to use wordless magic, and maybe that would be what saved the day- but no, not even that.

Mostly wits. I found that brilliant.

My only regret is that the Raikama, the main antagonist / twist villain / antihero of the story, died before all the loose ends could be satisfactorily tied together. Then again, I guess that's just life for ya. Death doesn't really tie things neatly, so I guess that makes sense. Even before she was revealed to be more than she seemed I could already sort of tell- which, trust me, it was a good thing and it felt soooo rewarding when my guesses turned out right!! Made me feel like I'd have loved to see a few more scenes with her before she left the story.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Animal death, Bullying, Death, Emotional abuse, and Physical abuse

Minor: Misogyny, Sexism, Violence, Xenophobia, Murder, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, War, and Classism

broccoli_j's review against another edition

adventurous emotional medium-paced

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

5.0

I think this book has to grow on you! It has a relatively slow start, but I have never read a book with such an original take on the „chosen one“ Trope. 

The worldbuilding, the characterarcs and the magic system are just insane and the story uses the found family trope in such a unique way!

This was a great first book and I’m excited for the rest of the series!!!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Violence, and War

lotoblanco's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional hopeful inspiring lighthearted reflective sad 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? No

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Bullying, Emotional abuse, Slavery, and Gaslighting

Minor: War

monniebiloney's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional inspiring mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.75

This book really reminded me of the movie BRAVE (Disney)
It's definitely its own thing, but it is weirdly similar on the bases of it's exciting insidient.

If you liked Brave, you will LOVE Six Chrimson Crains.

I love that I didn't read the back of the book, cuz some of my favorite plot points that grabbed me by surprise were greatly spoiled on the back of the book.

So please, just read the first page to see if you'd like the book 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Body horror, Bullying, Blood, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, and Classism

Minor: Animal cruelty, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Slavery, Violence, Kidnapping, Grief, Murder, Abandonment, and War