Reviews tagging 'Torture'

Ariadne by Jennifer Saint

16 reviews

emoryjoy's review against another edition

adventurous dark sad tense slow-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

2.0

I would like to give the caveat that I was listening to this as an audiobook and had it at double speed by the end. This quite nearly was a DNF. 

I'm not sure if the story took liberties with the myth or was just much more in depth than I knew about. Either way, it absolutely nailed the Greek Tragedy vibe and was gruesome in that very specific way that myths often are. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Genocide, Gore, Incest, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Kidnapping, Grief, Abortion, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Abandonment, Colonisation, War, and Injury/Injury detail

bxnny's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful reflective sad tense

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child death, Death, Incest, Infidelity, Misogyny, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Trafficking, Murder, Pregnancy, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Torture, Forced institutionalization, Gaslighting, Abandonment, and War

Minor: Stalking and Death of parent

highladymagnus's review against another edition

dark slow-paced

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

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Torture, Blood, Pregnancy, and Alcohol

pinyata's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad slow-paced

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

2.0

Bad start, okay middle, extremely unsatisfying  end. 

I changed my rating from a 3 to a 2 because the more I thought about this book, the more I realized what I didn’t like about it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide and Torture

tashtasher's review against another edition

adventurous emotional sad tense slow-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Grief, Abandonment, and Alcohol

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Religious bigotry, Murder, Pregnancy, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Misogyny, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Gaslighting, and Classism

kt2e56's review against another edition

adventurous dark reflective fast-paced

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

2.5

This started out very promising but it started to lose its luster for me as Ariadne made ridiculous choice after ridiculous choice. It’s odd that the premise of the book is how in Greek mythology, women were often punished and tortured for the crimes and desires of men and Ariadne is so keenly aware of this at the very beginning and claims to want to change her fate and yet she just does nothing? She’s brace when she assists Theseus but from that point on she just chooses to sit by and do literally nothing and allow the men in her life to save her or torment her or continue to do as they wish with her.

Juxtapose that with her little sister Phaedra (who is the far more complex and fascinating narrator here, particularly when dealing with Post Partum Depression) who is so bold and headstrong and vibrant and also determined to live her own life despite her status as a prize for Theseus (and she succeeds! She convinces him to keep adventuring so she can do as she pleases while he’s away!) until

she literally out of nowhere becomes obsessed with her 14-year-old stepson? 

Now, yes, that’s correct in terms of the original mythology but I thought the whole point of the book was to flesh out female mythological figures more? This book offers ZERO explanation for the insanely drastic change in character when it comes to Phaedra. Was she being used to punish Theseus? Did she upset Aphrodite? Was she just mad? We literally never find out. Her only reason for loving Hippolytus is because he’s different from Theseus but it still feels bizarre to me that a 28-year-old woman, who as far as we know was completely sane, would fall in love with a child literally out of nowhere.

I’m really not someone who needs media spelled out for me but in this case some explanation would have been great because it truly is that sudden of a change. It’s a storyline that feels rushed, like the author felt she had to shoehorn in that myth about Phaedra because it’s so well known but she didn’t really connect it very well with her version of Phaedra that she created for this book.

Jennifer Saint is a talented writer. She paints vivid pictures and there’s a lot here that’s compelling and interesting but to me, this book just didn’t quite stick the landing.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Gore, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Medical trauma, Pregnancy, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Mental illness, Pedophilia, Rape, Torture, Grief, and War

jadehusdanhicks's review against another edition

adventurous challenging mysterious tense slow-paced

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

3.75

Very poetic at points and following the lives of Ariadne and her sister near enough from start to finish this encapsulates so many points of Greek mythology very well.  

For me the gaps inbetween locations that didn’t always connect the best and deaths of characters felt somewhat unfinished made it seem gappy but otherwise a really well written book

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Child death, Death, Misogyny, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Suicide, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Trafficking, Grief, Cannibalism, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Alcohol, and War

maddiebusick's review against another edition

adventurous emotional sad 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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Gore, Misogyny, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Grief, Murder, Gaslighting, and Abandonment

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Child death, Confinement, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Rape, Sexism, Toxic relationship, Violence, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Incest, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Medical content, Trafficking, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and War

peasant123's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Suicide, and Torture

Moderate: Rape and Sexism

sarahaurora628's review against another edition

adventurous sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated

2.5

This book is in four parts and the first part had me thinking this would be a five star read. Every chapter had something happening and felt purposeful. There was so much momentum, high stakes, and I was so invested and entertained. 

There was a message throughout of women being the ones to pay the price for men’s mistakes which was carried out pretty well and offers a rare perspective. There are some quotes in this book that I loved and really stuck with me. However, after the first half there were a few great quotes but other than that… I was so bored. The writing felt very formal. I’m stubborn so I did finish it, hoping that it would turn around, but it took me forever.

If you’re looking for any romance there isn’t any.

I thought Ariadne and Dionysus were platonic and all of a sudden they were getting married. There wasn’t a single word of them so much as kissing and suddenly “her belly swells”? I saw a tiktok of someone calling this book a love story between Ariadne and Dionysus… where?

This book had me hooked for the whole beginning so I am disappointed to give it 2.5 stars overall.

Fedra’s part of the story where she is attending meetings in Athens was good but shortly after that the book lost me and it felt like nothing was happening. No stakes, no point, no plot, and to be honest I didn’t even care about the ending.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child death, Death, Suicide, Torture, Blood, Grief, and Abandonment

Minor: Rape