Reviews tagging 'Confinement'

What Lurks Between the Fates by Harper L. Woods, Adelaide Forrest

9 reviews

tired_cicada's review against another edition

dark slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A

2.0

I can’t with this series anymore. I just can’t. Book two and three should have been one book. It was so needlessly long. So much repetitive bullshit that amounts to nothing. 

Oh and don’t even get me started on Kaldris! He’s always “if you are ever uncomfortable tell me and I’ll stop” but then when Astrea specifically tells him to stop because she is uncomfortable he literally tells her “well you’re going to have to get used to it”. 

Also Rape is a CONSTANT theme in this. The mc is constantly being threatened with it. We find out Kaldris has been raped on and off for centuries. It’s not handled tastefully at all, just thrown in for shock value.

I’ll give her a LITTLE grace for actually killing Kaldris’s rapist. That at least had a satisfying conclusion

You know I could get behind the “girl power, reclaiming your sexuality as a woman” movement this book has going on if the MC didn’t make the same preachy speech to herself everytime she gets. Like we GET IT! You like sex, have a voyerisum kink that you’re ashamed of, and like to kill people now. We have all accepted that. We have all moved on, can you please focus on the PLOT?!? can you maybe make ONE actual plan for how you are going to fix things?  

The torture scenes were rather intense and surprisingly well written. That is apparently where all of the editing budget went.

That scene where asters has a strip of her skin slowly flayed off her back was so graphic! Like where did THAT come from? That was some grade A body horror! You had THAT in you the whole time
? Where has that quality been the entire series. We get scenes like THIS and then it’s right back to shock value deaths that have no emotional impact. Like the bit where she kill some of the human mates for force someone to swear loyalty to her and then that has zero impact on the plot and because we don’t know any of the people involved it just bushed over like “oh, that’s unfortunate”.

 

This book has the most random mythology sprinkled in it. Like it’s Greek, but also kinda Christian and Roman, with hints of Norse and first people folklore. But they aren’t likely well done representations of the myths. Like why is the Minotaur here and why is this bit just the plot of the Labyrinth? 

I might give the next book a try if I’m bored after it comes out but I really had to force myself to finish this one (I only did cause I got it from the library and they have to pay for every download of their ebooks, and I’d feel bad for wasting that). Who knows.

I’ll probably give it a chance, only because the main couple is going to be separated for (hopefully) a significant amount of time so the author will be forced to focus on the plot rather than copy and paste another repetitive dub con smut scene

Edit: yall I genuinely keep forgetting that Mauve has an actual daughter. Like that plot line was so underused after so much time worrying about it in bk2. I genuinely forget she exists. Gun to my head is you asked me her name I’m dead. She is such a superfluous character at this point. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Confinement, Death, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Torture, and Sexual harassment

amanda_porfavor's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional tense medium-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content

Moderate: Confinement, Sexual assault, Blood, Murder, and Sexual harassment

Minor: Rape

wrensreadingroom's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Incest, Infidelity, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Vomit, Kidnapping, Grief, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

jen_sten'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? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Death, Gore, Torture, Violence, Blood, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Sexual assault and Sexual violence

Minor: Rape

leila_reads_too_much's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Confinement, Death, Gore, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual violence, Slavery, Violence, Blood, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

cryosphinx's review against another edition

adventurous dark slow-paced

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

2.75

Kind of a step back compared to the previous two. It's pretty slow and then all the excitement happens in the last 30 or so pages. Lots of repetative mate pining which I suppose is to be expected.

There is overall less spice, but the spice is still well written. This book definitely takes a much darker turn and there is quite a bit of violence and torture scenes.

I mostly just wish more happened. You spend the entire book with the two main characters imprisoned and imprisoned in a weird way (as in they have some amount of freedom randomly?) And you don't get a whole lot of the characters you've met.

In the end, I'll still pick up the next one especially because CLIFFHANGER.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Gore, Sexual content, Torture, and Violence

Moderate: Sexual violence and Blood

Minor: Rape

bookswithcee's review against another edition

adventurous dark hopeful mysterious tense slow-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? Yes

3.75

I liked this book. Not loved it. But it was good. The spice was kicked up a notch which I did enjoy. But there was a LOT of torture and often mentions a character’s past sexual assaults. 

I really feel like this could have been the end of the series but it of course had a spin and a Cliff hanger and didn’t make any progress on Estrella’s lineage or what she is. Still just very vague clues which could be literally anything and after 3 books I feel like we deserved to know by now, and not at the very end. 

The cliff hanger was frustrating because it did NOT have to end that way and the other options were obvious to everyone except Estrella and Caldris apparently. The storyline did finally progress now that they’re in the Fae lands but really not a lot of new information in an entire additional book. 

All in all, will still read the next one because of the questions left unanswered and I love the relationships Estrella has built. 

Also, RIP to the most helpful god she’s met besides her mate. He was a real one. :( 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Sexual violence, Slavery, Torture, and Violence

Moderate: Rape

Minor: Confinement, Death, and Murder

bsuth's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional sad medium-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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Torture, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Confinement

haleyc00k's review against another edition

dark tense 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? It's complicated

2.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Confinement, Death, Gore, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Torture, Violence, Blood, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Rape, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Sexual harassment, and Classism