Reviews tagging 'Torture'

A Dowry of Blood by S.T. Gibson

9 reviews

faduma's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Injury/Injury detail, Infidelity, Murder, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual content, Abandonment, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Gaslighting, Gore, Torture, Violence, Misogyny, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, and Toxic relationship

watsontheslytherin's review

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense slow-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

4.75

Beautiful prose... Just beautiful descriptions of even the most toxic and evil situations/sentiments. I've never read depression put in such a mesmerising way. I love the contrast between a love so toxic and a love so nurturing. The only reason it's not a 5 star it's because it can be a little repetitive in some points... But despite that, very easy and enjoyable read.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content, Grief, Mental illness, Torture, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Bullying, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, and Murder

Moderate: Blood, Confinement, Gore, Misogyny, Suicidal thoughts, and Violence

Minor: War

archaicrobin's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective 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

4.5

Beautifully written retelling about Dracula’s brides (and one husband) from the perspective of his first bride Constanta. The prose in this book and the love between the brides is so well done, a perfect dark romance for February. 

I’m not much for retelling and often avoid them but I’m glad I tried Dowry of Blood because it’s an easy, quick, and beautiful read with elegant vampires and just enough horror. I also liked how this author began with a page of trigger warnings for her readers which I think should happen more! 
 
Only reasons I didn’t give this a 5 is that I had to be in the mood to read this one and it was easy for me to put down. I always save 5 stars for those books I can’t stop reading. There were also a LOT of typos in this, to the point where I wonder what the editor was doing. It’s unfortunate when such a beautifully written book with such strong prose has typos because it pulls you out of the book’s spell. 

Overall 100% recommend for anyone looking for a vampire novel, or even a dark romance!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Violence, Misogyny, Murder, Domestic abuse, Abandonment, Colonisation, Confinement, Death, Physical abuse, Torture, Body horror, Classism, Gaslighting, Gore, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Grief, Toxic relationship, and Injury/Injury detail

jackietanori's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-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? Yes

4.75

Constanta, I would have never treated you like that girl! 
This book was a bright light after a week of slumming through my last book at sloth speed. It’s was dark and cryptic and sad, but also the three are so caring and loving to each other it makes you see them for who they are and not what they’re become. 
Read the TW for this book though there is a lot to deal with. 
It’s a super quick read though I finished it in one sitting.  

Crying score: No, but yes. But no. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic friendship, Gore, Misogyny, Grief, Infidelity, Murder, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Domestic abuse, Gaslighting, Torture, Toxic relationship, Alcohol, Blood, Bullying, Death, Sexism, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Body horror, Cannibalism, Confinement, and Emotional abuse

bazkrekker111's review against another edition

dark tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• 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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gore, Domestic abuse, Toxic relationship, Violence, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Sexual content, Blood, Emotional abuse, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Misogyny, Alcohol, Drug use, Infidelity, and Confinement

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Rape, Abandonment, Torture, Cannibalism, Cursing, Sexual assault, War, Sexual violence, Incest, Fire/Fire injury, and Grief

opalia's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense 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? It's complicated

5.0

This is literally my new favorite book. Won over so many classics. It has such beautiful writing, and deep and great characters. Don't even get me started on the prose. I am about to translate it in my mother tongue just to do a whole propaganda to anyone I meet. The message is delivered in the best way, the aesthetics are incredible, the description of human lives and behaviors? I'll literally never get over this, this book is a fever dream, argue with the wall.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Gore, Violence, Blood, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Toxic relationship, Infidelity, Murder, Physical abuse, and Torture

amabel_xo's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious 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? It's complicated

5.0

this has now become my favourite book . I finished it in wine sitting and i’ve never been happier. I read it on kindle but i will be rushing into waterstones to by the  physical copy . Constanta has my heart and shall have it for a while. This book got be out of a reading slump and will be rereading sooner than later. <spoiler >The  ending was sad in the sense i had i obviously wanted them to remain together but i also know that this ending was the correct. This is why i should never be a worse. Gibson has done the hard but truely remarkable job of making a book where the mc is able to regain power and control while still being lovable and not over the top . The romance is just everything especially between my new favourite sapphics <spoiler >. I highly recommend that it should be read by all who love gothic polyamory with a strong and inspiring .main character 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic relationship and Blood

Moderate: Sexual content, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Sexism, Body horror, Death, Torture, and Violence

Minor: Confinement, Death of parent, War, and Domestic abuse

ritzandglamour's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional sad 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? Yes

3.75

I went in to the book without knowing anything about the story and it was not at all what I expected. A lot darker than I was expecting. 

This book was reccomend to me as a Sapphic Vampire horror novel but its very much a Bisexual Vampire horror novels. There are sapphic moments in the story, but all characters are bisexual 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic relationship, Murder, Death, Blood, Torture, Physical abuse, Sexism, Gaslighting, and Mental illness

Spoiler

this story is about an abusive polygamous marriage from the perspective of one of the abused wives. The abuse is not physical until the end. But the psychological torture the characters endure could be potentially triggering for some

celestriakle's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.5

Read this book for prose alone. The language is poetic and beautiful and flows so nicely that it makes this a quick read; I finished the last two sections in one sitting. The intensity of the relationships each "wife" has to Dracula is gripping. It's fascinating to see how the dynamics slowly shift over the long timespans of the book, and how differently each character reacts to Dracula's abuse.

The main weakness of the book however is the characters relationships outside of Dracula. The book ends with

Spoiler

all 3 in a romantic relationship, and supposedly they fell in love this whole time, but they never have very much chemistry. They read far more like sister-wives trying to protect each other from Dracula than lovers with their own relationship outside him, with nothing to keep each other together once he's gone.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Toxic relationship, Stalking, Physical abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Infidelity, Grief, Confinement, Bullying, Blood, Gore, Gaslighting, Emotional abuse, Classism, Domestic abuse, and Death

Moderate: Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual violence, Sexual content, Murder, Abandonment, and Incest

Minor: War, Homophobia, Death of parent, Torture, and Misogyny

I tagged for incest, but it's not true incest: all four main characters are not related, but are frequently described with family terminology, despite being in a romantic relationship. Alexi and Constanta in particular are constantly described as mother/son, with Alexi's youth compared to everyone else frequently mentioned, but they still end up romantically entangled and share a sex scene.