Reviews tagging 'Torture'

Malice by Heather Walter

72 reviews

hannahs_library_'s review

adventurous medium-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood and Bullying

Minor: Death, Child abuse, War, and Torture

sav_22's review

adventurous dark emotional mysterious 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: Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Sexism, Xenophobia, Ableism, Homophobia, Infidelity, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Alcohol, Confinement, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Physical abuse, Animal cruelty, Blood, Drug use, Kidnapping, Misogyny, Murder, Racism, Slavery, Bullying, Drug abuse, Death, Forced institutionalization, Hate crime, Toxic friendship, Violence, and War

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Child abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Medical trauma, Police brutality, Colonisation, Torture, Medical content, and Outing

blackheart's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional 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

This was such a good read. The added depth and history of this classic tale was fantastic. The pain and rage of the main character is so relatable it make you want to be a villian too. 

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Content Warnings

Minor: Child abuse, Cursing, Fire/Fire injury, Suicidal thoughts, Bullying, Death, Grief, Body shaming, Blood, Torture, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, and Violence

venti's review

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? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.75

feels like a set up for the next book — which i’m not complaining about because i’m sure it will be great, but would have been cooler maybe in one big volume like priory? idk 🤷 i liked alyce and aurora, but was so annoyed the whole book when alyce was constantly getting shit on. hope she kills them all in the next book! 😜

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Violence, and Child abuse

Moderate: Death of parent, Lesbophobia, Death, and Sexual harassment

Minor: Misogyny, War, Torture, and Sexism

jj_tj's review

adventurous dark mysterious 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? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying

Moderate: Violence, Blood, and Murder

Minor: Torture

booksandstardust's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death

Moderate: Torture, Abandonment, Gore, and Child death

Minor: Suicide, Lesbophobia, and War

keya_caivalur's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Bullying, Fire/Fire injury, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, and Murder

Moderate: Xenophobia, Genocide, Sexual content, War, Death of parent, Drug use, Torture, and Gaslighting

libby_i_guess's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

2.75

I genuinely can’t put my finger on it, but something about the writing feels very much like a book for teens. My best guess is the first-person POV, but i don’t think that’s all of it. I was mostly pushing through this book because I was curious, but the last third of it I actually enjoyed. Somehow, the story came alive and kept me interested. I still can’t say I loved it or anything, but I will read the next one.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Violence, Death, Xenophobia, and Torture

yofrere's review

adventurous dark emotional mysterious medium-paced

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

3.0

Highly anticipated read that did alright. A sapphic, corruption arc fairytale retelling with intermediate world building? Whoa. Pick a struggle. I didn’t realize immediately that this was part of a duology so keep that in mind if you’re thinking about reading. The pacing was… weird? And some plot points only felt relevant in the second book.

But I was rooting for Alyce on the edge of my seat. I wanted her to get everything she wanted though I don’t know how I felt about what she did to go after it. The climax felt steep, for better or for worse. I immediately started reading the sequel because I had to know what could possibly follow that weird cliffhanger for an entire book.

Vengeful and mysterious and a little convoluted.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Murder, and Torture

Moderate: Body shaming, Death, and Drug abuse

Minor: Suicide

acidicgoddess's review

sad slow-paced

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

3.25

CW: grooming & manipulation

Ngl, this book would have worked wonderfully as a prequel. 

The story was definitely intense. It also did a really good job at making you feel for those who tormented Alyce. It was the writing style that threw me off most of the time. Sometimes the lore would just be dumped into a single chapter and not integrated well AT ALL (which, unfortunately, meant that all of it went over my head to be ignored.)

The author tries to almost personify the atmosphere when Alyce talks to Kal, but it’s so out of place and obnoxiously interruptive that I found myself hating scenes where Kal was involved. She doesn’t do it with any other character and that’s probably why I found it interruptive.

As for the romance in the book… Well, it was a let down. 

I’ll admit, I wasn’t a fan of Aurora at first. I felt like she only existed as a character to reflect Alyce’s wants and needs - and for most of the book she was - she lacked any personality outside of wanting what Alyce wants. But, by the end of the book, we really get to know her. It’s unfortunate that we couldn’t get a taste of it from the beginning of the book, it made the romance aspect feel bland. 

This isn’t to say I’m a fan of her, however. Aurora is painfully ignorant to Alyce’s predicament with the public and doesn’t notice when she becomes uncomfortable. Their relationship feels very one sided. Even towards the end. Alyce is left anxious and Aurora can only take it as Alyce not being able to trust her.

Oh, and the one character I was actually finding enjoyable turned out to be one of the bad guys, too. Not a good move on the authors part considering none of the other characters were enjoyable. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Classism

Moderate: Emotional abuse and Bullying

Minor: Sexual assault, Torture, Adult/minor relationship, and Suicide