Reviews tagging 'Animal cruelty'

Ariadne by Jennifer Saint

225 reviews

lydiawilson's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious reflective tense fast-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

5.0

guys. i am so. Wow. This was 5 stars for me. Theres nothing I love more than a Greek Myth retelling and this DELIVERED. I was thinking about this book constantly during the 2 months it was on my currently reading. 
Some things that stayed in my head rent free:

• the joys of being in the company of other women
• The imperfect sisterly relationship between Ariadne and Phaedra
• The power of a Mother's love for her child with Pasiphae and the Minotaur
• Contrasting different experiences of motherhood with Ariadne being fulfilled and enriched by it and Phaedra struggling with it (hello postpartum depression)
• The question of "What is a righteous man?" being a centering theme. And seeing different examples and failures in Daedalus, Minos, Theseus, Dionysus, Hippolytus, and Perseus. Literally oy, I could write a 20 page essay just centering on this.
• Dionysus talking about why the gods can't love OH MY GOSH!! and!! THE FOLLOW UP TO THAT SPEECH AT THE END HAD ME CRYING ON THE FLOOR.

Anyway. the men in the book are just, a huge disappointment (duh, it's greek myth) (but also Daedalus is excluded from this, he's a perfect angel). BUT ON THE OTHER HAND, it provides suuuuuuuuch a rich meditation on what really makes a good man. I went into this story actually not knowing the myth surrounding Ariadne at all but was so pleased with the way the story unfolded. Just so very my cup of tea. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Death, and Suicide

Moderate: Rape and Domestic abuse

quinnisabel's review against another edition

adventurous emotional 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? Yes

4.0

I had such high hopes for Dionysus man

I hate men

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death and Animal cruelty

Moderate: Sexism

themirrorball's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad 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

4.0

i really loved the beginning and end of this book, but the middle seemed to be stagnant, with nothing of interest really happening, internally or externally. it felt like a lot of unnecessary descriptions and storytelling that wasn't going anywhere. 

one of my favorite things about this book was the complexity of the relationships. i was genuinely invested in many of the relationships, like the sisters, each of them with their husbands, and ariadne and her mother. they all felt real and raw, in a way i haven't experienced when reading other greek mythology retellings. however, i think that it all could have been pulled together better, considering the ending felt quite abrupt and random. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty and Animal death

Moderate: Child death and Rape

evangelinedellamonte's review against another edition

dark emotional sad slow-paced

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

2.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Animal cruelty

franticfreya's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad slow-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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Suicide, Abandonment, Animal cruelty, and Blood

Moderate: Pregnancy, Body horror, Alcohol, and Death

Minor: Child death, Grief, and Rape

in_the_woods___'s review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful 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? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Suicide, Rape, and Animal cruelty

Moderate: Murder, Violence, Sexual violence, Misogyny, Infidelity, and Child death

stormeno's review against another edition

emotional mysterious 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Misogyny, Pregnancy, Sexism, Death, Sexual harassment, Child death, Sexual content, Abandonment, Gore, and Suicide

Minor: Incest, Slavery, Animal cruelty, Infidelity, Rape, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

sarah_speaks's review against another edition

adventurous emotional sad 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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Misogyny, Suicide, Abandonment, Animal cruelty, Suicidal thoughts, Animal death, and Pregnancy

emilywemily6's review against another edition

adventurous dark lighthearted sad slow-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? It's complicated

4.5

I really enjoyed this book! I listened to the audiobook and I thought it was really good. This story is a simple retelling of some women of Greek mythology, and I kept having to stop myself mid book so I wouldn’t go check Wikipedia for what happened to these characters before I read it in this book. It was intriguing and had some strong themes throughout; it definitely had a moral to the story and gave me some things to think about, but it was a little shallow in its storytelling. Like others have mentioned, it didn’t show much, only told you straight out what happened. But I enjoyed listening to it and want to dive back into Greek mythologies and retellings! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Blood, Suicide, Alcohol, Violence, Animal cruelty, Death, Child death, Gaslighting, Gore, Grief, and Sexual assault

Moderate: Infidelity, Toxic relationship, and Mental illness

Minor: Cursing and Miscarriage

camiclarkbooks's review against another edition

adventurous emotional informative reflective sad slow-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

4.5

Jennifer Saint’s “Ariadne” is a beautiful retelling of the Ariadne myth. 

The pacing is slow but steady, enough to keep the reader’s engaged but calm while the tense parts of the myth are spread out. 

The ending of “Ariadne” was not one that I was familiar with but suited this interpretation nicely. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Alcohol

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Injury/Injury detail, Pregnancy, Suicide, Violence, Animal death, Blood, Death, Abandonment, Grief, Infidelity, Sexual assault, Vomit, War, and Animal cruelty