Reviews with content warning for Torture - Goldener Käfig

Reviews tagging 'Torture'

Goldener Käfig by Victoria Aveyard

46 reviews

the_prophecy_13's review against another edition

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adventurous dark medium-paced

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

3.25

The bad:

The bath scene. What. was that.
The pacing in the first 60% of the book is very drawn-out.
It feels like Victoria was just giving Mare more trauma for the heck of it. I don't particularly like Mare, but I don't want her to be miserable constantly! Girlie got to be happy for, like, three chapters in the entire book
Speaking of Mare's trauma, it's not well done. I do like that she has some PTSD symptoms, but I wish the book delved deeper into them. I feel like some of the things she went through should have affected her a whole lot more than "she flinches when this person is nearby bc they hurt her :((("
Mare is inconsistent. She seems to flip-flop between personalities (fiery, stubborn, and proud; competent and friendly; paranoid and uncertain; vacant and hopeless), and I know some of that could be due to trauma, but I feel like she's just an inconsistent character overall.
Also, Mare says "the shadow of the flame" again. Victoria. I am begging you to stop. Flames do not have shadows. I repeat, FLAMES DO NOT HAVE SHADOWS. PLEASE Google it. (I don't know why this bothers me so much, lol.)
Relating to the above, some of the writing was just... cringe. I don't care enough to go back through the book to find examples, but it sometimes felt like Victoria was trying too hard to be all edgy and poetic and deep. Girl, it's an average YA. Don't take yourself so seriously.
I didn't like Cameron's POV chapters. She's just annoying. It's bad enough seeing her through Mare's eyes.

The good:

The ending (the last 100 pages or so) was quite good, as usual in this series, and kept me engaged.
The final battle was very tense and felt realistic for the parties involved.
Evangeline, surprisingly, got very compelling all of a sudden.
She's still not a good person, but I empathize more with her now that she's not just a bully. I'm hoping for more POV chapters.
Mare's dynamics with other characters were so much better than in previous books. Her and Cal have much better chemistry and interactions
(though it's a shame they're only around each other for the last 40% or so of the book)
. Mare and Farley are great as sorta sister-figures. Mare and Cameron get some sorely-needed bonding time (in, like, the last 10% of the book. Cameron was irritating for the first 90%). Mare and Kilorn are very sweet (well, y'know, as sweet as two bickering besties can be)
The politics, factions, etc were fairly well done, although I'd have to analyze in more detail to be sure lol

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sweetchocolatez's review against another edition

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emotional sad tense slow-paced

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

4.0

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mbrogs2024's review against another edition

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dark emotional reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

3.5

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ravenauthor1013's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark 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

4.25

The pace was a little slow for me, but great story development and the multiple POV adds a lot to the story

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christygsp's review against another edition

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3.0

The first half of this book could have been 25 pages instead of 250. It was entirely too long, and I was so close to calling it quits when read 200+ pages of a non plot same old same old. THEN, it started getting good. Honestly, I wish it had reached the halfway point way sooner, because that book would have been amazing. The second half was great but by the time I got there I was almost over the whole thing. It was quite long and the last book is even more so…
The powers are always fun to see play out. Characters were the same, and while some were good, others were tiresome.

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ladybug12793's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional tense medium-paced

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

3.75

Cameron’s POVs were pointless. She was a hypocrite. At least there was some Cam/Mare redemption by the end. Wish the alternate POVs were either one of the princes or Farley. I also wish the chapters were shorter. I enjoyed this book nonetheless. Could’ve been 100 pages shorter. Felt like it dragged on in the beginning and like nothing much happened besides like two battles and the ending that we all saw coming. Heartbroken but looking forward to the next book.

Also certain readers complaining about Mare being traumatized by literally being tortured by silent stone everyday have absolutely no empathy. She was still imprisoned and tortured in multiple ways psychologically and physically but I guess since she had a nice bed then she shouldn’t complain?! Like chill people. Absolutely insane.

0 🌶️

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aammeess's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional tense medium-paced

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

3.75

Content Warnings

jelkebooks's review against another edition

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adventurous dark slow-paced

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

2.0

This book didn't work for me. It was a bit of a let down, especially with how much I like book one and two in this series. It's just that this book is way too long. For most of this book almost nothing happened in it. Everything about this book just screamed FILLER. It was quite a bore to read.
On top of that I do still think Mare is insufferable, and she definitely didn't go through any growth throughout this book either. She was so incredibly stupid in this book as well. Maven's intentions were as transparent as one could be, and Mare was still constantly in her inner monologue saying she had no clue what he was doing. On top of that she just also made some really dumb decisions. We also got a new POV this book. Cameron might have been even be worse than Mare, in my opinion. Being contrarian for contrarian sake is one of my worst pet peeve's in characters, and she just embodies that. It was obvious she was supposed to be an "edgy" character, but instead she was just incredibly annoying. Wasn't there anyone else in the Scarlett Guard we could have followed to showcase this part of the story? I mean, literally any other character could have been better.
Anyway, I do think there's some interesting world politics, and expansion going on in this book. We learn quite a bit of the world's history, and other countries as well. I thought it was really interesting, and I wanted more of that than we got. Let's hope it will play a big part in the final book.

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winglesswarrior's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
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

Content Warnings

caelfind's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense 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? It's complicated

4.25

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