Reviews tagging 'Child abuse'

Fairest by Marissa Meyer

31 reviews

christy15reads's review

dark fast-paced

• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

Finished this book this morning from the Lunar Chronicles series . It tells why Queen Levana is as wicked as she is and confirms that I don't like her at all. And while Cinder, Scarlet, and Cress are suitable for the 14+ crowd, with a kiss here or there, I think this one is for someone older because of all the promiscuity in it!  It was rather disappointing if you ask me because my teen daughter was reading these books along with me. Now I'm just hoping that Winter is not as inappropriate and she can finish the series with me because we both enjoyed the first 3 books but I can't pass this one along to her - I'll have to just fill her in on the queen's history.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic relationship, Emotional abuse, Sexual content, Pregnancy, Infertility, Child abuse, Death, Child death, Torture, Dysphoria, Fire/Fire injury, Mental illness, Stalking, and Rape

bean_7088's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense slow-paced

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

4.0

Whoops what a doozy! Murderous queen backstory makes her worse!

Like, part of it is sad, like spoiled kids growing up sheltered in the nasty circles they do makes for horrible people and children.. but she had chances to be a better person. 

I still loved the writing 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Adult/minor relationship, Child death, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Murder, Rape, Death, Gaslighting, and Toxic relationship

Basically the evil queen has been abused and then she abuses, manipulates, forces her husband into sleeping with her.

daniellecheri's review against another edition

sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

I give this book five stars because of the writing. I didn't feel any sympathy for Levana. It made my skin crawl. And I call that excellent writing.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Toxic relationship, Child abuse, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Murder, Bullying, and Child death

livreads2much's review

dark emotional sad 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

Love is a conquest. Love is a war. Here's what I think about love. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Toxic relationship, and Sexual assault

Minor: Infertility, Death, Body shaming, Child abuse, Gaslighting, and Grief

strawberrytheauthor's review against another edition

dark sad tense fast-paced

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

4.0

“Here is what I think of love.” Is the last line of the book and I think it sums it up pretty well. 

When starting the book I was hoping that it would humanize Levana a little bit and make us like her more, but I was wrong. It was annoying because I feel that when you are reading about a villain you want to know what events led to them Losing their humanity, but it seemed Levana never had any. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Death of parent, Child abuse, Murder, Blood, Child death, Grief, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, and Body horror

Moderate: Pregnancy, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, and Violence

Minor: War, Sexual content, Bullying, Gore, and Pandemic/Epidemic

writer_egreene's review against another edition

dark sad tense fast-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Gaslighting, Violence, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Torture, Toxic relationship, Stalking, and Death

alizah's review

dark emotional tense fast-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? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gaslighting, Toxic relationship, Injury/Injury detail, Fire/Fire injury, Emotional abuse, and Body shaming

Moderate: Child abuse, Child death, Colonisation, Infertility, Injury/Injury detail, Miscarriage, Pregnancy, and Sexual harassment

Minor: Abandonment, Ableism, Classism, and Pandemic/Epidemic

prashiie's review

dark emotional sad tense fast-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? Yes

4.0

"She did not want to go down in history as the fairest queen this little moon had ever known. She wanted to be known through history as the fairest queen of the galaxy. As the ruler who united Luna and Earth under one monarchy."

Queen Levana’s origin story. Levana is smart and cares about Luna, unlike her sister who got crowned queen after their parents’ death. But even though her heart is in the right place, her way of achieving things is wrong. But she didn’t have good role models in her life. Her parents’ marriage wasn’t a good example of love and her relationship with her sister was toxic. Her sister, Queen Channary, was very manipulative and such a bully to her. It made me wonder how things would have turned out if only her sister was nice to her.

The choices that Queen Levana makes were so frustrating! There were so many moments where she could have chosen a different path but that wouldn’t have made sense. She believes that she has to make these choices for Luna to thrive. She is convinced that only she could be a great queen and that she deserves to rule over the galaxy. Just like Icarus, she is getting too close to the sun.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Rape, Fire/Fire injury, Child abuse, Adult/minor relationship, Toxic relationship, Infertility, Child death, Toxic friendship, Bullying, Emotional abuse, Classism, Death, Grief, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Abandonment, War, Blood, Pregnancy, and Death of parent

marenm's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• 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

2.25

it was interesting to see more about levanas background, but this book was very disturbing. while her actions fit her character and the evilness, it’s very reflective of right and wrong and the messiness of politics into a novella. the only reason it’s rated so low for me is that i couldn’t stand listening to levanas monologue and how terrible of a person she was. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Body horror, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Grief, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, Bullying, Child death, Torture, Dysphoria, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Child abuse, Classism, Gun violence, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Abandonment, Death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Infertility, Murder, Pregnancy, Stalking, and Violence

csmall73's review

dark fast-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Toxic relationship, Torture, Rape, Murder, Medical trauma, Injury/Injury detail, Genocide, Body horror, Sexual harassment, Mental illness, Classism, Toxic friendship, Sexism, Xenophobia, Racism, Slavery, Sexual assault, Emotional abuse, Child abuse, Child death, Body shaming, and Adult/minor relationship