Reviews tagging 'Violence'

Fairest by Marissa Meyer

18 reviews

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. 

---

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

kenna13's review

dark emotional sad fast-paced

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

3.0

I do kind of pity Levana, but not in the “oh she deserved better” way,

Spoiler

more in the “oh you made some stupid decisions” way. And that ending was so sad. Justice for Evret Hayle

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Adult/minor relationship, and Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Pregnancy, Rape, Violence, and Death

Minor: Death of parent and Infertility

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

---

Content Warnings

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

msorce's review

dark emotional sad medium-paced

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

3.5

I like this book and I love a good villain backstory, I just feel like it could have been more. I think it could have been developed a little further and been longer. Still good though.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, and Toxic relationship

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. 

---

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

psliz's review

dark tense medium-paced

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

4.0

i hate elara with a burning passion and reading her backstory (which was really interesting and heartbreaking) makes me hate her more 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Adult/minor relationship, Fire/Fire injury, Murder, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Violence, Rape, and Sexual harassment

Moderate: Death of parent

Minor: Alcohol

grac0n's review

dark sad fast-paced

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

3.0

Spoiler

Trigger warning for this book: sexual assault themes. The power of manipulation, both in people’s minds and in their view of other people’s physique is a big part of this book. Levana, main character, is a broken child (15/16) who uses her talent for manipulation to coerce a guard to “love her.” Her most serious attempt occurred when she was 16 and the guard was 26? I skipped a lot of conversations where Levana is actively manipulating the guard because it was just close enough to r@PE to make the reader uncomfy. Plus also she’s a literal child trying to make an adult man desire her. It’s rough. She successfully coerces him into marriage. Their sex habits are alluded to, I think, but I was skimming still, so I do not know if she was still that young when they did it. This story is helpful to know why Levana is the way she is and how she got there, but it does a great job making sure you’re not empathetic at the end, which is important. If you decide to skip, it will not harm your reading journey for the Lunar Chronicles. </spoilers>

As a standalone novel, this book is meh. But taking into account the larger story at play, and that this is a backstory to a great villain in the Lunar Chronicles, it was not an unenjoyable read. Prior knowledge of the world is necessary before reading this book.

It’s a sad, heartbreaking story. The formation of a villain from a young princess who just wanted to be beautiful and loved. Same girl, but her methods are so wrong, and they’re what make her a ruthless villain. Marissa Meyer does a great job telling this brief story. It illicits strong reactions: sadness, disgust, horror, embarrassment, heartbreak.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Adult/minor relationship, and Death

Moderate: Sexual assault, Rape, Murder, Violence, Fire/Fire injury, Pregnancy, Emotional abuse, and Injury/Injury detail

janaya's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional informative mysterious reflective tense fast-paced

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

4.0

I’m giving it 4 stars because, for the sake the series, I thought it was a well-done book. It gave us information we needed and we could really see the development of Levana from who she was to who she became. But I didn’t actually like it… it was kind of hard to read. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Toxic relationship, Emotional abuse, Grief, and Violence

Moderate: Infertility, Child abuse, Blood, Death, Death of parent, and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Gun violence and Murder

tiana_king's review against another edition

dark sad medium-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

5.0

This was not a pleasant book and the fact that it pained me to rate it 5 stars is a testament to the author’s skill. You aren’t SUPPOSED to like this story. It’s tragic overall with villains that have few redeeming qualities.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture, Fire/Fire injury, Toxic relationship, Emotional abuse, Murder, Violence, Adult/minor relationship, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Body horror, and Body shaming

Moderate: Pregnancy, Death of parent, Child death, and Infidelity

Minor: Sexual assault

rsb12's review against another edition

dark sad 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

3.5

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Rape and Violence