Reviews tagging 'Death of parent'

Fairest by Marissa Meyer

36 reviews

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.

socialpsysteph's review

adventurous emotional 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

4.0

I love this series and have been meaning to get to this prequel as well as the short story collection. I was so intrigued to hear Levana's backstory. She is a great villain throughout the main story and just so awful so I was interested to hear her origin story. I definitely feel that this gives some perspective to why she was the way she was. There were a few times I started to feel bad for her and then remembered all of the terrible things she ends up doing, then I felt less bad. All of the royal family is pretty awful and just do terrible things to each other. I must read as you are making your way through the Lunar Chronicles.

This book counts for Popsugar 2023 for a book written during NaNoWriMo.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fire/Fire injury and Murder

Moderate: Death and Death of parent

Minor: Infertility

novelnerd_11's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Grief and Death of parent

Minor: Infertility

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

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

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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

colorwriter's review

dark emotional tense fast-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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Fire/Fire injury and Emotional abuse

Minor: Classism, Body shaming, Child death, Death of parent, and Murder

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

val_theburrowofstories's review against another edition

dark emotional 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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic relationship, Sexual assault, Adult/minor relationship, Murder, Rape, and Emotional abuse

Moderate: Death, Fire/Fire injury, and Pregnancy

Minor: Infidelity, Infertility, 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

jaychayka7777's review against another edition

dark tense fast-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

oh my lord levana is worse than i imagined 💀

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment and Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Death of parent and Death