Reviews tagging 'Child abuse'

The Last Tale of the Flower Bride by Roshani Chokshi

122 reviews

prairieraven's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious 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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Body horror, Sexual content, Bullying, Torture, Injury/Injury detail, Toxic relationship, Kidnapping, Sexual harassment, Stalking, Abandonment, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Pedophilia, Violence, Blood, Child abuse, Classism, Confinement, Death, Gaslighting, Grief, Incest, Infidelity, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Misogyny, Sexual assault, Toxic friendship, and Rape

rayreyes's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious sad slow-paced

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

1.75

Overall, boring sad and unpleasant. Trauma porn turned into magical realism. Flowery and boring. Child abuse and a pedophilic creep peppered throughout. Lame.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Body horror, Child abuse, Death, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Adult/minor relationship, Sexual harassment, Toxic friendship, Pedophilia, Suicide attempt, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Alcoholism, Alcohol, Toxic relationship, and Sexual content

oaxara's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense 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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic friendship

Moderate: Sexual harassment and Child abuse

libbyferg99's review against another edition

dark mysterious 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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic friendship

Moderate: Pedophilia

Minor: Child abuse

bookedandbusy's review against another edition

dark emotional tense medium-paced

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

5.0

This was an absolutely magical fairy tale. It was atmospheric and eerily beautiful. It shows the ways that love and friendship can fully consume us. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic relationship, Bullying, Child abuse, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Sexual assault

burlaproses's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-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

3.0

The House of Dreams is in need of serious repairs, as the housekeeper states. At the very least they need to replace the lead paint and pipes, and fix the CO2 leak.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Violence and Child abuse

fionamatilda's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious medium-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Toxic friendship, Gaslighting, and Death

Moderate: Child abuse, Sexual assault, and Pedophilia

applekettle's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad slow-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse

Moderate: Child abuse

northernzephyr's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic friendship, Emotional abuse, and Bullying

Moderate: Child abuse, Child death, and Violence

acogna's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

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

3.0

This story in and of itself was good Gothic fairytale—dark, cruel, mesmerising, heavy.

Like, that twist. Damn.

However, its quality is extremely held back by the prose. It was my main struggle; it attempts to write in that poetic, lyrical style of magical realism. But I could clearly tell that this is Roshani Choski's first foray into writing like this. Where at times the prose is lilting and beautiful, there are more instances where it's jarring, repetitive for no reason, nonsensical with its metaphors, clunky, obstructive, meandering, pretentious. It does not feel nice to read.

The House of Dreams, for instance, is characterised simply in its personification as a house: it sleeps, it favours people, it hates guests, it listens. It doesn't feel like a character, but it tries to be by way of being given personification. In comparison to the houses of Jackson, who are barely even personified in prose, but their foreboding presence, their dominance over the story, their Voyeuristic ghosts and cruel angles, are what make them characters.

The author sees how prose like this should work (it's obvious from the novel she's been inspired by a lot of good Gothic fiction, and it shows) but she doesn't seem to understand how to apply the prose in the way that best fits it. And it's a shame because of how good the story it's telling is.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Pedophilia, Child abuse, and Sexual harassment

Minor: Animal death