Reviews tagging 'Violence'

Pandora by Susan Stokes-Chapman

12 reviews

flickwitch's review

adventurous emotional mysterious fast-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Medical content and Violence

Minor: Physical abuse

bookishwondergoth's review against another edition

mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.0

This was a nice, easy to read  historical fiction novel inspired by the Greek myth of Pandora’s Box. Both the story and the prose are nothing spectacular but I still had a fun time. It also has one of the most truly hateable out and out villains I’ve read in a while.

For a book so focused around the black market trade of antiquities, I was a bit disappointed that the role of the British Empire in plundering Greece artifacts was never really raised. There was very little nuance in relation to this subject which threw me out of the book a bit. I think it would have been a more interesting read to have that kind of topic included.

I really enjoyed the side characters (Lady Latimer being a particular favourite).

Overall glad I read this. Recommended to those looking for a nicely paced, ambiguously supernatural historical mystery.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Sexism, Domestic abuse, Murder, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Emotional abuse, Animal death, and Terminal illness

Moderate: Sexual content, Violence, Blood, Gore, Body shaming, and Fatphobia

Minor: Kidnapping, War, and Homophobia

Instances of sexism, misogyny and homophobia etc. are in-world and consistent with the time period. They are also challenged, addresses or overcome. Also with regard to the animal death:

the villain of the story kills the main character’s pet bird. It is off-page and the description of its corpse is one line, but the instance is still upsetting.

mpbookreviews's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious fast-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Alcohol, Domestic abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Animal death, Blood, Classism, Confinement, Death, Death of parent, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Sexual content, and Violence

mtnest's review against another edition

emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, Domestic abuse, Death of parent, Death, Violence, and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Vomit and Sexual content

molly_greenshields's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious relaxing slow-paced

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

3.75

Susan Stokes-Chapman certainly brings something different to the Greek retelling trend with Pandora, blending mythology with historical realism in this Georgian-style mystery. The characters were complex, the plot was fun and I found myself not wanting to put the book down once I reached the last hundred or so pages (I will  never be recovered enough to talk about Hermes). Having said that, I don't think it really needed to be 400 pages long in the first place: the prose was dense and relatively slow-moving for the most part and... there just wasn't the same lyrical beauty of Circe or Ariadne (sorry). All in all though, this was a fun read and a rather refreshing take on what's fast-becoming an over-saturated genre.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail and Gore

Moderate: Violence, Animal death, Death, and Domestic abuse

Minor: Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Death of parent, and Murder

emma3674's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

Great book, took some time to get interesting but very unputdownable towards the end, loved the story and the mystery involved

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Alcoholism, Physical abuse, Violence, Vomit, Animal death, Blood, Death, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Child abuse, Animal cruelty, and Animal death

ell_n's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark informative tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence and Animal death

Moderate: Child abuse and Death of parent

sarahs89's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious sad 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

2.0

This book didn’t work for me, possibly because I was expecting more Greek mythology and less historical fiction.. possibly because it’s slow and the characters did nothing to compel me to them so I just was not invested. 

The idea behind the book is interesting but the pacing is off with a lot of chapters of characters just being and then a lot of info dumping. 

One of the more interesting plot lines around the pithos and if it is indeed cursed was never really resolved or delved into deep enough for my liking. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Animal death, Violence, Vomit, and Domestic abuse

renettereads's review against another edition

emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes

4.75

A beautifully written and delicate story about Dora Blake, an aspiring jewellery maker in 1799 London. Her parents, antiquarians who died when Dora was only a young girl, left her orphaned and in the care of her uncle. As Dora watches her family’s shop fall to disrepute, she tries and fails to sell her jewellery designs. When she turns to Greece as inspiration for a new set of drawings, Pandora tries to remember the stories her mother tells her and ends up discovering something her uncle tries to hide from her. 

Firstly, this was beautifully narrated and I instantly fell in love with Dora and her little magpie. As someone who has fallen hard for Greek mythology, this was the perfect blend of historical fiction and fantasy and so lyrically written. It’s definitely a quieter story that relies more on atmosphere than plot, but that’s not to say it’s lacking. Well-paced and satisfying, I wouldn’t mind actually picking up a paperback of this some time to read as well. 

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Content Warnings

Minor: Violence and Domestic abuse

booksemmahasread's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad medium-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Violence, Death, Domestic abuse, Murder, Emotional abuse, Animal death, and Death of parent