Reviews tagging 'Murder'

Cursed by Marissa Meyer

18 reviews

aseel_reads's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense slow-paced

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

3.25

I adored the children and I am glad for the ending but the story was so slow paced and I found the pregnancy stuff kind of ick 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pregnancy

Moderate: Torture, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Murder, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Kidnapping, Child death, Confinement, Grief, Blood, and Death of parent

greenlivingaudioworm's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

2.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Kidnapping, Murder, Confinement, Death of parent, Violence, Grief, and Pregnancy

iothemoon's review

dark medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Child death, Animal cruelty, Gore, Murder, Pregnancy, and Injury/Injury detail

passionatereader78's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious 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

4.5

This book is well written. I liked the overall story. I was frustrating at times because the main character has all of the information in front of her but can't comprehend it. I loved the guilded prince, the princess, the forest folk, and the ghosts. The dark castle was spooky and creepy with the different creatures.  Serilda is now cursed with the guilded prince. They are trying to find a way to break the curse and set everyone free.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pregnancy, Torture, Death of parent, and Child death

Moderate: Bullying, Death, Confinement, Slavery, Violence, Animal death, Murder, and Toxic relationship

honuzbubbles's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious medium-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Kidnapping, Abandonment, Death of parent, War, Suicidal thoughts, Murder, Pregnancy, Violence, Blood, and Torture

kaz_brekkerrr's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious slow-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore

Moderate: Murder, Violence, Child death, Animal cruelty, and Animal death

Minor: Blood

turnthepages_nl's review against another edition

adventurous dark slow-paced

3.0

It's not bad, but the pacing was off for me. Too slow in most places and the action sequences were too fast. I also saw some plottwists coming which took the fun out. 

Erlen was amazing tho and she made it more enjoyable.

Marissa Meyer had to fill in a nine month gap, because the original story doesnt tell about that time. But her version sadly did not satisfy me.
If she didnt do the plottwist at the end of book 1, gilded could be a standalone novel. It didnt work as a duology for me because I feel like I didnt get to know the characters better...

I was in a fantasy mood, but this book did not quench my thirst. And I'm so sad about it because I love Marissa's other books!

I hope you loved this story more than I did <3

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Animal cruelty, Death, Pregnancy, Toxic relationship, Child death, Blood, Gore, Kidnapping, Murder, Physical abuse, and Violence

abby_can_read's review

adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced

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

5.0

I enjoyed this book. I think it was a good sequel. This is a dark fairytale retelling. The characters are entertaining and there is come character development. The relationship between the characters is interesting. The plot is a little predictable though I did enjoy it. The writing style is lovely. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Pregnancy, Death, Gore, Blood, Emotional abuse, Grief, and Violence

Moderate: Animal cruelty, War, Torture, Animal death, Child death, Murder, Physical abuse, and Toxic relationship

Minor: Abandonment, Body horror, Death of parent, Infertility, Kidnapping, and Confinement

bandysbooks's review

hopeful mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

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

3.0

Once long ago, I read and enjoyed The Lunar Chronicles by Marissa Meyer, so naturally when I saw Cursed, I thought I might enjoy it as well. I don't know if it's just that I was much younger when I read The Lunar Chronicles or if this duology isn't quite of the same quality, but I was left wanting.

We have a fairytale retelling which is Meyer's bread and butter. This time it's of Rumpelstiltskin. Instead of centering on Rumpel himself, we have a story that features a damsel in distress and he is her protector of sorts. I thought the way she twisted the story was fairly interesting.

Where it fell apart for me was the main character. I found her incredibly frustrating. I can't count how many times the bad guy did something horrible, she pleads with him, and then he does something even more horrible. He's clearly a sadist who gets off on psychological torture and she gives him exactly what he wants by begging him. She even makes deals with him on multiple occasions and they always end with him doing something terrible and finding a loophole in the deal. I understand trying once, but after he backstabs her once, she should never make a deal with him again. It honestly got a bit tedious.

Also, this book relies heavily on the unplanned pregnancy trope which is one of my least favorite tropes. I get that it's an important part of the story arc, but it just wasn't for me.

All in all, I just think I am maybe the wrong demographic for this book. I could imagine a 14 or 15 year old reading and enjoying this, but as a 35 year old there was a lot that left me cringing. I honestly wouldn't have read this second book in the duology, had I not had an ARC of it. If you're into young adult fantasy, you might enjoy this.

* I received an E-ARC of this from Netgalley. This in no way affects my review.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pregnancy, Murder, Torture, and Child death

reading_ani's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

5.0

I already loved the first book, but this sequel has truly blown it out of the park. And though I thought I knew where the story was going after the first one, I didn’t see some of the twists coming. I absolutely loved, loved, LOVED this sequel! I especially enjoyed the fact that certain LGBTQIA couples weren’t presented as something special, but just a normal occurrence - as it should be! This duology  is by far my favorite retelling of the Rumpelstilzchen/Rumpelstilskin story there is!🥰🥰

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Animal cruelty, and Death

Moderate: Blood, Body horror, Murder, and Grief