Reviews tagging 'Abandonment'

Cursed by Marissa Meyer

9 reviews

amyvbxx's review

adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-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

4.0

This book was better than gilded. Although I enjoyed guilded I thought sometimes it left holes and was dragged through plot points that maybe didn't pay off. 
I found this book to have a much better pay off and was more fast paced while still remaining readable. 
My main issue is the height of the drama happens very late into the book and I feel as though it spends a lot of time explaining unimportant aspects and then doesn't let the dust settle later in the story.

the Rumpelstiltskin twist was a little bit too on the nose to be dumped in right at the end

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Death, Death of parent, Child death, and Kidnapping

Moderate: Abandonment, Child abuse, and Blood

Minor: War

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

voldycat's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Death, Animal cruelty, Child death, Toxic relationship, and Pregnancy

Moderate: Rape, War, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Grief, and Child abuse

Minor: Abandonment

clairew97's review against another edition

dark emotional funny mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, Emotional abuse, Violence, Abandonment, Animal death, Blood, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Child death, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Grief, Infertility, Kidnapping, and Pregnancy

writer_egreene's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Emotional abuse, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Pregnancy, Toxic relationship, Violence, Child death, Blood, and Abandonment

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

silver_valkyrie_reads's review

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense 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? No

3.25

 Most of my reading experience was *almost* as good as the first book. The main thing that made me drop the rating is the gender neutral 'gods' went from just showing up in reference to being actual supposedly gender neutral characters. I did also (trying to put this vaguely to be spoiler free) found parts of the ending to be emotional, and not in the good way, but in a stressful way that pulled me out of the story and made me resent story choices the author  made. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Child death, and Death

Moderate: Kidnapping, Pregnancy, Infertility, and Animal death

Minor: Death of parent, Abandonment, and Sexual content

uranaishi's review

adventurous dark emotional hopeful medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child death, Death, and Death of parent

Moderate: Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Emotional abuse, Blood, Toxic relationship, War, Child abuse, Slavery, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Classism, Confinement, Grief, Infertility, Injury/Injury detail, Pregnancy, Violence, Infidelity, and Kidnapping

Minor: Abandonment, Alcohol, Rape, Self harm, Sexual content, Sexual violence, and Sexual harassment

natashaleighton_'s review

adventurous challenging dark mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

The vividly immersive and gorgeously woven sequel to Marissa Meyer’s spectacular reimagining of Rumplestiltskin continues where Gilded left off, returning us to Adalheid, the ErlKing and his malevolently dark court.  

Following the shocking turn of events, Serilda now finds herself ensnared in a deadly game with the Erlking, who is determined to propel her deeper into the castle’s lies and secrets. 

Determined to free herself—and Gild from the Erlking’s clutches, Serilda works with Gild to help him solve the mystery of his forgotten name and past. But the Erlking’s plans aren’t as clear cut as Serilda first thought, for he doesn’t just want to bring back his dark huntress lover… he also seeks vengeance against the seven gods who (long ago) trapped his court of Dark Ones behind the veil, in a effort to protect the mortal realm.

If the ErlKing succeeds (and Serilda and Gild cannot break the curse that tethers them to the castle, or learn to utilise their unique gifts before the Endless Moon) —then the mortal realm will be forever doomed…

I was absolutely enamoured of the rich and deliciously atmospheric world building we encountered in Gilded and loved how Meyer expands on it in Cursed. Although just as vividly detailed as the first, the tone definitely felt a little darker with it’s hauntingly bleak and slightly macabre imagery that was reminiscent of the Grimm’s original. Though what I loved the most was Meyer’s expansion of the lore, delving into the backstories of the ErlKing, Gild and the Gods he soo despises.

Our loveable protagonist and gifted storyteller, Serilda has really matured since the events in Gilded and watching her progression definitely highlighted her emotional development from her rash and impulsive tendencies. 

Likewise, Gild’s roguish charm and mischievousness was offset by several nuanced and emotional  scenes surrounding the loss of his memories and an unexplainable sense of guilt, which I felt brought new dimension to his character. The chemistry between the pair was still fairly swoon-worthy but their dynamics were certainly angstier this time around.  

We do get to meet some new characters this time around, several of which were super interesting—not the mention all the secrets and intrigue that Serilda manages to stumble into.

I enjoyed getting to see more of the creatures within the menagerie and the inclusion of Serilda’s folktales really helped to flesh out the backstory of the 
Gods, beasts and the ErlKing’s nefarious deeds without adding too much exposition to the plot.

Overall, Cursed is another fabulously refreshing, plot twisty and utterly addictive YA fantasy that fans of Marissa Meyer or dark fairytale retellings simply must read! And if you haven’t already, I highly recommend checking out the first book in the series, Gilded. 

I also wanted to say a massive thank you to Divya for the giveaway which allowed me to read one of my most anticipated reads of the year. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Grief, and Violence

Moderate: Pregnancy, Blood, Animal cruelty, Abandonment, and Confinement