Reviews tagging 'Bullying'

Juniper & Thorn by Ava Reid

51 reviews

gagereadsstuff's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Antisemitism, Sexual assault, Eating disorder, Alcoholism, Toxic relationship, Blood, Body horror, Bullying, Death, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Violence, Xenophobia, Gun violence, Racism, Self harm, Sexual content, and Suicidal thoughts

Moderate: Colonisation and Death of parent

bookmark3brodi's review

challenging mysterious fast-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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gaslighting, Grief, Rape, Body horror, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Dysphoria, Emotional abuse, Death of parent, Eating disorder, Self harm, Cannibalism, Child death, Physical abuse, Adult/minor relationship, Drug use, Body shaming, Bullying, Pedophilia, Abandonment, Alcohol, Blood, Child abuse, Confinement, Medical content, Misogyny, Murder, and Sexism

ginnymay's review

dark fast-paced

2.0

Major CW missing from this one, please check the warnings before reading this review. 

I love new and original fairy tale retellings, dark fantasy, and gothic horror. By that metric, this should have been my new favorite book. It is decidedly not. 

When we had a monster murderer introduced I was hoping for something like Carnival Row, but this story seems to have lacked an outline or plan of any sort as it forgets about the mysterious murders for large swathes of time to the point where, when a victim is discovered at the theater, I genuinely had the thought “Oh yeah that’s a thing” because I had genuinely forgotten about the MURDER MONSTER.

The bulk of the meandering narration for 75% of the novel can be summarized as: Marlinchen’s sisters are pretty and she’s ugly, her dad is abusive and they hate him, her mother is dead, she makes food, she thinks the dancer is sexy, she is called stupid and mindless, she is depressed and fantasizes about cutting off her nipples. It makes Marlinchen one of the most tedious narrators, as the first new information unveiled in her POV isn’t until after several hundred pages of this when it’s suddenly revealed that she was repeatedly SA’d as a minor by a medical professional while her father watched and was paid for it.

Then Reid tried to tie it all together with an insta-love trauma-bond romance and then reveals an answer to the murders that required some rewriting of history to make it work. 

And all this just left me with more questions than answers. How did Marlinchen never notice that her Father’s powers had waned? How did she not notice for SEVEN years that her sisters were being trafficked? How, if she and her magically imbued sisters all had power and violently hated their father, did they never find a way to overthrow him or at least rebel against him? How did Marlinchen not put together that she was missing huge chunks of time when murders were taking place? How did she not question where the hearts and livers she served to her father came from? How did they have sex on the floor covered in broken glass and not need insane amounts of medical attention? 

All in all, a bewildering, poorly written, deeply upsetting, and just bad book. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Sexism, Body horror, Alcohol, Animal cruelty, Cursing, Death, Self harm, Sexual violence, Animal death, Body shaming, Cannibalism, Child abuse, Death of parent, Vomit, Misogyny, Trafficking, Bullying, Incest, Mental illness, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Gore, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, Pedophilia, Rape, Gaslighting, Murder, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, and Xenophobia

yomireads's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense 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

4.0

Juniper and Thorn takes a dark magic based world and confronts far darker realities of abuse. The story opens with a catalyst event for our MC, Marlinchen as she and her sisters venture out of their home and she experiences life outside the borders of her home. As the story unfolds from their we glean how Marlinchen has adapted to a hostile environment, and glimpse the ways her sisters have done the same in their own ways. Relationships and the way trauma affects them are shown through her eyes, and observed as she learns more of her sisters, who are often kept at arms length from each other. 

This is a well conceived and deeply disturbing story that's intoxicatingly written. Each plot reveal was loaded with expecting foreshadowing, and by the end I was utterly speechless at the reveals. Well worth the read.

My drawbacks play into my personal tastes and aversions. From the first chapter sex plays a much larger part in the story than I anticipated. And while the story does explore romance to some degree it's done as a means of allowing for character growth and insight to their traumas. Even so I always have a difficult time when a book ventures down this plotline. Additionally, I was expecting something a bit more magic heavy, and was deeply intrigued by the different types of magic each sister possessed. I was disappointed not to get more of it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Eating disorder, Murder, Sexual violence, Cannibalism, Emotional abuse, and Gore

Moderate: Body shaming, Confinement, and Bullying

Minor: Death of parent and Pedophilia

abception's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Sexual content, Blood, Emotional abuse, Medical trauma, Sexual assault, Vomit, Xenophobia, Bullying, Cannibalism, Child abuse, Death, Death of parent, Eating disorder, Gaslighting, Murder, and Violence

Moderate: Confinement, Physical abuse, Dysphoria, Gore, Sexual harassment, Injury/Injury detail, Self harm, Body horror, Body shaming, Colonisation, and Grief

Minor: Alcohol and Suicidal thoughts

ellynscoffee's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

5.0

This book is certainly not for the faint of heart. The label of dark is no exaggeration and this book is a brilliant example of a grim gothic horror that does not hold back.
The writing style and story telling were great, my only gripe was some of the slower pacing towards the middle, although this didn't last long.
The gore aspect of this story was probably the most uncomfortable for me to read, but it was easily skimmed over and did not feel unnecessary.
The ending is incredibly satisfying, however I did feel that the reveal of the mystery was a little rushed (but perhaps this is more because we see everything from Marlinchen's perspective).
Overall, I loved and really enjoyed this bleak, grim retelling

EDIT: It has been several days since I finished this book and I cannot stop thinking about it. I think I will have to fold and change this from my original 4/5 rating to a 5/5 because it really hit me harder than I thought.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, Body horror, Body shaming, Physical abuse, Child abuse, Death of parent, Sexual assault, Bullying, Murder, Cannibalism, Death, Eating disorder, Gore, Grief, Medical trauma, Self harm, Toxic relationship, and Vomit

campisforever's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• 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

4.0

A dark retelling of "The Juniper Tree," Juniper & Thorn is slow-paced with the repetition we normally associate with oral storytelling. The narrative is beautifully written and well constructed. While I found it difficult to stomach and definitely needed breaks throughout, I recognize that the discomfort was part of the point. I also often felt like I couldn't find a foothold, but realized about 3/4 of the way through that it was intentional--until Marlinchen begins to piece things together, it's a bit difficult to locate the narrative's bearings. 

This novel is a really raw and honest portrayal of various kinds of trauma, mental health struggles, and coping mechanisms. Many of the content warnings I've included are the exact warnings Ava Reid provides for the novel on her website. Please be mindful of those tags. That said, I was honestly a little scared to read this book because it seemed like a lot, and it was, but not in a way that glorifies the horrors of humanity and abuse. If you're open to a story that takes you through the darkest parts of our folklore--here, Germanic and Slavic lore--and gives you a glimmer of hope on the other end, it's worth it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Bullying, Drug abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Xenophobia, Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Medical content, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Child abuse, Blood, Body shaming, Eating disorder, Medical trauma, Vomit, Body horror, Mental illness, Dysphoria, Gaslighting, Pedophilia, and Self harm

Moderate: Cannibalism, Antisemitism, Incest, Classism, and Violence

lindseeclark's review

challenging dark emotional mysterious 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

2.5

Unbelievably depressing and a difficult read for me, just not a book that I enjoyed. The prose itself was lush and beautiful but I could not root for any characters or plot lines.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Medical trauma, Grief, Fatphobia, Emotional abuse, Animal cruelty, Child abuse, Animal death, Death of parent, Xenophobia, Suicidal thoughts, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, Sexual content, Murder, Misogyny, Eating disorder, Body shaming, Self harm, Pedophilia, Gaslighting, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Death, Physical abuse, Confinement, and Blood

lascoaxx's review

dark emotional mysterious reflective 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? Yes

4.0

Juniper & Thorn  is a retelling of The Juniper Tree, a story I did not know about till after I'd read it. The book follows Marlinchen, a sheltered and naive young woman, the youngest of 3 daughters to an infamous and cruel wizard. Their father monetizes his daughters' witchy abilities by allowing clients to come to their home for their services. 

After a secret night out with her sisters, Marlinchen becomes enamored by the principal dancer of the ballet, Sevastyan. A series of coincidental meetings later, her life becomes entwined with Sevas' and they form a tender romance, despite her sister's warning and the potential rage of their father should he find out. The story is one of Marlinchen's traumas and how she, as a dutiful daughter, tries to create peace with an abusive father and her sisters while coming out of her shell. She also begins to unravel a dark secret within the household, one that would change her perception of the people around her forever. 

I am of two minds about this book: on the one hand, it is gorgeously written, the prose eloquent and lovely to read. On the other hand, the story is absolutely treacherous and horrifying and extremely dark to say the least. I am not a stickler for content warnings, but this book was throwing triggers left right and centre that even I was a lot horrified by it. 

Here's some of the content/trigger warnings that can be found in the book:
1. Sexual harassment/assault (minor/otherwise, described and/or insinuated)
2. Descriptions of self-harm
3. Cannibalism
4. Death from cannibalism
5. Physical/mental/emotional abuse by family

And I'm fairly certain that I may have missed out on some, so please be aware before reading.

Honestly, I quite liked the book but because of the various traumatic themes of it, it is difficult to fully be comfortable with a story like this. It defies normal and more simplistic tales of love, magic and family and I suppose that is what the author is truly writing about. Regardless, both of Ava Reid's books were interesting thus far and I am looking forward to her next novel.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Death, Bullying, and Self harm

Moderate: Xenophobia, Cannibalism, and Physical abuse

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Eating disorder, and Sexual harassment

ehmannky's review

dark emotional sad 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? Yes

3.75

It's an interesting use of magic to represent a horribly abusive home life and the ways abuse drives people apart and damages people in different ways. But it was so bleak and so hard to read at times that not even Reid's wonderful prose could get me to get really invested in it at times. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Vomit, Body horror, Bullying, Injury/Injury detail, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Gore, Misogyny, Blood, Religious bigotry, Self harm, Violence, Body shaming, Death of parent, Death, Eating disorder, Sexual assault, and Child abuse

Minor: Rape and Sexual assault