Reviews tagging 'Injury/Injury detail'

Juniper & Thorn by Ava Reid

95 reviews

elys3's review

challenging dark sad medium-paced

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

2.5

The usage of similes in this book sucks ass. Also the usage of the word 'capitalism'. Just write about how much capitalism sucks and let us figure it out the rest. Stop using it like a slur smh

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Gore, Blood, Death, Eating disorder, Gaslighting, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, and Sexual assault

louiepotterbook's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-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? It's complicated

2.75

This book was entertaining for the most part but certain aspects of it left me kinda grossed out and confused. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Eating disorder, Alcoholism, Self harm, Death, Dysphoria, Gore, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Blood, Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Gaslighting, Animal death, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Cannibalism, Death of parent, Vomit, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Grief, Incest, Injury/Injury detail, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, and Xenophobia

there is cannibalism in this book as well as a scenes where the characters are turned on by gore.

readingwithkaitlyn's review against another edition

dark tense medium-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Vomit, Xenophobia, Addiction, Gaslighting, Body shaming, Misogyny, Child abuse, Death, Animal death, Violence, Alcohol, Mental illness, Injury/Injury detail, Confinement, Gore, Classism, Medical content, Sexual assault, Blood, Animal cruelty, Medical trauma, Sexual violence, Torture, Emotional abuse, Sexual content, Eating disorder, Sexual harassment, Murder, and Grief

Moderate: Self harm, Death of parent, Kidnapping, Alcoholism, Gun violence, Rape, Suicidal thoughts, Body horror, Bullying, and Hate crime

Minor: Pandemic/Epidemic, Pedophilia, Colonisation, Domestic abuse, Incest, Racial slurs, Infertility, and Infidelity

Beastiality.

kimco_reads's review

adventurous challenging dark tense medium-paced

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

4.25

 Overall I really enjoyed reading this book! I picked it up for the 2024 Trans Rights Readathon  and had a difficult time putting it down. I even spent the majority of my afternoon off reading the second half because it was so intriguing. Going into it I was already drawn in by the idea of a grim-dark retelling of a fairytale, and add in a fairytale I hadn’t heard before and I was hooked. 

This was the first book I’ve read by Reid, and I was impressed with how intelligent the writing was and how poetic the prose was. Reid’s descriptions were visceral and made it feel like I was right there in the story with Marlinchen. The setting of the house felt like it was straight from a fairytale with the description of the main character’s house, yard and various creatures living there. Then as a direct contrast the setting outside of the main character’s house was a developing city with day laborers, a theater, bars, and a beach. Putting these two contrasting settings was an ingenious way for Reid to show the character’s father’s inability to move forward or let any outside influence in. The magic system was simple, but well fleshed out within the story.

Throughout the story I felt the pain and anguish of the main character. I also really appreciated how Reid was able to depict the psychological effects the trauma and abuse often described in fairytales have on different types of characters. The very real way Marlinchen, Undine, and Rose reacted so differently to their father’s abuse was chilling to the core. 

While I thoroughly enjoyed reading Juniper and Thorn, there were a few things that didn’t quite line up to my personal tastes in order to make it a five-star read. For me, the moments of levity were very short and far inbetween. It seemed they were over as soon as they started and they were still always tinged with the main character’s fear of being caught. It makes sense for the story so I understand why Reid wrote it this way. Also, the way the characters were written, I didn’t really know enough about the other characters to care if anything bad happened to them and it wasn’t until close to the end that I cared about the main character’s love interest. The romance read as an instant love connection, and unfortunately I’m just not a big fan of this trope, however, the author did a fantastic job showing that it wasn’t a perfect love, but rather a love that two very scarred characters would realistically cling to. 

That all being said, this book was a great short read. It was chilling in a more psychologically heavy way than I expected, but was pleasantly surprised with. 

Please check your trigger warnings before diving into this one!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Eating disorder, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, Vomit, Animal death, Death of parent, Blood, Sexual assault, and Violence

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Cannibalism, Murder, Rape, Physical abuse, Emotional abuse, and Blood

2_black_dogs's review

challenging dark emotional tense fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Gun violence, Vomit, Bullying, Cannibalism, Eating disorder, Medical trauma, Physical abuse, Self harm, Sexual violence, Torture, Blood, Body horror, Body shaming, Child abuse, Gaslighting, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Adult/minor relationship, Confinement, Death of parent, Gore, Sexual assault, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Murder, and Death

pinkpapercrane's review

dark mysterious sad tense 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

4.0

This book is very dark, very tense, and yet at the end of the day, a fantastic read. This isn’t my usual cup of tea, I’m a cozy fantasy sort of reader but I would definitely recommend this book to anyone who wants to dive headfirst into grim dark fantasy.

(with a happy ending, of course.)

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Injury/Injury detail, Incest, Death, Murder, Emotional abuse, Body horror, Torture, Self harm, Eating disorder, Child death, Sexual assault, Kidnapping, Grief, Domestic abuse, Child abuse, Rape, Pedophilia, Death of parent, Animal cruelty, Gun violence, Animal death, Pregnancy, Gore, Confinement, Cannibalism, Body shaming, and Adult/minor relationship

This book is very dark and very tense, there are some in depth descriptions of sexual violence, with references to it throughout the book.

3rdeyeopen's review

dark emotional mysterious medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Murder, Classism, Sexual content, Pedophilia, Medical trauma, Eating disorder, Death, Gore, Gaslighting, Blood, Torture, Animal death, Injury/Injury detail, Toxic relationship, and Child abuse

iconicavocado's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

4.0

Book 📖: 4/5 stars

I've been dying to read this book! I've heard nothing but good things and for the most part it delivered! 

I really enjoyed the reimagining of The Juniper Tree with such poetic melancholy writing and exploration of dark themes. I wasn't entirely sure how large the scope would go but I found the ending quite satisfying. 

Going into this I knew there are content warnings, but I still found some parts to be hard to stomach. I don't demerit the book for it because the uncomfortableness was what the author was going for. I did find the pacing to be quite slow and wish it picked up its third act just a bit quicker. 

This is not a book for everyone. It's incredibly dark and definitely in the realm of horror. But I loved it's unique writing and haunting take of an already twisted fairytale. I'm excited to read more of Ava Reid's work! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Eating disorder, Gore, Body horror, Toxic relationship, Death, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Cannibalism, Emotional abuse, Animal cruelty, Sexual content, Animal death, Sexual assault, and Physical abuse

salemander's review

5.0

an absolutely phenomenal and gut wrenching story of a young woman coming to terms with her trauma. this book made me cry so hard not only from sadness but the hopeful ending that really encapsulates how healing is not linear. trauma will always linger with these characters but that doesn’t mean they cannot lead happy and meaningful lives. the folk tales and mythology this book uses are so beautiful and the way ava reid writes is so gorgeously poetic and also kind of horrific. cannot wait to buy all her books for the rest of my life. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Eating disorder, Misogyny, Body horror, Cannibalism, Emotional abuse, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Racism, Animal death, Blood, Child abuse, Death, Sexual assault, and Xenophobia

neens_library's review against another edition

challenging dark 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

Graphic: Rape, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Sexual violence, and Child abuse