Reviews tagging 'Blood'

Juniper & Thorn by Ava Reid

200 reviews

maebae's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious 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? Yes

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexism, Vomit, Child abuse, Toxic relationship, Sexual assault, and Sexual content

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Blood, Body horror, Eating disorder, Animal death, and Death of parent

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

virtuadoll's review against another edition

dark emotional 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? Yes

4.25

Although it started off really slow, I really enjoyed this. I’m excited to read more of Reid’s work in the future as she has a gift for writing - not once did I find myself being pulled out of the story because of her writing, which is something that I tend to experience frequently. There’s some banging quotes in here from our main character Marlinchen, and her development was very enjoyable to follow for me. 

Also Rosenrot being a lesbian is so based. It’s not explored very much but is mentioned a couple of times and I loved her as a character too. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Vomit, Emotional abuse, Violence, Xenophobia, Eating disorder, Sexual assault, Murder, Death, and Physical abuse

Moderate: Misogyny, Cannibalism, Gaslighting, Blood, Animal death, Body horror, Death of parent, Alcoholism, Grief, Toxic relationship, and Medical trauma

Minor: Abortion and Incest

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.

princegene95's review

adventurous dark mysterious medium-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? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Body horror, Gore, Cannibalism, Body shaming, Vomit, and Blood

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Emotional abuse, Death, Animal cruelty, Eating disorder, Animal death, Sexual content, Child abuse, Death of parent, and Alcoholism

Minor: Sexual harassment, Sexual assault, Pedophilia, Medical content, and Medical trauma

chofa96's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic relationship, Gore, Gaslighting, Emotional abuse, Death, Sexual assault, Violence, Alcoholism, Blood, Animal death, Eating disorder, Vomit, and Murder

kschuster's review

dark emotional mysterious 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore and Domestic abuse

Moderate: Cannibalism, Rape, Death of parent, Child abuse, Classism, Blood, Eating disorder, Gaslighting, Murder, Death, and Vomit

fayesavanne's review

dark emotional medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Loveable characters? Yes

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cannibalism, Xenophobia, Drug use, Vomit, Death of parent, Antisemitism, Violence, Eating disorder, Gore, Body horror, Emotional abuse, Blood, Death, Murder, Sexual assault, and Pedophilia

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