Reviews tagging 'Sexual assault'

Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi

57 reviews

sadiaa's review against another edition

adventurous dark

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Loveable characters? It's complicated

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

bookishchef's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense fast-paced

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

2.5

Warner and Adam are both hella toxic.

Juliette hasn't talked to anybody in 3 years and has never known kindness, so of course she falls for Adam: the only person to show her any kind of affection. 
But the fact that he uses this, and starts to be romantic and sexual with her? My god, that cannot be healthy. This relationship is going to be so codependent oh my fucking god. I know that they're both only 17, and teenagers are dumb. But this smells of a potential abusive relationship. 

Warner was an understandable, realistic person up until the halfway point where he moved past ruthless, right into cartoon villain evil. It felt like there was room for redemption. Like this boy (HE IS 19) was just traumatized as fuck. A very young man trying to keep an army together by being as scary and ruthless as possible.

But then

he threatened to kill a toddler, and sexually assaulted Juliette. 

Why....? 
Like, I get the threatening of the toddler MAYBE. But the sexual assault??? How the fuck was that supposed to make Juliette like him? Nobody was around to see it either, so, keeping his characterization in mind, who the fuck was he trying to impress? Because there is absolutely no way in hell that this dude thought Juliette actually liked him after countless no's and her watching as Adam tied him up. I know that Denial is a river in Egypt but Jesus. 

Also I hate the ending with the resistance and the Hunger Games esque Castle (who is basically just Coin) and this absolutely bullshit "there's 56 of us and we all have superpowers". Literally gtfo. I have this sneaking suspicion that Castle will end up the same way as Coin does in the Hunger Games too.

 

A lot of the other reviews complain about he flowery prose, and yes. It is very flowery. I didn't mind it that much, most of the time. But it is definitely there. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Child death, Confinement, Gun violence, Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, and Blood

Moderate: Cursing, Death, and Violence

Minor: Cursing, Physical abuse, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Vomit, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, War, and Injury/Injury detail

The term "psycho" is often used derogatorily throughout the entire book.

cutelilfrog's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional lighthearted mysterious tense fast-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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence

Moderate: Child abuse, Sexual content, and War

Minor: Cursing and Sexual assault

There is a rather intense make out scene and two characters want to have sex but are interrupted.

mamane's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious tense fast-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Sexual assault, Blood, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Death of parent and Abandonment

wickedgrumpy's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No

2.0

I think I missed the time frame where I would have eaten this up.  There's a lot of world building that happens that is super intriguing but the romance element is juvenile (intentionally since it makes sense for the characters) but I cannot stop cringing.

I don't know if I will continue, I might read the Destroy Me novella since it's at the end of my copy from the library and see how I feel about it then.

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Content Warnings

Minor: Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gun violence, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexism, Sexual assault, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Police brutality, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Sexual harassment, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

wasupdial's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional fast-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

4.5

Got me out of my book slump! Absolutely obsessed! Slow at first but after the first few chapters I was hooked. So many great and relatable quotes in such a dystopian novel. Just wish there was more diversity, most of the characters are described as white with blonde hair and blue eyes and society’s perception of “beautiful”. Looking forward to reading the rest of the series though with (hopefully) more diversity. Also such a gasping read. 

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Content Warnings

Minor: Child abuse, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Police brutality, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

honeyland's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious tense medium-paced

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

1.75

In the beginning I was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed the writing style, as I expected it to be a ya novel but the writing felt quite experimental and fun. Reflective of the protagonists mind, as the author's note says in the beginning.
The plot started out interesting as well but then it got a bit slow and I started having issues with the main characters. The girl talks to about 5 characters in this book and 3/4 guys her age are constantly showing in some way how attractive they find her, how much they want her, despite her expressing that she doesn't want that. It also feels like it's used as a way to make the character seem more desirable. Plus, there's basically an assault theme in which a character is kissing her against her will and suddenly she's like "huh...but maybe i DO like him?" despite hating said character all throughout the book for obvious reasons...and it just felt highly uncomfortable and gross, esp bc it wasn't reevaluated at a later point.
Also I got really annoyed by how many times had to be mentioned that the main girl is so tiny and light and fragile while both of the male main characters were so tall and broad and somehow they carried her everywhere???
The plot gets a bit more interesting towards the end again. 
I might have gone into this book with the wrong expectations but I really thought I was gonna like it and was super disappointed, unfortunately.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, and Sexual harassment

Minor: Domestic abuse

ansleymg's review against another edition

1.0

I’m surprised I finished this book. I don’t understand the hype around Warner. I’m sure he’s ‘redeemed’ in the later books but nothing can actually redeem him for me. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault

taysbooktalk's review against another edition

adventurous fast-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Animal cruelty, Child abuse, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Hate crime, Mental illness, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Forced institutionalization, Kidnapping, and Abandonment

n_loves_reading's review against another edition

adventurous dark fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? N/A
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

5/5
⚠️Tw for book⚠️: SA, death, violence, gun violence, torture, and dark thoughts.

I really love this book! It was paced well and it kept me hooked the whole time! I ended up buying the next 2 books before I even finished this one because I knew I would want to read them! I like all the characters even the antagonists. They are written well and I honestly loved every second of this book! I would recommend it!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Physical abuse, Torture, Blood, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Sexual assault