Reviews tagging 'Gaslighting'

My Soul to Keep by Tananarive Due

5 reviews

eclipse799's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional 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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Self harm, Animal death, Kidnapping, Suicide, Stalking, Animal cruelty, Body horror, Death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Gaslighting, Physical abuse, Slavery, Violence, and Gore

Moderate: Pregnancy, Sexism, Medical content, and Rape

cait_henry56's review

I cannot stand the characters, so I might return to this once that simmering rage has cooled. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Gaslighting, Emotional abuse, Domestic abuse, and Gore

queerbooklover03's review

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced

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

3.5

A very interesting concept with some mostly well fleshed out characters and backstories, but the more time I spent in Dawit's head the less I liked him and thus, the sooner I wanted to finish the book. So I ended up pushing the last 10-20 percent of the novel as a quickly as possible to be done with it and done with Dawit. I found very well wrotten, but very frustrating and controlling, quite the opposite of amyone I would want to be with.
I did not like racism of "Night Song" and how they talked about her.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Murder, Self harm, Child death, and Slavery

Moderate: Animal death, Domestic abuse, Gaslighting, Body horror, Gun violence, and Blood

Minor: Sexual assault, Death of parent, Vomit, Rape, Toxic relationship, and Emotional abuse

rorikae's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional 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

5.0

'My Soul to Keep' by Tananarive Due is a poignant and heartbreaking novel about the impact of immortality. 
The story centers on the relationship between David, an immortal man, and his wife Jessica, a reporter. The group of immortals that David is a part of swear off long term relationships with mortals but David has had families on and off throughout his life. When the immortals learn about David's current family and decide that David needs to leave them behind and come home, David has to decide what his next steps will be and if they include telling his wife the truth. 
Due is one of my favorite authors for fantastical horror and 'My Soul to Keep' showcases her true talents at grounding horror in very human characters. This story thrives off of the complicated relationships and decisions that surround immortality, especially around family. Due makes you both understand David and still be horrified by his actions while also understanding why Jessica cares for him. The horror in this story shifts from small to large moments that keep a sense of dread and expectation running throughout. No one creates characters quite like Due and then twists them through story elements that even when fantastical, you completely believe. I am thankful that this is a series because I want to spend more time with these characters and the ending sets up intriguing possibilities for what could come next. 
If you are interested in reading character centered horror with a speculative edge, you need to be reading Due's work and 'My Soul to Keep' is a great place to start. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Self harm, Blood, Panic attacks/disorders, Murder, Death, Gaslighting, Grief, Medical content, Racial slurs, Stalking, Violence, Animal death, Child death, Emotional abuse, and Slavery

Minor: Sexual content

micaela11's review

dark emotional mysterious tense slow-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Animal death, Animal cruelty, Murder, Violence, Gaslighting, Toxic relationship, and Slavery