Reviews tagging 'Toxic relationship'

The Ones We Burn by Rebecca Mix

9 reviews

kiaras's review

Go to review page

challenging dark emotional hopeful sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

A truly excellent cabbage cart reference/joke. Tonally out of place? Yes. Enjoyed it anyway? ALSO YES. 

Expand filter menu Content Warnings

styxx's review

Go to review page

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

3.0


Expand filter menu Content Warnings

chelseytennis52's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous dark mysterious tense 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

4.25


Expand filter menu Content Warnings

kodiex's review

Go to review page

adventurous dark emotional sad 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

5.0


Expand filter menu Content Warnings

radiantgeode's review

Go to review page

adventurous dark emotional hopeful mysterious sad medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

I don’t agree with the controversy surrounding these books, I suggest reading them yourself before judging by the reviews. 

That being said, I rated this book 3.5 stars. I just felt like something was missing from the story and the ending didn’t quite do it for me. I liked it enough that I finished it, I just feel like it had more potential and didn’t quite hit the mark. 

I liked the focus on found family and overcoming toxic familial relationships. The character’s background was interesting and building on their mental health gave them depth. 


Bonus: good lgbtq+ representation. 

Expand filter menu Content Warnings

strawberrytheauthor's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful mysterious tense fast-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? It's complicated

5.0

This book was so much better than I could’ve imagined. I went into completely blind and fell in love! I am going to have a massive book hangover after. 

I am only left with one question? How is the Sunra line going to continue if both siblings are gay? I mean yeah adoption but that could be a lot of political unrest. 

This book in three words is Queer, Zombie, Betrayal. It has enemies, to friends, to lovers, to enemies, to lovers and just classic friends to lovers. 

The writing is so wonderful my only critique is it uses the phrase “bile rose to her throat” and others like that far too many times. Other than that it had so many fabulous quotes that just hit you to your core, my favorite being, “You useless lesbian.” 

Expand filter menu Content Warnings

theferret's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous dark emotional hopeful 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

4.0


Expand filter menu Content Warnings

oliverreeds's review

Go to review page

adventurous challenging dark medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
alright! lets get into the complicated mess of this book. when i first started it mmm. one day ago i had no idea abt the controversy until by chance i looked at the reviews and saw RACISM and ANTISEMITISM. i said hmm. that does not sound very good and look up what was happening but found very few examples online of anything so i turned to the comments section just to know what i was getting into. when reading abt the reverse racism i was a bit skeptical, but i saw someone explaining how, while in-world race isnt a social factor, the only bipoc characters are the same — the ruling class who are delightfully ignorant of whats happening in their city and have to be informed by an oppressed white woman. now i personally am not 100% this wasnt a misguided attempt at showing unjust government and how marginalized social groups get fucked over by the system but… why then were these two the like only bipoc characters? we couldnt have had an oppressed witch bipoc?? for some reason the answer is no. 

SPOILERS BELOW
now lets get onto the antisemitism which i consider the more blatant issue. so there is a character who is reptilian in nature — hidden actually as his reptilian self — who left his reptilian homeland because they were creating biological warfare inoculations against the lower class of witches… now. wow. thats already a lot to process. and to those of you who know things abt conspiracy theories, you know that they all basically end in antisemitism including the “secret reptilians are ruling the government” shabang. so. this subplot feels like a CRAZY blatant dog whistle to these conspiracy theories. now you might be saying well HE was a good character who changed for the better, and i would say yes. hes quite well-rounded but. the implication in this book is that he betrayed ALL of his people. that he is the ONLY one who realized what they were doing was wrong. which to me,,, again makes me think hmm. that seems a little coded. 

SPOILERS ENDED

now lets say this wasnt all on purpose. how should we react? well, first off we need to hold the author accountable. say hey, this is kinda fucked will you make a statement my guy? but MORE importantly we need to call out the publishing firm for a) not hiring sensitivity readers or b) not hiring very good sensitivity readers. 

aside from that crazy shit this book was a good debut. the characters were compelling, the plot was interesting, but the message was insanely heavy handed which was a little frustrating. 

anyway, rating zero stars for racist shit and antisemitic nonsense that could have easily been avoided

Expand filter menu Content Warnings

lilacsophie's review against another edition

Go to review page

3.5


Expand filter menu Content Warnings
More...