Reviews tagging 'Torture'

The Pawn and The Puppet by Brandi Elise Szeker

14 reviews

moendchen's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious tense 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

4.5

Please read the trigger warnings for this one!! Theres a heavy main theme that overshadows this whole book and it’s definitely not for everyone. Please be cautious. 

But omg I had such a good time! My only critique is, that sky truly never saves herself. Never. Even when she does, she uses the advice/the words that were given to her to protect/save herself.  Plus worldbuilding could be better tbh. Still would read it again! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Sexism, Emotional abuse, Domestic abuse, Blood, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Vomit, Mental illness, Eating disorder, Physical abuse, Rape, Torture, Death of parent, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Child abuse, Child death, Death, and Grief

Moderate: Panic attacks/disorders, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Kidnapping, Suicidal thoughts, Alcohol, Fire/Fire injury, Suicide attempt, and Toxic relationship

mlouise2974's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious tense slow-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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Alcohol, Blood, Bullying, Child death, Confinement, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Forced institutionalization, Suicide, Violence, Torture, Toxic relationship, Animal cruelty, Body shaming, Cursing, Death, Death of parent, Drug use, Genocide, Gore, Grief, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Medical content, Mental illness, Murder, Vomit, Incest, Self harm, Panic attacks/disorders, and Sexual content

isabelleroyall's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Death, Rape, Body horror, Body shaming, Fatphobia, Murder, Physical abuse, Sexual harassment, Stalking, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Child abuse, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual assault, Torture, Violence, Death of parent, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Medical content, Mental illness, and Misogyny

delli06's review against another edition

dark mysterious medium-paced

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

1.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Sexual content, Transphobia, Body shaming, Cultural appropriation, Incest, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racism, Toxic relationship, Violence, Adult/minor relationship, Bullying, Rape, Self harm, Sexual harassment, Torture, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Sexual violence, and Medical content

tinksreviews's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Child abuse, Suicide, Mental illness, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Torture, and Sexual assault

Moderate: Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Kidnapping, Body horror, Death of parent, Eating disorder, and Domestic abuse

violentai's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious sad tense slow-paced

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

3.5

This was a hard book to swallow. Very slow burn for me. Very hard  debilitating abuse occurs within these pages. Some of which seemed over the top and unnecessary. Like one would use it to hit a word threshold instead of for plot or character development. 
This is definitely 100% not a book for a LOT of people. It is not for the feint at heart and it is not for those who find themselves upset with darker themes. Because the abuse makes it pretty damn dark. I went into this knowing how bad it would it could be and some of it as said previously seemed unnecessary or as if it was not researched properly. I am going to now have a rant.

A person would die if they were locked in a closet for weeks at a time without food. They will die if they consume drywall to survive. A person would die if they’re locked for weeks in a basement if not going insane themselves from the pitch blackness. A person would go insane from numerous years of torture as a child. He started being tortured at 6. He would not come away from that with ONLY split personalities. If a person gets their clothes torn, cut up or bloodied from a battle or a knife cutting them or a person ripping their clothes for nefarious reasons they should not suddenly seem okay in the next scene! Their clothes dried with blood on them. Are you seriously telling me she didn’t feel it crusting on her or between her cleavage when he grazed his finger there???

End rant.

The romance between the characters and the mystery were interesting if not fun. I enjoyed the romance just not the seemingly unnecessary volume of abuse. 

Thank you for reading. I hope this helps others see if this book is right for them or not.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Child abuse, and Physical abuse

Moderate: Death, Toxic relationship, Forced institutionalization, Torture, Suicide, Rape, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Panic attacks/disorders, Body shaming, Adult/minor relationship, Abandonment, Excrement, and Death of parent

Minor: Incest, Eating disorder, Sexual harassment, and Sexism

maheen_m's review

challenging dark mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

4.75

look i don't know what kind of crack this author put in this book, but i devoured this.

the story follows skylenna (sorry but what is that name? 😭✋) and the mysterious hawt patient 13 as skylenna works here way through the dreaded asylum to help the patients, rather than torture them the way that the asylum instructs them to. all the patients are there because they either have committed crimes or they just don't fit in with the way society dictates them to.

the fantasy element was quite subtle in my opinion, we don't get much apart from the mysterious powers patient 13 has - and even that's not magic, he can just resist all forms of torture.

dessin was really well written (patient 13) and he was really charismatic. i loved the chemistry with sky, it was well developed and fully written out. no insta love here!

now.. the DID thing has me confused as hell. first we see that dessin is the more dominant alter, protecting the weaker one, kane. i loved kane too, he was such a sweetheart (like an old soul). but greystone?? at the end?? i am scared for sky he is a literal creeep.

how scary though - you fall in love with dessin, really like kane and then he changes and has a complete different personality?? stop because i'm scareddddd. how will it be resolved? will all the alters just live together and pop out when they like?

anyway, the plot was a bit all over the place, i still don't know where it's going; it kind of bounced from the asylum to sky's sister to the general soceity and i have no clue what really happened. i was here for dessin and sky tbh. it was really interesting though - for her first book the author managed to keep me captivated.

i would check cw's because it is quite graphic with torture at times, and it mentions assault and abuse quite a bit.

4.75 stars! buzzing for the second one!! (less) 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Violence, Murder, and Torture

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Terminal illness, Mental illness, and Physical abuse

Minor: Sexual harassment, Sexual assault, Adult/minor relationship, and Pedophilia

lilithreads's review against another edition

dark emotional 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture, Blood, Child death, Body shaming, Murder, Physical abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Suicide, Violence, Sexism, Mental illness, Injury/Injury detail, Child abuse, Misogyny, Medical trauma, Eating disorder, and Death of parent

Moderate: Sexual violence, Suicide attempt, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual assault, and Torture

soniajoy98's review

dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

0.5

horrifying graphic trauma porn do NOT read for your own mental health please

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Bullying, Child abuse, Death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Eating disorder, Fatphobia, Murder, Pedophilia, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Rape, Sexual assault, Medical trauma, Physical abuse, Ableism, Alcoholism, Body shaming, Child death, Cursing, Emotional abuse, Excrement, Grief, Sexism, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Body horror, Forced institutionalization, Alcohol, Confinement, Dysphoria, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Mental illness, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Vomit, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, and Violence

Moderate: Animal death, Fire/Fire injury, Self harm, Transphobia, Dementia, Drug use, Kidnapping, Religious bigotry, and Incest

Minor: Infidelity

ladyashhbooks's review against another edition

dark mysterious fast-paced

• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated

2.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Pedophilia, Vomit, Gore, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Child death, Death of parent, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Incest, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicide, Torture, Death, Domestic abuse, Kidnapping, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, and Rape