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mlouise2974's review against another edition
- 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
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
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
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
- 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
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
vepowell's review against another edition
0.25
So... wow. The trigger warnings were nowhere near complete. The only LGBTQ+ rep was incredibly harmful. The writing was simply poor. Repeating words from sentence to sentence, world building issues, pacing issues. I honestly only read it because of the controversy- don't make the same mistake I did. Not worth the 6 hours it took to power through it.
The story arc wasn't so much an arc as a squiggly line that lost itself somewhere in the middle, and it felt like things that could have been a whole chapter were a page, like half the plot should have been held off to a second book. Also, for a "dark romance"... there's basically no romance, just some flirting mixed with poor representation of DID (by the authors admission). The final lines as some form of cliffhanger just felt like a desperate way to get the reader to read the next book.
World building wasn't really building, and the only component of the world built out was society's hatred of women and pushing them to an anorexic ideal that led to pain and death. The rest of the world? That apparently theres several continents, psychic powers that aren't psychic but are somehow just powers of observation, giant wolves and other magical type beasts... none of that was built out in any satisfactory way. It was just "look this society hates women and treats them horribly, also theres secret government organizations and stuff but let's just focus on this one asylum and the hatred of women".
Graphic: Death of parent, Forced institutionalization, Fire/Fire injury, Incest, Mental illness, Misogyny, Sexism, Sexual harassment, Suicide, Adult/minor relationship, Death, Eating disorder, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Violence, Vomit, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Transphobia, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Body shaming, Confinement, Bullying, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Sexual assault
maheen_m's review
- 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
the story follows skylenna (sorry but what is that name? šā) 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)
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
- 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
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
- 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
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
stablebiscuit's review against another edition
- 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
2.25
The book itself was good, despite the tropes being overdone. Also- definite transphobia on the authorās part. A trans character rapes her sonā¦ can we stop the ācrossdressing man that is a rapistā trope for trans women? Itās disgusting.
Graphic: Stalking, Torture, Violence, Trafficking, Transphobia, Alcoholism, Blood, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Medical content, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Sexual harassment, Death of parent, Grief, Murder, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, and Suicide
ganseyboy69's review
3.75
Graphic: Child abuse, Sexual violence, and Violence
Moderate: Mental illness
Minor: Domestic abuse, Transphobia, and Vomit
lotte5322's review against another edition
4.0
Graphic: Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Rape, Death, Death of parent, Alcoholism, Body shaming, Suicide, Sexual assault, Child abuse, Vomit, Eating disorder, Incest, Suicidal thoughts, Murder, Physical abuse, Domestic abuse, Pedophilia, Violence, Misogyny, and Bullying