Reviews with content warning for Misogyny - Extasia

Reviews tagging 'Misogyny'

Extasia by Claire Legrand

31 reviews

maple_dove's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional 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? No

5.0

Extasia by Claire Legrand is about a girl joining a coven to save her village from the Devil.

I Liked:

Puritanism is not the same as modern Christianity, though, I find that some bigoted themes are shared in both. I like how this book confronted them numerous times.
The hero to morally grey character to hero arc! I've always wanted to do that!
The CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT!!! Amity to Rage? Hell yeah!
The LGBTQ+ representation

I Didn't Like:

Hmmmmmm.

I was kind of caught off guard with the revelation of another civilization near Haven.

And--I know I said I liked the hero to morally grey character to hero arc, but it all went by so fast and I was so caught up in Rage's morally grey self, that it kind of felt like . . . a letdown?

Quotes:

"You were not there. He was going to hurt Hun--He was going to hurt Blessing."
"And so you decided you would be the one to cast judgment on him? You alone would choose his fate?"
"Blessing asked him to stop. He would not listen. He beat her, and beat me." I point at my face. "I did not give myself bruises!"
"He was with Blessing, you say."
"Yes, in the barn. They were . . . " I clench my fists, nails into palms. "They were lying together. My sister wished to stop. He would not."
Samuel looks aghast. "Your sister was lying with him. She agreed to lie with him, and then she wished to stop."
"As anyone might wish to stop eating, or drinking, or wish to stop sitting and stand up instead! What if I told you I was no longer hungry, and you kept shoving food into my mouth all the same?"
"That is different, Amity."
"How? Tell me."
He looks away, but I will not allow him to hide. I rush around to stand before him. "Tell me!"
"Because she is a girl unwed," he bursts out, "and yet she chose to lie with Adam. She chose lust over virtue, when that is one of the very things that brought The World That Once Was to ruin!" (pg. 286)

RELIGIOUS TEXTS NEVER justify ignorance of consent and attempted rape.

Other comments:

On the second day's night I was reading, I COULD NOT PUT THIS BOOK DOWN! AHHHHHHHHHHHH

Content Warnings

sinnabeanz's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

2.75

This book took so many turns it's not even funny how often I thought i knew what was happening and then was proven wrong.

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steffi_23's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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lady_moon's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

While reading, I was thinking that this is a total 5 stars read... Until the ending came. Like, it was reasonable and it's my fault I don't like dystopian's stuff that much. But after they found Hope everything went kinda meh for me. Maybe, maybe, if it wasn't for the Jaime's chapter, I would have considered giving it 5 stars anyway but it just... It was so unnecessary. I do not want a sequel. Part of Extasia's charm is that it's a standalone. I did not need this kind of epilogue. Took off the epilogue from Jaime's POV and the book will be perfect.

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kassielovestoread's review against another edition

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dark emotional tense slow-paced

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

4.5

A thing that I love about Claire Legrand's works is how the author writes every magical system as sentient- the magic has thoughts, it can speak to empowered individuals, it can also create a course of action and see it through. It is easily the most imaginative and unique aspect of these books and it's precisely why I love them so! Extasia was no exception. But before devouring this book as I did, take a moment to check trigger warnings.

I thought the world of Amity! Her courage to face the deceit that has plagued her town was admirable. Her willingness to think beyond the white hot rage she feels at all the abuse she and countless other women have endured at the hands of men to bring about a more peaceful Haven, was beyond me. I know for a fact that if I had to survive half of what Amity had and I had the chance at revenge, I would not hesitate. And yet, I do not fault Amity for choosing to build a new future for Haven instead of enacting her vengeance. If you act on the hatred boiling inside of you, what will be left of you when everyone who has wronged you is dead? How can anyone deal with such emptiness? Those who refuse to repent should, of course, be dealt with accordingly. But the town of Haven deserved to have a chance to live to become better people. Such a profound and important lesson.

Lastly, I thought this was going to be a standalone similarly to Sawkill Girls! I was surprised at the epilogue that suggested that business was not finished in the realm of Avazel. Can we expect a sequel anytime soon? I would hope so. I really enjoyed reading about the underground city of Hope and the badass Jaime!

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mooandshoe's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.75

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sallysimply's review against another edition

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challenging dark mysterious tense

Loveable characters? No

3.5

It’s The Grace Year, with magic, basically. Which is totally fine if you love The Grace Year. And which I would have known if I had actually read the updated blurbs, so that’s on me, I suppose (I just tend to avoid blurbs if it’s an author I like).

All of this to say that I only liked this marginally better than The Grace Year, and I possibly would have liked it more if I didn’t (unintentionally) read it almost immediately after.

Go into this expecting all the content warnings you might imagine when reading misogynistic dystopia.

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apersonfromflorida's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

3.5

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readingwithkelsey's review

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3.0

Claire Legrand's Sawkill Girls was a book that surprised me with its feminist take and commentary - and I have to admit, I really expected to be blown away by Extasia, but I was left disappointed. Overall, I did really enjoy the pseudo-puritan society created for this world. I love discussions of religion in novels and how it affects younger women, so the whole beginning portion for me was super interesting. Learning how Amity believed, what the town does in consequence of this belief, the fact that these younger women take on the roles of "saints" and how they are treated in consequence - amazing look at male dominated, puritan societies. The women were really interesting characters and how they discovered the lies and atrocities being committed by their elders was fascinating. One characters actions and feelings towards the whole situation was realistic and I really reading about her. However, it is once the element of witches comes into play in the novel that I started to drift away from the book. I think the worldbuilding in that aspect was not the most developed and didn't really make sense and

I think it really falls apart especially at the end when the more science fictiony dystopian world (which made sense to the puritan, isolated village part but not the witch part????)

. I think for many people this will be a hit because it does hit all the notes for witchy, fantasy-horror with feminist rage theme, but I feel as though because I was expecting much, much more it fell very flat to me.

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thebookishvalkyrie's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.5

This is a haunting story that will keep you thinking about it long after you’ve finished reading it. The prose are beautifully creepy. The horror elements are visceral, hooking into your subconscious and lingering on the edges of your conscious mind. The sapphic witchy vibes are exactly what I hoped for. The end is satisfying. Though there was a moment where I worried that the twist was tired one - but it’s been spun into something new and I enjoyed it in the end.

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