Reviews tagging 'Violence'

Extasia by Claire Legrand

35 reviews

maple_dove's review against another edition

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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Gore, Misogyny, Sexism, Sexual assault, Violence, Cannibalism, Religious bigotry, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Animal death, Homophobia, Infidelity, and Sexual content

Minor: Physical abuse

Purity culture (graphic), Attempted rape (graphic), Sex scene

midnightgremlin's review against another edition

dark 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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Infidelity, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Terminal illness, Violence, Blood, Grief, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Murder, and Fire/Fire injury

sinnabookz's review against another edition

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexism, Religious bigotry, and Sexual harassment

Moderate: Rape, Violence, Blood, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Child death, Death, Death of parent, Lesbophobia, Fire/Fire injury, and Classism

steffi_23's review against another edition

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexism, Violence, and Religious bigotry

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, and Gaslighting

Minor: Sexual assault

abookishwasp's review

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? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

This had all the ingredients to make a perfect book, a book that I would be obsessed with, but for some reason I did not become absolutely obsessed with it. I went into it completely blind, no knowing what it was about and I was pleasantly surprised by all the elements of the story, normally I absolutely devour stories like these, but there's something I cannot put my finger on about this book that made me not enjoy it as much.

 I am not sure if it's the writing or the characters or the pacing or the narrator of the audiobook. None of these particularly put me off but at the same time none of them were able to grab my attention and keep me interested. My favourite part about this is the story itself as a whole, the concept and the setting, which is very atmospheric. Also towards the end the story took a turn that I did not quite expect that kind of left me dumbfounded and it just didn't really seem to fit with the vibe while it did make sense. 

Overall it was an okay book but it lacked something for me. I would however recommend it if you enjoyed "The Year of the Witching" by Alexis Henderson and the tv show Salem.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Gore, Physical abuse, Violence, Blood, and Death of parent

Moderate: Confinement and Sexual assault

sillylilreader's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective 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

5.0

creepy, dark, incredible story. psychologically a wild ride, horrifying & then empowering. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence and Blood

Moderate: Sexual assault

lady_moon's review against another edition

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Violence, Blood, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Gun violence, Rape, Sexual assault, Suicide, Grief, Fire/Fire injury, and Gaslighting

mooandshoe's review against another edition

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny, Sexual content, Violence, Blood, and Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Sexual assault, Lesbophobia, and Gaslighting

Minor: War

lizgriffinwords's review against another edition

dark tense slow-paced

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

3.25

Thank you Epic Reads for the gifted ARC.

Although the writing style is lyrical and poignant and visceral, the quantity of triggering material outweighed my enjoyment of the book. Perhaps the intent was to give women a revenge fantasy, and I understand the appeal… but framing it in a world that is so horrible to women just made reading it somewhat of a slog because horrific things continued happening to Amity/Rage and the other protagonists for so much of the book.

Specifically, content includes religious/patriarchal cult trauma, attempted rape, implied past rape, frequent physical abuse, gaslighting, explicit violence/gore/body horror, and death.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gore, Violence, and Religious bigotry

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, and Sexual violence

Minor: Confinement and Sexual content

thebookishvalkyrie's review against another edition

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexism, Violence, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Homophobia, Sexual assault, Xenophobia, Grief, Lesbophobia, and War

Minor: Racism