Reviews tagging 'Physical abuse'

One Dark Window by Rachel Gillig

20 reviews

notbambi's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

I liked a lot about this book - the atmosphere, the creepy nursery rhymes, the relationship between Elspeth and Nightmare, the magic system. It started slow, but after a few chapters, I was hooked. It wasn't quite a five star for me, in part because the plot and worldbuilding lacked depth and the romance didn't come together in a satisfying way for me. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore

Moderate: Child death and Vomit

Minor: Physical abuse, Torture, and Murder

elustrabable's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious medium-paced

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

4.0

It was a good read though I don't understand what part of this story was "dark fantasy". It does have some dark stuff to it but it was so not there that when I finished the book I kept asking myself where was the dark fantasy. I wasn't expecting anything super deep and dark like trigger warnings worthy theme but still expected some suspense which never came. 

I also did not like the writting style of this book. Too many of the sentence structures read like over the top try hard one-liners which irritated me while reading. It really felt like the author was trying too hard to be whimsical in the writting. Hopefully the second book is not like that. 

Nevertheless, it was a good story. I liked the world building, the FMC was not annoying or aggravating. At some parts she did irritate me but it wasn't enough to overshadow her as a character. Main boy was alright, nothing to go home about. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Physical abuse

kaylaswhitmore's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.75

Enjoyed this book and am looking forward to reading the second one! Gillig’s prose is both elevated and easy to follow, invoking something similar in feel to classic Victorian literature with a distinctly modern twist. Her pacing was great—neither slow or fast, and with just enough action to keep readers excited. However, I will say that I felt her world-building lacked a smidgen of severity. While we are often told in the first 2/3rds of the book that it is quite dangerous to be an infected person in Blunder, I think the tension could have benefitted from an earlier example of the King’s brutality (i.e. someone Elspeth knew being taken away, or her witnessing a public execution). In that regard, I do feel as if some of the stakes fell a tiny bit flat due to the lack of “showing” in comparison to “telling.” Despite that, I easily tumbled into the magic of the woods and mist and cards, and thoroughly enjoyed the twists and turns of Elspeth’s journey through such a tempestuous town. Excited to see how this story concludes!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Abandonment, and Blood

Moderate: Death, Murder, Child abuse, Cursing, Alcohol, Kidnapping, Physical abuse, and Sexual content

There is a slight, barely there mention of mind/body control of a man over a woman where it is insinuated to have been a very negative experience for the woman. It doesn’t mention any details about the nature of the mind/body control, but thought it was worth mentioning nonetheless.

mzquirk's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Terminal illness, Torture, Toxic relationship, Child death, Chronic illness, Cursing, Death, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Mental illness, Body horror, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Pandemic/Epidemic, Physical abuse, Child abuse, Confinement, Bullying, Misogyny, Murder, Sexual content, and Violence

thecasestudyofmylife_'s review against another edition

medium-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Minor: Violence, Bullying, Sexual content, Physical abuse, Blood, and Child abuse

emsavors's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Hate crime, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Murder, Police brutality, Sexual content, Terminal illness, Torture, Abandonment, Physical abuse, Alcohol, Blood, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Violence, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Classism, Mental illness, Cursing, Death of parent, and Forced institutionalization

karapillar's review

dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Medical content, Body horror, Self harm, Violence, Blood, Child death, Chronic illness, Confinement, Abandonment, Murder, Grief, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Terminal illness, Torture, Death, Gore, and Injury/Injury detail

bookmarkyourthoughts's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious fast-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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Physical abuse, Violence, and Bullying

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Abandonment, and Death

Minor: Child death and Death of parent

cover2covertx's review

adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Child death, Murder, and Violence

Moderate: Body horror, Physical abuse, Blood, and Torture

Minor: Fire/Fire injury

emilycor's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Loveable characters? Yes

5.0

I ate this book up in like three days! I thoroughly enjoyed the dark atmospheric prose and the fantasy itself is one of the novel’s strengths. I could have done without the spicy bits because they felt juvenile in a way that the rest of the novel isn’t 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse and Emotional abuse