Reviews tagging 'Abandonment'

A Dowry of Blood by S.T. Gibson

31 reviews

bodiless's review

dark emotional mysterious relaxing sad 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? It's complicated

5.0

THE BEST BOOK EVER ITS SO SAD.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Physical abuse, Abandonment, Blood, Cannibalism, Death, Gaslighting, Mental illness, Emotional abuse, and Injury/Injury detail

thebookishwizard's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective tense slow-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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content, Blood, Emotional abuse, Abandonment, War, Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, and Death

Minor: Sexism

scam_lark's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Abandonment, Gore, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Murder, Addiction, Death, Toxic relationship, Violence, Sexual content, Blood, Confinement, and Domestic abuse

boredarchivist's review

dark emotional hopeful fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Blood, and Gore

Moderate: Toxic relationship and Abandonment

ljp817's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional tense fast-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? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Murder, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Death, Sexual content, Violence, Mental illness, and Physical abuse

Minor: Abandonment and Infidelity

caitlinemccann's review

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

3.0

Dowry of Blood was a solid read for me, but I don't think my experience with it lived up to the hype from its release. Lyrically written, with an apt handling of sensitive topics from the perspective of a survivor of trauma and literal centuries of domestic abuse. Yet, I still struggled to feel invested in the overall story. Some of that issue came from not feeling like I understood the main character Constanta on her own; I only ever grasped her in relation to other characters and the emotions they brought about in her. And maybe that's the point? That Constanta's finally able to make meaning in her life in the wake of

murdering her tyrannical, abusive maker

. If so, I sadly don't think that resonated with me in a way that makes this novel shine. If you're a fan of classics and/or retellings of classics, this is still a worthwhile read though.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Violence, Blood, Bullying, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Confinement, Injury/Injury detail, Toxic relationship, Classism, Death, Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, and Mental illness

Moderate: Grief, Self harm, Sexual content, Abandonment, and War

jdieperink's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective tense

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Loveable characters? It's complicated

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Body horror, Infidelity, Blood, and Emotional abuse

Moderate: Confinement

emilywemily6's review

dark mysterious sad 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? It's complicated

3.5

There are lots of things about this book that give it merit, but it just didn’t quite do it for me. The writing is beautiful and gripping, and the characters are all very interesting. I think my expectations didn’t align with the book itself as I thought this was more of a retelling than a “reimagining,” so it was hard to appreciate this story when it kept going against the original Dracula novel. The darkness of this book was found more within the toxic relationship with Dracula than with the nature of vampires; I thought this book would show more of the wives’ descent into evil. This take made them seem like immortal humans rather than devilish creatures of the night. I liked seeing the progression of the toxic relationship and how the “wives” came to see Dracula for who he really was. This gothic tale strays from the original novel and tells a very different kind of story. This is a polyamorous relationship also, which took me by surprise. Overall, I’m not sure how much I enjoyed the book as a whole, but I’ll be thinking about it for a while.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Gaslighting, Gore, Grief, Toxic relationship, Blood, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, and Sexual content

Moderate: Kidnapping

Minor: Abandonment, Alcohol, Classism, and Death of parent

neomreads's review

challenging dark mysterious tense medium-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

5.0

I was not expecting this book to be so good.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Violence, Blood, Sexual content, Self harm, Body horror, Vomit, Gaslighting, War, Emotional abuse, Gore, Physical abuse, and Murder

Moderate: Abandonment

Minor: Sexual assault and Drug use

faduma's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Injury/Injury detail, Infidelity, Murder, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual content, Abandonment, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Gaslighting, Gore, Torture, Violence, Misogyny, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, and Toxic relationship