Reviews tagging 'Police brutality'

Serpent and dove. La strega e il cacciatore by Shelby Mahurin

8 reviews

liesthemoontells's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny 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

3.0

This book was INCREDIBLY FRUSTRATING.

For the first 2/3, I felt as if I were reading two different books. One was a compelling fantasy world, dominated by witches with a complex magic system and sociopolitical clan structure. The other was a crappy Throne of Glass Chaol/Celaena fanfic if Chaol was built like a literal bear. While the plot geared up in the last third and the two began to mesh together, I still feel extremely resentful for having to read the early stages of the enemies to lovers plot.

Lou is a very charming protagonist. She has an excellent sense of humour, and as a narrator she drops exposition naturally. Her internal conflict is believable, as are the choices she makes even when they go against her ethics and morals.

The early to middle sections from Reid's perspective are odious and exhausting. Maybe it benefits straight female readers with terrible romantic partners to read the POV of a misogynistic, rage-filled asshole who is changed by the diamond level pussy of his lady love, but I struggle to understand why even they would enjoy it. I guess it's a testament to Mahurin that I didn't still absolutely LOATHE him by the end of the book, but I still dislike him as a character and find their romance plot exhausting.

Some of the sillier plot points are resolved by the end, but others, such as

why the caddish heir to the throne is a) suddenly trusted by a witch with the gravest secret of her people and b) chooses to risk life and limb to assist her and her ragtag friends on a suicide mission

remain a mystery.

Unfortunately, the book ends with an EXTREMELY COMPELLING cliffhanger about the second major witch clan that inhabits the Serpent & Dove universe, so shit, it looks like I'm going to have to read the sequel.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Chronic illness, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Hate crime, Infidelity, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Xenophobia, Blood, Police brutality, Kidnapping, Grief, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Colonisation, War, and Injury/Injury detail

librosdeunamestiza's review against another edition

adventurous dark 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? Yes

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny, Physical abuse, Self harm, Sexism, Violence, Blood, Police brutality, Religious bigotry, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Sexual assault, Torture, and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Vomit

llsacco's review against another edition

challenging medium-paced

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

2.5

I did not find the relationship between these characters believable. It felt like Stockholm syndrome but the oppressed falls for the oppressor in a matter of days? By the end, I did not care enough about these characters to finish the trilogy. 

I listened to the audiobook version of this book and could not get passed how terrible the voice acting was for the male character, especially when relaying lines for the female character. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Hate crime, Misogyny, Sexism, Torture, Toxic relationship, Forced institutionalization, Police brutality, Kidnapping, Religious bigotry, Murder, Gaslighting, and Classism

greeeer_e_rutt's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Misogyny, Violence, Blood, Police brutality, Religious bigotry, War, and Classism

Moderate: Body horror, Child abuse, Cursing, Sexual content, Kidnapping, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

hmatt's review against another edition

adventurous emotional tense medium-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

3.75

This one has been lingering on my shelves for years as a highly-praised gift book, so I'm glad I finally got to it. 

YA "romantasy" is wayyy down the list of genres I gravitate towards, but I did find this enjoyable. The world-building is solid, and the characters are interesting. For me, the complexity of the novel is just right: it's not high high fantasy with a million characters and dynamics, but there is enough there for it to be satisfyingly fleshed-out. I'm even contemplating reading the next book in the series...

That said, I'm still rating based on my taste. This is definitely for a younger audience, and it shows in how some of the relationships develop (including the primary romantic one, in which a switch just seems to flick between one chapter and the next). Some of the writing is clumsy or overly descriptive in a gauche way.

I had fun, though! And I hardly ever read physical books over 400 pages, so that's a big win.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Self harm, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Police brutality, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Fire/Fire injury, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Animal death, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual content, and Medical trauma

Minor: Abandonment

katievallin's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny hopeful mysterious tense fast-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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Hate crime, Misogyny, Sexism, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Police brutality, Grief, Religious bigotry, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Cursing, Sexual content, and Pregnancy

bluebreex's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny tense medium-paced

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

3.0

It definitely did not live up to the hype for me and I didn't really love the romance in this book: it felt a bit forced and rushed. But, I did find the portrayal of witches and magic really interesting! The magical aspect was the main thing that kept me invested, as for me I did not get that invested in the plot until around Act 3.

I found Lou being the character I liked the most all in all - however that doesn't count for much in the end due to how I found almost all of the men in this book to be perverted and creepy. (Whether that was intentional or not).

Not sure if I will continue with this series or not.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny, Sexism, and Religious bigotry

Moderate: Vomit, Police brutality, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Pregnancy

kazik's review against another edition

adventurous medium-paced

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

2.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Body horror, Cursing, Death, Genocide, Misogyny, Sexism, Blood, Police brutality, Kidnapping, and Murder

Minor: Child death, Self harm, and Torture