Reviews tagging 'Kidnapping'

A Dowry of Blood by S.T. Gibson

16 reviews

brookey8888's review against another edition

dark mysterious 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

3.75

I enjoyed this, but not as much as everyone else seems to. I enjoyed the way this was told(the audiobook was really good!). I do wish we got to see more of the relationships because I feel like we hardly got to see the man be like rude, you say it in small ways which I guess it what it it, but it was just a short time period. This doesn’t make any sense I’m sorry 😭 I did like that this different sexuality representation! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Gaslighting, Toxic relationship, Blood, Death, Emotional abuse, Grief, Gore, Violence, Sexism, Murder, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, and Misogyny

a_libra_library's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• 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

Poetic! Dramatic! I cried the entire time... I'm weak.
Reimaging of Dracula's brides written in letter formats. It's not glamorous or sexy as vampires are usually portrayed. It shows how dangerous and seductive and abusive relationships can get. I feel weird since its an abusive  poly-relationship but the three brides find comfort in each other and are against Dracula.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Cursing, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Gore, Grief, Physical abuse, Religious bigotry, Blood, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Kidnapping, Mental illness, War, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Abandonment, Confinement, Death, and Murder

annoyedhumanoid's review against another edition

dark hopeful reflective medium-paced

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

3.5

some absolutely fucked up family dynamics: characters are siblings, mother/son, father/children, yet everyone has sex with everyone. the writing was pretty but frequently over-the-top with its figurative language. it had a monumental task of pacing its story across several millennia but i felt it succeeded, focusing on single scenes or letting decades slip away to emphasize the narrator's experience (especially relevant in her description of "plague time" o.o ).

despite this, i just unfortunately was not that into it, the sex scenes made me uncomfortable lol and not that much happened, but i did appreciate the ending.
speaking of calling her "the narrator," it's interesting that it shares this unnamed-woman-narrator quality with the last book i read, The Handmaid's Tale, but a notable difference is that here the narrator only refers to her Commander-equivalent as "you" and never his name in order to strip him of his power.

cover design review: ★★★★☆. love the presentation of the author's name at the top, the decorative border, the central image; not a fan of the title's presentation. i like the typeface but i think "Dowry" could be weighted more like "Blood", the line spacing between "of" and "Blood" is wonky compared to the first three lines, really don't like the "A".

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Adult/minor relationship, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Emotional abuse, Murder, Genocide, Gore, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Confinement, Domestic abuse, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Abandonment, Sexual violence, Body horror, Child death, Alcohol, Incest, Infidelity, and War

Minor: Homophobia, Lesbophobia, Drug use, Self harm, Sexism, Death of parent, Cursing, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, and Genocide

no biphobia. homophobia and lesbophobia are only mentioned once as a concern of the narrator but are never realized. adult/minor relationship and incest are debatable because of the characters being immortal vampires and having an …unusual family dynamic, but there's definitely something messed up there

bookishbailey's review against another edition

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

5.0

This was such a beautiful love letter to finding yourself in the midst of someone else. Bram Stoker could never 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Emotional abuse, Murder, Sexual content, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Death, Domestic abuse, Kidnapping, and Physical abuse

Minor: Homophobia and War

rebeccaxpaige's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Sexual content, Sexism, Blood, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, and Physical abuse

Moderate: Body horror, Death, Cursing, Gaslighting, Kidnapping, Misogyny, and Murder

cgn's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective slow-paced

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

4.0

I don’t know what to say about this story other than it kept my interest. I don’t usually like dark stories, but this depiction of abusive relationships was extremely well done. Not a story for me, but I still enjoyed reading.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Emotional abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Mental illness, Toxic relationship, and Violence

Moderate: Fire/Fire injury, Murder, War, Confinement, Gaslighting, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Infidelity, Physical abuse, and Sexual content

Minor: Alcohol, Colonisation, Death of parent, Kidnapping, and Medical content