Reviews tagging 'Torture'

Not Good for Maidens by Tori Bovalino

20 reviews

slavic_bookworm's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious tense medium-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

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, Slavery, Torture, Blood, Murder, and Violence

Minor: Grief and Cannibalism

itsheyfay's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Kidnapping, Blood, Body horror, Gore, Torture, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, and Violence

Moderate: Abandonment, Medical content, Confinement, and Medical trauma

Minor: Pregnancy

blackthornfaery's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Death, Gore, Grief, Physical abuse, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Body horror, Kidnapping, Medical content, and Torture

Moderate: Pregnancy

mattyb's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Body horror, Death, Gore, and Kidnapping

Moderate: Toxic relationship, Alcohol, Addiction, Confinement, Medical content, Stalking, Trafficking, Drug use, Sexual harassment, Torture, and Violence

Minor: Cannibalism

wrensreadingroom's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional fast-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Blood, Body horror, Cannibalism, Confinement, Cursing, Gore, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Vomit, Pregnancy, Kidnapping, Murder, Physical abuse, Torture, and Sexual content

cozywithraven's review against another edition

adventurous dark 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? No

3.5

I feel like the book had really good bones and an interesting premise. Some things could have been described better, a lot of passages were hard to follow. I also kind of felt like there were some threads in the beginning that didn't need to be there that were randomly brought back up in the last 3 pages that just felt random and easily forgettable. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Blood, Gore, Grief, Violence, Death, and Torture

Moderate: Pregnancy

ramunepocky's review against another edition

adventurous dark hopeful mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix

5.0

I really liked both of the perspectives in this book, both were separate and strong characters within their own right and they both had stories that, whilst they mirrored each other, were very different. They both had different personality traits and different motives for going into the Market and different points to prove and I enjoyed that. I loved the representation too, giving us both great asexual and bisexual rep !!!! I also loved the contrast between May and Lou, and how May grew up around the Market and was actively drawn to it, but couldn’t stay, and how Lou grew up sheltered from that side of her family history and only reluctantly entered the Market to save her Aunt and wanted to stay. 

This book was far from perfect, but I enjoyed the vibes immensely and it was dark and gothic without rlly being scary. I felt like the conclusion to Lou’s story and her getting her Aunt out of the Goblin Market felt too easy, but I still enjoyed it nonetheless. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Blood, Gore, Body horror, and Death

Moderate: Confinement, Torture, and Kidnapping

Minor: Cannibalism

madamenovelist's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious slow-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: Body horror, Blood, Gore, Vomit, Violence, Confinement, Child death, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Alcohol, Torture, Medical content, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, Drug use, Death, Cursing, and Addiction

ash_ton's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional sad 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

4.75

when Laura said "I'd do ANYTHING for you May" i cried. idk man 🤧

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Violence, Blood, Body horror, Death, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Confinement, Grief, Kidnapping, Child death, Torture, Medical content, Murder, and Physical abuse

Minor: Cannibalism, Kidnapping, and Vomit

cameronreads's review

2.0

I think it was abundantly clear that the author of this book was not Jewish. Disclaimer; neither am I, but I think it's important to talk about. As soon as I realised the goblins in this book would be evil characters alarm bells were set off in my head, and since doing some research into the tropes used, I think this book does do harm. There is of course one good goblin, but the general idea is that the goblins are evil and want to hurt people (and eat them on occasion) and have magical blood. All things that are outrageous stereotypes of Jewish people, especially considering goblins have been used as a way to represent and do harm to Jewish people. I'd really recommend looking at some Jewish reviewer's discussions on this. 

My opinions on the plot and characters of this book are rather average. I think the basic idea was there, but something about the pacing and what this book emphasised was off. I wasn't all that attached to the characters, especially because the character we're meant to be saving all through this book is never seen on page until the end. It meant the stakes didn't feel very high. To be honest, I would have read a whole book about one of the point of views (May's) if it had been expanded on and we had got to spend a bit more time with it (and there wasn't such antisemitic themes). 

I do however like the casual queer representation. The main characters are ace and bi respectively, and there's a pan side character, and all of these words are said on page. There's no prejudice against them because of their sexualities, and the main romance is a sapphic one. That was all really nice to see.

I'm really mad about this one - I loved Bovalino's other book and the other goblin market retelling I've read (In An Absent Dream, Seanan McGuire) so I really wanted to love this too. Unfortunate. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Antisemitism, Blood, Body horror, Cannibalism, Confinement, Death, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Murder, and Violence

Moderate: Child death, Grief, and Torture

Minor: Death of parent