Reviews tagging 'War'

Yellow Jessamine by Caitlin Starling

6 reviews

buttondragon's review against another edition

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dark mysterious 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? Yes

4.5

Short and thoroughly enjoyable. While flawed, I really loved the central characters and how they interacted with each other. Definitely worth the couple hours it’ll take to read! 
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spadedigsbutts's review against another edition

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

3.75

This was a short read but pretty decent! The story takes place in a city under siege by a new non-royal rebel government where our MC is is part of the old noble class barely keeping things together as the city starves. A mysterious and seemingly supernatural sickness strikes and our MC is at the heart of it for unknown reasons.  Will she get to the bottom of it?? Hell no, she's a self-serving mercantile recluse that just wants to keep as much as her power as possible while avoiding eye contact with the 15 elephants in the room! If you like slow-paced character studies with deeply flawed characters and lesbians, you will enjoy this book. If you like lingering dread, tension, eerie seemingly supernatural elements and apothecary aesthetic, you'll enjoy this book.  Overall, the only complaint would be the ending felt a little rushed and I wish we'd spent more time on some aspects of the end, but I think it's a matter of opinion if you find it suitable or not.
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hexedmaiden's review against another edition

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dark fast-paced

3.0

Another book on my list from 2023 that involved some plant horror. In this book we follow Evelyn Perdanu who is the sole heiress to a company in the fictional 1800s. Besides being a rich company owner she sells plant concoctions on the side. Some seem for medical reasons and others. Soon bodies start popping up around her and we later find out why.
This story was definitely not what I expected. I knew it was spooky, set in the Victorian era and there was queer rep. I was shook that there was plant horror, or rather our evil monster was made of plants. The ending was bittersweet and I wish it was more of a happy ending but all in all I still enjoyed it. 
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tansy's review against another edition

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dark mysterious

4.0

Dark fantasy novella. This lost me in the final third, which raises a lot of questions and does seem as if the power of love saves the day. (Sort of. I wouldn't say this has a happy ending.) But if you enjoyed the fucked up relationship between the protagonists in Starling's "The Luminous Dead" then I highly recommend you read this.
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typedtruths's review against another edition

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

3.0

 i love strange books. i love wicked women. i love caitlin starling... but this didn't quite do it for me.


➸ Trigger warnings for
misogyny, attempted arranged marriage recounted, domestic abuse mentioned, alcohol consumption, drug abuse (on-page), smoking, miscarriage mentioned, body horror, emesis, physical injuries including eye trauma (intentional but nonconsensual chemically-induced vision loss), plague, murder of a father and brothers recounted, murder and attempted murder (on-page), physical assault mentioned, whipping, torture, poisoning (theme), kidnapping and captivity, and fire*.

*Context: A boat full of infected sailors is set on fire to prevent a plague outbreak. In the opening scene, the protagonist observes the boat fire from the shore
.

▷ Representation: Evelyn (mc) & Violetta (sc) are sapphic.

Blog • Trigger Warning Database • StoryGraph 
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bethsiekierawalker's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

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