Reviews tagging 'Suicidal thoughts'

Strange the Dreamer by Laini Taylor

17 reviews

maeverose's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious slow-paced

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

3.25

Things I liked:
The story was fun. The writing is super pretty and atmospheric. So many quotes i wanted to highlight. It was very easy for me to imagine what was being described, and i loved that. I like Lazlo a lot as a character. I like anything to do with dreams so I loved that that was a big part of the story.

Things I didn’t like:
Sarai’s chapters/the citadel chapters felt super repetitive, at least in the beginning. I was often pretty bored during those chapters. As much as I love the writing, it is overwritten at times. I think this book should’ve been about 100 pages shorter, the pacing is very slow for most of it. Also the reveals were pretty predictable but I guess that’s not super surprising for YA. It’s also very instalove. Very mild spoilers for this next part (it doesn’t have to do with the main romance, just side characters): I didn’t like the non consensual kiss played off as funny because it was a girl doing it to a guy. If the roles were reversed I don’t think it would’ve gone down the same… It’s still sexual assault no matter who’s doing it. And then when it happens again later it was still very dubious consent at first. Idk it made me feel gross.

I hate everything about that ending. I hate minya so much. Please tell me she dies a painful death in the next book. And that sparrow is able to bring sarai back to her body with her powers and then sarai and lazlo get to live happily ever after. If that doesn’t happen I’m suing. /j

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Blood, Child death, Death, Rape, Slavery, Grief, Murder, Pregnancy, Child abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, and Toxic friendship

Minor: Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Confinement, Gore, Sexual assault, Death of parent, and Fire/Fire injury

There was frequent mention of female fertility and ‘becoming a woman’ once you bleed. Personally it made me uncomfortable, as an afab non binary person with zero desire to ever get pregnant.

cookiecat73's review against another edition

dark mysterious 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? No

2.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Genocide, Murder, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Rape, Sexual violence, Suicide attempt, Violence, Xenophobia, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Fire/Fire injury, Child death, Death of parent, and Kidnapping

Minor: Pregnancy and Misogyny

maddiebusick's review against another edition

adventurous 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Death, Grief, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Trafficking, Child death, Fire/Fire injury, Kidnapping, and Rape

Minor: Suicidal thoughts, Confinement, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Sexual content, and Slavery

bethy_joy's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Child death, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Abandonment, Death, Suicidal thoughts, Child abuse, Bullying, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Sexual content, and Slavery

buckydotson's review against another edition

adventurous emotional inspiring 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

4.0

I really thought this was going to be a one-off book but I'm interested to read the second book. I thought Lazlo was a great character - he's kind, funny, and wants to help everyone. Sarai made me so sad because she was truly caught between two worlds and had to bare the burden of what her family did along with the tragedy of what had been done to them.

I truly was not expecting it to be Sarai that fell out of the Citadel?? That surprised me. Also Minya is such a bitch, I really hate her as a character and just think she's vile.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death

Minor: Suicidal thoughts

msradiosilence's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny inspiring mysterious sad 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? No

4.0

Tldr; I hate the age gap between Lazlo and Sarai, because it was entirely unnecessary as the characters speak for themselves. The setting is beautiful.

Read my full review at: https://www.rainyreader.com/single-post/strange-the-dreamer.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Sexual content, Blood, Slavery, Death, Death of parent, Child death, Pregnancy, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Kidnapping, and Sexual assault

bookcaptivated's review against another edition

adventurous hopeful mysterious sad medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Death, Gore, Grief, Murder, and Violence

Moderate: Child death, Confinement, Death of parent, Genocide, Sexual content, and Xenophobia

Minor: Kidnapping, Rape, and Suicidal thoughts