Reviews tagging 'Pregnancy'

Deerskin by Robin McKinley

8 reviews

drasticpear's review against another edition

Maybe at some point, I'll come back to it. I liked it while I was reading it but once I put it down it was hard to pick up again.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Incest, Animal cruelty, and Rape

Moderate: Confinement and Pregnancy

hollowistheworld's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful inspiring medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Incest, Sexual assault, and Pregnancy

gracefully_jk's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful tense medium-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Miscarriage, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Blood, Physical abuse, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Suicidal thoughts, Rape, Incest, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Sexual assault, and Sexual violence

Moderate: Vomit, Grief, Death of parent, Child abuse, Pregnancy, Abandonment, Animal cruelty, and Excrement

smuttymcbookface's review against another edition

adventurous dark slow-paced

• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

Princess Lissla is daughter to the most loved couple in the Kingdom. Unable to take their eyes off one another, it looks like a fairytale to everyone. Except, they, and their kingdom, overlook their only child.

When the most beautiful woman in all the Kingdoms, the Queen, dies, and makes the King promise never to remarry unless the person is more beautiful than she is, he falls into a grief. A different kingdom gift Lissla a fleethound to help with her grief, and through this fleethound, Ash, she finds strength to be seen by those she wishes.

Years later, when she's just turned 17, the King realises that she is just as beautiful as her mother was, and so demands that she marries him in three days. Despite her attempts to lock herself away, he attacks her before their marriage.

Clinging onto her last piece of strength, she leaves the castle to a forest, where she and Ash are reborn, though with lasting scars from her trauma.

Deerskin was a beautiful story, told in a fairytale narrative. It was easy to feel what the characters felt, and to understand the hurt, the loss, and the bonds that formed. In addition, it was so sweet to read about the fleethound, and how the character quirks line up exactly with the sighthounds of these ages.

I have two things that I didn't like about this story. The first is that I found it too long-winded in certain parts. Thoughts and ideas were often repeated to show a train of thought, but when this happened consistently through scenes, it became difficult to read. My second issue was with the fantastical elements; I sometimes found these quite hard to follow, or when I did follow, a little ridiculous (

such as when she bled a tree from her vagina in the throne room?

). I loved the premise of the moonwoman, and her escape through her, but some things were taken a little too far.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Miscarriage, Incest, and Rape

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Pregnancy, Animal cruelty, and Child abuse

lillizzy's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful inspiring sad slow-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Sexual assault, Pedophilia, Animal cruelty, Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Rape, Pregnancy, Miscarriage, Child abuse, Sexual violence, and Incest

lottomotto's review against another edition

challenging dark sad tense slow-paced

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

1.0

Wasted fantasy storytelling. I realize this story is dated but it didn’t challenged some boundaries or stretch a classic myth into a unique yarn .

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Physical abuse, Body shaming, Adult/minor relationship, Confinement, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Pregnancy, Religious bigotry, Sexual assault, Animal cruelty, Child abuse, Child death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Incest, Panic attacks/disorders, Miscarriage, Rape, Sexism, Sexual violence, and Violence

tasintom's review

5.0

Now one of my top 10 reads. And my new favorite audiobook. A fantastic story told so very well

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Miscarriage, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Fire/Fire injury, Pregnancy, Rape, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Dysphoria, Emotional abuse, Grief, Blood, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Adult/minor relationship, and Animal cruelty

krisawesome's review against another edition

4.0

It’s a take on a darker, often sanitized Perrault tale, but the focus here is very much about trauma and its aftermath, and coping, and recovery. It’s hard to read at times, but it’s so beautifully done.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Incest, Rape, Sexual violence, Violence, and Panic attacks/disorders

Moderate: Blood, Miscarriage, Pregnancy, and Suicidal thoughts