Reviews tagging 'Alcohol'

Gild by Raven Kennedy

48 reviews

sophiecountsclouds's review against another edition

challenging dark hopeful mysterious tense slow-paced

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

3.0

From the first chapter, the tone confused me - it's a very sexual book, not in a sex scene way but in the horny Greek Kings literally have staff to have sex with way, but the narrative style felt very YA for a character who is definitely of age, maybe in her mid-20s? Perhaps it's an intentional emphasis on her naivity but I'm not convinced.

Although Midas is a Greek character, the whole thing didn't feel very Greek - there were references to 'the divine' generally but none of them are ever named and I personally thought that was odd.

I found Auren generally irritating as a character - she literally isn't like other girls and she says she's lonely but she has literally no consideration for the other girls who are constantly made to feel inferior to her.

Pacing was odd, plot was slow - clearly setting up for a series but it left this book feeling incomplete.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Confinement, Misogyny, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Sexual content, and Sexual harassment

Minor: Alcohol

jennipea382's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Gore, Infidelity, Child abuse, Death, Violence, Torture, Injury/Injury detail, Slavery, Trafficking, Sexual harassment, Misogyny, Sexual assault, Murder, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Gaslighting, Grief, Rape, and Confinement

Minor: Alcohol, Classism, Animal death, Blood, Cursing, and Adult/minor relationship

elgef's review against another edition

dark sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Violence, Rape, Physical abuse, Domestic abuse, Sexual violence, and Sexual assault

Moderate: Child abuse, Sexism, Trafficking, Adult/minor relationship, and Kidnapping

Minor: Vomit, Alcohol, and Alcoholism

tink2cma's review against another edition

adventurous challenging funny mysterious slow-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Alcohol, Misogyny, Toxic relationship, Sexual assault, Kidnapping, Sexual harassment, Gaslighting, Sexual content, Classism, Sexism, Confinement, Slavery, and Rape

Moderate: War, Death of parent, and Trafficking

raes_reading_nook's review against another edition

medium-paced

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

3.5

I definitely enjoyed this, and I’m curious to see where the series goes from here!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Misogyny, and Rape

sarahinvi's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense 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? No

4.0

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Content Warnings

Minor: Murder, Rape, Sexism, Physical abuse, Violence, Sexual violence, Gore, Trafficking, Death, Confinement, War, Sexual assault, Grief, Alcohol, Sexual content, and Injury/Injury detail

mariajoy's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

2.75

I thought the premise was interesting, but the storytelling didn't quite do it for me. There weren't enough redeeming qualities in the characters for my taste. I wanted to see a little more development in the main character, the poor helpless woman energy got old for me pretty quick. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual violence, Murder, Violence, Sexism, and Rape

Moderate: Alcohol

Minor: Trafficking

heyitsnay's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Rape, Death, Sexual assault, and Murder

Moderate: Alcohol, Emotional abuse, Child abuse, and Gore

Minor: Adult/minor relationship

kitsunasaur's review

adventurous dark sad tense 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

This was a “reread,” I didn’t eat it up quite as fast as the first time, but I was still as eager to continue every time. Even as one of the weakest in the series it’s still so captivating to me. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Sexual content, Murder, and Sexual assault

Moderate: Slavery, Physical abuse, Trafficking, Toxic relationship, Sexism, War, Violence, Rape, Misogyny, Kidnapping, and Infertility

Minor: Cursing, Alcohol, Body horror, Addiction, Gaslighting, Emotional abuse, and Confinement

rachelglazer's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious fast-paced

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

2.5

Not the strongest writing; the metaphors are weak and it definitely feels like the author stretched one book into a series needlessly. This whole book was build up for the next one.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Sexual assault, and Sexual violence

Minor: Alcohol and Child abuse

Gratuitous use of sexual violence to raise the stakes