Reviews tagging 'Acephobia/Arophobia'

The Grimrose Girls by Laura Pohl

14 reviews

lunep's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense

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

2.0

It was gripping but the characters were flat, I didn't care for any of them, the whole magic thing came out of nowhere and felt weird (and hopefully it gets explained on the second book because it wasn't on this one), and the representation was done very poorly: Ella's "OCD" is nothing like real OCD, Rory, Nani and Yuki's sexualities felt very stereotypical, and Yuki being so cold and emotionless is a harmful aroace stereotype, far from the truth (even tho it can be explained by the fact that she was been brought up to be perfect, perfect can still show emotions), and while I don't think the author was trying to say trans people are beasts, making the only trans character The Beast/Adam from Beauty and the Beast was still a poor choice (because we see that the characters and their stories from the book aren't modern versions of their fairy-tale counterparts that follow exactly the same paths, like Micaeli, I think what the author wanted to do was make Svenja's transition represent Adam going back to his real form after being freed from the witch's curse, without being literal to the story and making it all "oh I found love and that's what made me strong enough to be my true self"). I'm debating between reading the second one (partly because I'm a scaredy cat and this made me sleep with my lights on lmao) and just finding the most spoilery review possible to find out what happens 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Suicide, Toxic friendship, Body horror, Chronic illness, Blood, and Gore

Moderate: Death of parent, Abandonment, Transphobia, Vomit, Acephobia/Arophobia, and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Homophobia, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Deadnaming, and Mental illness

fe_aye's review

adventurous dark mysterious relaxing 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

3.0

This book was an interesting twist on classical fairy tales and folk stories, fighting fate and finding the truth all the while dealing with the challenges of growing up. An enjoyable read. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Fire/Fire injury, Blood, Body horror, Murder, Chronic illness, Cursing, Death of parent, Gore, Child abuse, and Child death

Moderate: Acephobia/Arophobia, Cursing, Injury/Injury detail, and Suicide

yvonne_cl's review

adventurous dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Domestic abuse, and Murder

Minor: Abandonment, Acephobia/Arophobia, Blood, Chronic illness, Cursing, and Death of parent

jello's review

adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious tense fast-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? It's complicated

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Acephobia/Arophobia

mals_library's review

dark funny mysterious tense fast-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? It's complicated

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Death, Grief, Murder, Suicide, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Mental illness, Blood, Classism, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Acephobia/Arophobia, and Body horror

Minor: Vomit, Death of parent, Toxic relationship, and Abandonment

maev_e's review

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore

Moderate: Fatphobia, Acephobia/Arophobia, Racism, and Suicide

Minor: Classism, Xenophobia, and Transphobia

Very stereotypical Asian and aro-ace rep, some lesbian stereotypes, annoying & random pop/ internet culture references

morevna's review against another edition

dark emotional tense medium-paced

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

0.75

Awful Asian rep, godawful aroace rep

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Acephobia/Arophobia, and Gore

Moderate: Death of parent, Physical abuse, Fatphobia, Child abuse, and Emotional abuse

anniereads221's review

adventurous dark mysterious tense fast-paced

• Loveable characters? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Grief, Mental illness, Abandonment, Acephobia/Arophobia, Domestic abuse, Body horror, Death of parent, Gore, Murder, Racism, Suicide, Violence, Ableism, Blood, Child abuse, and Chronic illness

drowning

ashleykarime's review

dark emotional mysterious medium-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Gore, Murder, Child abuse, Acephobia/Arophobia, and Emotional abuse

Minor: Gore, Death of parent, and Physical abuse

eviecate's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional lighthearted mysterious tense slow-paced

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

4.0

I loved this book! The characters were very compelling and I am so excited to see where this series goes. This book is for the kids who read Ever After High as a child and are looking for something a bit darker. I liked the writing as well although it was a little rough at the beginning. The only drawback for me is the mystery. It was very predictable and I guessed who the killer was from the beginning. It was very slow passed but I am hoping that it pays off in the sequel. If I read this book 3 years ago I would have been OBSESSED. The diversity was refreshing, both in LGBT and POC representation. I appreciate that Pohl is unafraid to label her characters on the page. I love fairytale retellings and this series is such an interesting take on it. I can't wait to see how it develops!

Notes after 24 hours: While i initially loved everything about this book there are a few problematic elements that I can't look past. I have knocked this book down a star because of the implications of the problematic representation. A lot of the representation is rooted in stereotypes. The worst of which being (MINOR SPOILERS) the Belle character from Beauty and the Beast's love interest is a trans woman. This character is also tied to the Ugly Duckling fairytale. This implication makes me feel very upset as I did love Svenja's character in the book, I just hate the portrayal of her as "beastly" or "ugly." Other stereotypes include: mean lesbians, the asian main character's arc revolves around parental pressure to be perfect, one character's mental illness being introduced by another character asking her if "she's taken her meds, yet." While i feel like this is still a good book despite stereotyping, I wish the author had put more thought into portraying identities other than her own.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Child death, Death, Murder, and Violence

Moderate: Acephobia/Arophobia, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, and Suicide

Minor: Eating disorder