Reviews tagging 'Emotional abuse'

Ruinsong by Julia Ember

16 reviews

venti's review against another edition

dark emotional medium-paced

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

2.75

just eh 

also i thought the social commentary of a rebellion for the oppressed upper class was a little funny. like this would be far more interesting if it was from elene’s pov and/or was the story of how she overthrew the government to torture rich people. pure comedy 

also the tulip at the end feels like a sequel hook but if it isn’t it feels weirdly reductive to the whole conclusion of the story? like i got the vibe it was from

elene and was to show she still had her powers and could potentially be evil again (ooh scary) but like why did we need that? the story was fine with her just being in prison. we could gather from the idea that the expelled mages using magic that she had a possibility to use magic again, that was already established, and cadence literally says so herself. so the tulip feels a little unnecessary to me.

maybe i’m reading too much into it tho lol. also the romance was boring 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Animal cruelty, Child abuse, Torture, Emotional abuse, and Violence

Moderate: Lesbophobia

Minor: Child death, Ableism, and Terminal illness

eclectic_hellscape's review against another edition

fast-paced

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

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Violence, Fatphobia, Gore, Body shaming, Emotional abuse, Grief, Homophobia, Child abuse, Classism, Torture, Death, War, Animal death, Vomit, Bullying, and Death of parent

Moderate: Abortion, Medical content, and Medical trauma

Minor: Alcohol

qraveline's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark hopeful tense fast-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death and Blood

Moderate: Torture, Gore, Violence, Murder, and Toxic friendship

Minor: Lesbophobia, Abortion, Child death, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Body horror, War, Genocide, and Cancer

grey_jayne's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful 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

4.5

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. Beware, there is dog death and some vomit, but this shows how harrowing the emotional abuse dealt at Cadence is.  This is a dark sapphic story and Julia Ember knew the assignment. It's dark, it's romantic, with intense emotional stakes and perpetual danger.  It's glorious...and in a world where magic is sung!  I love both Cadence and Remi and their story is painfully yet beautifully queer. There's hope in the end, it's not all sorrow and tiny glances, and be prepared for singer mage battles while also their gentle healing magicks. Ruinsong is both complex and very real. So worth your time and attention.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse and Animal death

Moderate: Vomit

whammajamma's review against another edition

dark emotional medium-paced

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

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gaslighting, Torture, and Emotional abuse

Moderate: Homophobia and Fatphobia

tinysierra's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional medium-paced

• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

-I love the idea of song magic! That was the coolest part of the book
-Friends to lovers
-polyamory (side characters)
-As other reviews said… it was kind of bland and there was no real build up. It was a decent story but the plot and the romance in it were not really strong.

I recommend Of Fire and Stars over Ruinsong because it still has a sapphic couple, elemental magic, royalty/court politics, a similar scene to one in this book

where the couple rides a horse together. it’s cute lol

and the romance in that book stands out more. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, and Violence

Moderate: Homophobia and Vomit

Minor: Abortion and Miscarriage

sarah984's review against another edition

dark emotional tense medium-paced

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

3.0

I thought this was a really fun idea for a story, and the singing magic was cool. Everything was tense and the stakes felt high. Most of the characters were interesting.

However, the characters we spend our time focused on are probably the least interesting of the bunch. They spend a lot of time complaining and making impulsive decisions (and then complaining that people don't trust them not to make impulsive decisions) and you only kind of hear about other characters doing cool things in the background. The ending wraps up extremely fast so a lot of the victories don't really feel earned. I get the idea of noting every character’s skintone instead of making special note of who wasn't white, but it really drove home how white the core cast still was so I don't know if it helped.

Also this is a nitpick but if you're retelling Phantom of the Opera and you drop ZERO chandeliers? You're doing it wrong.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture

Moderate: Animal death, Animal cruelty, Blood, Body horror, Body shaming, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Homophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Physical abuse, Violence, and Vomit

Minor: Abortion, Death of parent, Excrement, Fire/Fire injury, Police brutality, and Sexual content

briely's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional tense 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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture and Emotional abuse

Moderate: Animal death and Injury/Injury detail

olafsl0stcarrot's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious fast-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Emotional abuse, and Torture

Moderate: Confinement, Gore, and Homophobia

Minor: Death of parent and Vomit

starccato's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful mysterious sad tense 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

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Animal cruelty, Blood, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Medical content, Murder, Physical abuse, Torture, Violence, Gore, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, and Grief

Moderate: Stalking

Minor: Abortion, Confinement, Death of parent, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Vomit, Lesbophobia, Body shaming, Religious bigotry, and Sexual content