Reviews tagging 'Pregnancy'

A Spindle Splintered by Alix E. Harrow

11 reviews

witcheep's review

adventurous dark funny lighthearted mysterious fast-paced

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

3.0

This novella is a fresh take on fairytale retellings: it not only retells a classic tale of the Sleeping Beauty, but also acknowledges that there already are numerous iterations of the same story. If you are interested in folklore, you'll enjoy the witty commentary on traditional roles of fairytale characters, agency, and other tropes in this novella.

The main character Zinnia has a rare medical condition that makes her life expectancy only 21 years ("the curse"). This has made her relate to the tale of Sleeping Beauty and even get a degree in folklore to dive deeper in all it's iterations. Zinnia's interest in the tale makes her likeness to it explicit.

And maybe the dying girl rules are garbage, and in stead of us trying not to die, we should be trying to live.

On her 21st birthday, a drunken dare has Zinnia prick her finger on a spike of a spindle, and she finds herself transported to another dimension.

Zinnia discovers a multiverse of Sleeping Beauties from every retelling imaginable, from the classics to scifi-Beauties. And together, they agree that sometimes

there are faiths worse than a century of sleep. If the curse is a blessing in disguise, and the curse is taken away from the girl, what other options are there left?

Zinnia is resolved to find those options, and not only for herself.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Sexism, Terminal illness, and Medical content

Minor: Alcohol, Sexual assault, Violence, Lesbophobia, Pregnancy, Rape, and Abortion

strewnsunlight's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful 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? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Terminal illness and Chronic illness

Moderate: Confinement, Misogyny, Sexism, and Medical content

Minor: Pregnancy and Rape

readingwithkaitlyn's review against another edition

adventurous fast-paced

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

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical trauma, Blood, Terminal illness, and Medical content

Minor: Sexism, Pregnancy, Misogyny, Violence, Suicidal thoughts, Physical abuse, Rape, and Sexual assault

ash_hernick's review

adventurous hopeful mysterious fast-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? It's complicated

3.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Chronic illness, Cursing, Infertility, Homophobia, Medical content, Sexism, and Terminal illness

Minor: Rape, Pregnancy, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, and Sexual assault

Most applicable content warnings exist within a fairy tale context. Many are mentioned, and although not described in detail, are either mentioned or heavily implied and are ever-present throughout the story. The protagonist is chronically and terminally ill, and her main character arc revolves around aspects of this. Because of her illness, she is also infertile, though this does not particularly bother her.

alliemikennareads's review against another edition

adventurous informative reflective fast-paced

4.0

I’ve loved every book I’ve read by Alix E Harrow and this definitely makes the list too! I love a good fairytale retelling and haven’t read any sleeping beauty ones so I was excited for this. 

I really liked the main character Zinnia and her friendship with Charm and their text conversations. I felt this had a nice blend of fairytale and real life. It handled chronic illness well in my opinion without having an unrealistic ending. I was invested from beginning to end. It’s a nice quick read as a novella! I would have read more and enjoyed further development of these characters but I was content with what’s here given the format. 

Favorite line: “Well Harold, I say gently. They’re lesbians” I’M SCREAMING.

I’d recommend this if you like novellas,  fantasy and cute wlw rep. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Chronic illness

Minor: Sexual assault and Pregnancy

nav26's review against another edition

adventurous funny sad fast-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

Sleeping Beauty retelling with lots of twists. This was so fun! Considering it's a novella I didn't think I'd get super absorbed into the world but the sleeping beauty multiverse really hooked me. Zinnia is witty and hilarious and her narration is everything. She doesn't let her illness define her and grabs this adventure with both hands. I also ADORED Charm and Prim. Charm is the perfect balance to Zinnia and Prim is more than what she seems. I just wish this was longer so all of the side characters could be more fleshed out. Will definitely pick up the next one.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Chronic illness and Terminal illness

Minor: Rape, Sexual assault, and Pregnancy

fromjuliereads's review against another edition

dark hopeful inspiring reflective 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? Yes

4.0

I really enjoyed this! It was a cool spin (pun intended) on the classic fairytale. And I liked that it has rep in it! 
Heads up that there is an HP reference and I am still REELING at the stark opinion on P&P adaptations - mini series is superior, FIGHT ME.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Chronic illness, Misogyny, Terminal illness, Confinement, Cursing, Forced institutionalization, Grief, and Medical content

Minor: Rape, Alcohol, Pregnancy, and Sexual assault

panthalassa's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful fast-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Medical content, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Cursing, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Homophobia, Self harm, Chronic illness, Blood, Confinement, and Lesbophobia

Moderate: Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Violence, Vomit, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Alcohol, Misogyny, Pregnancy, and Abortion

emilypete17's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional funny hopeful fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• 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: Terminal illness and Chronic illness

Moderate: Sexual violence, Medical content, Sexual assault, Sexism, and Medical trauma

Minor: Suicidal thoughts, Rape, Alcohol, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Death, Blood, Violence, Pregnancy, Abortion, and Cursing

Brief allusions to sexual assaults(off page). Chronically/terminally ill main character.

forthesanityof1's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious reflective sad fast-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? Yes

3.75

A nice, quick read. The author uses good impact writing when necessary even if the narrative tone was not my personal favorite. Intriguing plot, and I'm glad the author didn't pull a "this was all a coma-induced dream" sequence on us (@ Libba Bray I'm still salty). The end did feel a little magical, but I think that was the point, and the main conflict didn't really go away. I really enjoyed the incorporation of the fairy tales and the original sleeping beauty. I liked the messages that came through from that and the way they pulled through the rest of the novella. Areas for improvement: some of the parenthesis info could have been cut along with the real-world dumping details (I personally don't like real-world references because they break the narrative for me), and some minor details could have been fleshed out a bit instead. Overall pretty good though, just not my personal favorite.

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Content Warnings

Minor: Rape, Abortion, Blood, Grief, Misogyny, Pregnancy, and Terminal illness