Reviews tagging 'Animal cruelty'

Mortal Follies by Alexis Hall

9 reviews

immyx13_tv's review

adventurous funny hopeful lighthearted mysterious slow-paced

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

0.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Animal cruelty, and Animal death

Moderate: Death

musebeliever's review

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, and Murder

Moderate: Classism, Transphobia, and Rape

ehmannky's review

lighthearted 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

3.0

A fun read of two women falling in love in magical Regency-ish England with Puck from A Midsummer's Night Dream narrating the tale. I don't think that this is one of Hall's better works, and the story does drag at times. There is enough delight to make up for it (the two different climaxes are fun on their own, though I don't know if they quite work as a whole), but the pacing is uneven. I would love to see more stories where Hall's interpretation of Puck is front and center, because they are a delightful narrator. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death

Moderate: Animal cruelty

yourbookishbff's review

adventurous dark funny lighthearted mysterious slow-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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Animal death, Animal cruelty, and Cursing

Moderate: Blood, Sexual content, Homophobia, Transphobia, and Lesbophobia

adlane22's review against another edition

adventurous lighthearted medium-paced

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

3.25

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Animal death, Sexual violence, and Animal cruelty

luckylulureads's review

adventurous funny 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? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Cursing, Animal death, and Animal cruelty

Minor: Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Rape, Sexual content, Colonisation, Grief, Homophobia, Blood, Abandonment, Death, Murder, Kidnapping, Sexual harassment, and Transphobia

analenegrace's review against another edition

adventurous funny slow-paced

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

3.5

This was a fun addition to Alexis Hall's many, many books, but not my favorite of his, unfortunately. It was also an addition to his many historical books where homophobia simply doesn't exist (although misogyny and racism still do, which at the end of the day doesn't make logical sense when considering social theory, but I digress...)

I liked many things about this book: the narrator, the world-building, and Miss Bickle, but it felt like it dragged at many points and could have been a bit shorter. I also felt that Georgiana was a bit flat, so I could not always understand why Maesly was so obsessed with her; it felt very much like she fell for the first other lesbian she met, and I don't particularly like that type of trope; it feels very princess in the tower. 

As a note, this had the least sexual content of any of Hall's books, and I wonder if that was due to it being sapphic or being so plot-heavy.

I look forward to more in this series (I assume there will be due to the epilogue and because Hall rarely does solo books) as I love the narrator, and I want to know more about him ASAP!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death and Animal cruelty

Moderate: Misogyny, Cursing, Classism, Sexual content, and Racism

bibliomania_express's review

adventurous funny lighthearted mysterious fast-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Violence, Animal cruelty, Murder, and Blood

Moderate: Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Stalking, Transphobia, Terminal illness, Classism, Misogyny, and Gaslighting

Minor: Slavery and Colonisation

purplepenning's review

adventurous funny lighthearted slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

3.0

Fans of India Holton's Dangerous Damsels series should definitely check this out — it's a sapphic regency romance adventure set in an England where the fae, the old gods, and the new gods all exist in active form. Principal action takes place in Bath and features Sulis Minerva, the Celtic-Roman goddess of the sacred springs that feed Bath's, well, baths. (This is, oddly, the second recently published book I've read to feature Minerva; the other is Garth Nix's The Sinister Booksellers of Bath.)

Mortal Follies is narrated by Puck / Robin Goodfellow (of "A Midsummer Night's Dream" fame) with lots of nods, winks, and digs about Shakespeare and Shakespearean faerie chaos. It follows the misadventures Miss Maeylis Mitchelmore, a young society darling who has had the mysterious misfortune of being cursed by a goddess. Miss Mitchelmore, to her friends' mixed reaction of dismay and delight, turns to the alluring society outcast, Lady Georgianna Landrake (the "Duke of Annadale"), for advice, protection, and what comfort a brooding heiress who is also a possible witch and murderer may give a stricken innocent with hidden strength and spirit.

This should've all worked for me, but alas — I found the main relationship to be somewhat tedious. The  pacing and character development didn't work for me and there was entirely too much brooding and badgering for my taste. But I did love the whole idea of this book, enjoyed the heck out of the narrator's perspective, and am happy that Alexis Hall just keeps writing whatever they want and I keep reading it.

Check the content notes — there are some surprisingly brutal sacrifice scenes (old gods, you know), some inner LGBTQ transphobic nonsense, and a little murder and debilitating disease. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Animal cruelty, and Animal death

Moderate: Cursing, Physical abuse, Gore, Blood, Sexism, Transphobia, Body horror, Death, Sexual content, Violence, and Classism

Minor: Grief, Racism, Gun violence, Death of parent, and Terminal illness