Reviews tagging 'Medical trauma'

Defy Me by Tahereh Mafi

14 reviews

kajasversion's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful mysterious sad 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? No

4.75

AARON AND JULIETTE ARE TURLY THE EPITOME OF SOULMATES. YOURE TELLING ME THEY FELL IN LOVE EVERY. SINGLE. TIME???!?! I love them so much and thought this book was a torture to get through for all the torture scenes, I still loved the revelations about their lives and how connected they are without even realising it. And I am so beyond happy they will spend the rest of their lives together, ong Aaron was so happy to call her his future wife. No man will ever compare. 😭

-“ I will love you for the rest of my life. My heart is yours. Please don’t ever give it back to me.”-

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Confinement, Sexual content, Murder, and Medical trauma

aysha_blake's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad tense medium-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? It's complicated

3.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Gore, Blood, Child abuse, War, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, Physical abuse, Confinement, and Medical trauma

Moderate: Sexual content and Cursing

abicaro17's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny mysterious slow-paced

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

4.0

Honestly this book was a total flop until like the last 10 chapters. It was somehow both boring and unrealistically chaotic. Paris is alive, Ella has evil parents, Emmaline is creating the illusion of destruction, almost everyone knows more then they let on, and Ella just kinda decides not to freak out now??? Idk man. I did adore the Aaron content and the little birthday party at the end made me cry so it got an extra star for that. I just hope the last few books make slightly more sense. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Kidnapping, Body horror, Drug use, Classism, Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, Child abuse, Cursing, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Murder, Stalking, Violence, War, Grief, Physical abuse, Sexism, Gore, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Blood, Chronic illness, Confinement, Death, Gaslighting, Medical content, Abandonment, Death of parent, Gun violence, Sexual content, Torture, and Forced institutionalization

folkofthebook's review

challenging 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

“And it’s not insane to imagine that sometimes even horrible people are searching for a way out of their own darkness.”

this one gets wild. finding out just how fucked up the parents of the reestablishment really are and how deep this all runs is a mindfuck. this is definitely the darkest book of series yet, largely in part to revelations involving

juliette's/elle's sister, emmaline

. ngl, kinda fucked me up, i wasn't really prepared for that.

we get more nazeera, who i LOVE. and so does kenji 🤭

“And I don’t think you’re stupid,” she says.
Wrong. I’m definitely stupid. So stupid. I can’t even think right now.
“Okay,” I say stupidly.

i continue to champion juliette and kenji's best friendship and the budding bromance of aaron and kenji.

Kenji looks like he might be choking. “A cartoon?” he says, outraged. “Tangled is not a cartoon. Tangled is one of the greatest movies of all time. It’s about fighting for freedom and true love.”

juliette and aaron >>>>>>>> (obvi) these two have been through so much shit my god i can't wait for their happy ending, bc they certainly deserve it after all of this.

This is, after all, what we’re fighting for, isn’t it? A second chance at joy.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Torture, Gun violence, Medical trauma, Death of parent, and Blood

pearlygirl3's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful inspiring 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

4.0

this book was definitely a lot to process. the connections between everything and clarification of the past look a bit to think about. there were some disturbing scenes, but at the end led to some of the sweetest scenes in the whole series. characters are more flushed out and it has really set the stage for the final book.

aaron being so vulnerable is so cute, and how they kept finding each other! even him and kenji kinda get along now. ella's parents are actually the worst, but i hope Emmaline either gets piece, or healed. it'd be nice for ella to have her sister back.

overall a nice continuation of the series and i can't wait for everyone to have a happy ending in the next book. hopefully aaron and 'juliette' will get to be together without all their other responsibilities. 

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Medical trauma

Minor: Sexual content

winterwriter_9's review against another edition

adventurous emotional 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

4.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Medical content, and Medical trauma

Moderate: Sexual content, Child abuse, and Gun violence

proudtobeabookaholic's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful tense 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

5.0

Juliette thought she had beaten The Reestablishment and killed its leader. That she finally had regained control of her life. But nothing is as it seems, and one lie after another comes to the surface. 

It's been several years since I read the latest book in this series, so no real surprise I didn't remember everything that's happened. Little bits of information makes me recollect most of it, but some parts remain forgotten. It was still very easy to get into this futuristic world again and most of the characters I remember really well. It was nice to see Juliette, Warner, Kenji and the others again!

I have to say that some scenes were quite dreadful to read. How Juliette's and Warner's parents experiment on and treat them - like they're not even humans... It's hard to believe that anyone can do such things, but at the same time Mafi makes it believable. I'm grateful the book ends in a positive spirit, although we know it's not over yet!

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Medical trauma, Emotional abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Physical abuse, Torture, and Confinement

najmanasir's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional sad 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

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture, Child abuse, Kidnapping, Violence, Death, Physical abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Emotional abuse, Body horror, and Medical trauma

Moderate: Blood, War, and Confinement

strawberrycookies's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional sad 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

4.25

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence and Medical trauma

safety_pin's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Child abuse, Forced institutionalization, Medical content, Murder, Toxic relationship, Trafficking, Blood, Body horror, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gore, Grief, Kidnapping, Medical trauma, War, Death of parent, Dementia, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Physical abuse, Torture, and Violence

Moderate: Hate crime, Gun violence, and Panic attacks/disorders

Minor: Classism, Homophobia, Outing, Cursing, and Transphobia