Reviews tagging 'Self harm'

King Nyx by Kirsten Bakis

5 reviews

yvee's review

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Panic attacks/disorders, Domestic abuse, and Self harm

Moderate: Sexual assault and Sexual harassment

amina_writes_books's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful informative mysterious reflective tense 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

a solid Gothic thriller. More intrigued by the story around Charles' "the Damned" book which did actually publish in the late 1800s/ early 1900s. I loved the fact that this book was inspired by his wife, an oftentimes overlooked figure in literary history. Narration style and writing style nothing special to write home about, but the slight character descriptions as well as the setting on the island and Mr. Arkels home and dolls is quite good.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Forced institutionalization, Gore, Rape, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Adult/minor relationship, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Suicide attempt, Medical trauma, Murder, Addiction, Death, Domestic abuse, Abandonment, and Blood

Moderate: Forced institutionalization, Medical content, Medical trauma, Miscarriage, Self harm, Animal death, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Blood, Child abuse, Body horror, Confinement, Domestic abuse, and Emotional abuse

blacksphinx's review

emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

Discovering this entire novel was a wild fantasy about real life people was kind of a punch to the gut. I don't think I would have read the book actually if I knew that; I hate fanfiction about actual human beings. (There is also no speculative element if you're looking for something supernatural in your gothic.) 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Blood, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Toxic relationship, Physical abuse, Self harm, and Mental illness

Moderate: Violence, Misogyny, Forced institutionalization, Panic attacks/disorders, and Gun violence

Minor: Pregnancy, Suicide, Sexual assault, Abortion, Miscarriage, Adult/minor relationship, and Pandemic/Epidemic

sandreline's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense slow-paced

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

3.0

"Remember you are safe. Your response is out of proportion to the facts. There is no danger except in your mind."

After the introduction, we meet Anna as a middle-aged woman. You quickly parse she is someone who has spent her life supporting the dreams of her husband, and man who, while perhaps good-intentioned, has a bumbling paternalism for his wife. 

In Anna's point of view you hear all the excuses she makes for him. She is filled with a lifetime of guilt, shame, and inferiority, and that colors all her interactions with him. 

This is where King Nyx excels. Exposing and subtly picking apart the relationships between it's characters. And that is the primary focus for the first half of the book. 

After that is when it starts to fall apart. We fall into a mystery set up quite well in the beginning, but tied together a bit too cleanly at the end. Those meaty character interactions fall to the wayside for some gothic-mystery shenanigans.

The most disappointing aspect for me was that we didn't really get to see all that much growth from Anna. She is, ultimately, the same character we meet at the beginning.

Very strong start, but I wish this story had leaned more into its strengths instead of getting lost in its own mysteries.

ARC provided by NetGalley. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Self harm

Moderate: Forced institutionalization and Torture

Minor: Miscarriage, Adult/minor relationship, and Rape

verbosevespertine's review

dark mysterious medium-paced

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

3.75

I wanted to strangle pretty much every character at some point or another, but not necessarily in a bad way? There was nice depth to the characters, just lots of period-appropriate attitudes toward certain things that made me infuriated, sometimes at a certain character and sometimes on another’s behalf

It was a very quick read with interesting repetition to build tension

Got an ARC through my job at a public library

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Panic attacks/disorders

Minor: Forced institutionalization, Rape, Self harm, and Adult/minor relationship