Reviews tagging 'Death of parent'

Pandora by Susan Stokes-Chapman

25 reviews

heather_freshparchment's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Gore, Death of parent, and Alcoholism

Minor: Physical abuse, Confinement, Child abuse, Fire/Fire injury, and Vomit

nicoles_reading_corner's review against another edition

adventurous 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? No

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Classism, Murder, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Physical abuse, Gore, Grief, and Death of parent

Moderate: Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, and Blood

thesawyerbean's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious sad slow-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? It's complicated

3.5

While I found the mystery in this book to be very enchanting, and I always love mythology-adjacent literature, I simply did not enjoy this as much as I had hoped. I found the pacing to be quite sluggish in parts, the plot somewhat predictable, and some of the characters to be caricatures. 

I also found the historical setting of Georgian England to be quite unbelievable due to the manner of speaking, some of the behaviour and some of the social/political attitudes of the characters not being aligned with what I’d expect from characters in this era. While it was refreshing to see in certain ways, it wasn’t exactly historically accurate. 

However ultimately I was quite satisfied with the ending. There were some loose ends that I don’t think were properly addressed, which may have just been added to add mystique midway through the book. An interesting take on a greek myth retelling for sure.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fire/Fire injury, Domestic abuse, Injury/Injury detail, and Medical trauma

Moderate: Death of parent, Death, Alcohol, Murder, Vomit, Misogyny, and Emotional abuse

erinosgood's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious 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? It's complicated

3.5

I thought this was a (mostly) well-executed and enjoyable read. Pandora delivers on the promise of lovable characters, and the dexterity with which the novel weaves Ancient Greek myth and antiquity with the grit and glamour of Georgian England is impressive. Mainly, I really enjoyed reading it!

However, the writing style at times felt slightly forced, in that the dialogue felt what I can only describe as 'old-timey'; this isn't inherently negative, it just felt a little unnatural at times. Nevertheless, it's still worth picking up!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent and Alcohol

Moderate: Animal cruelty

Minor: Violence

jamieleepilk's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional informative mysterious reflective medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, and Murder

Minor: Alcohol, Blood, Body horror, Death, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail