Reviews tagging 'Ableism'

A Strange and Stubborn Endurance by Foz Meadows

33 reviews

voidature's review against another edition

emotional

• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Mental illness, Murder, Outing, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Animal death, Homophobia, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Self harm, Suicide attempt, Ableism, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Homophobia, Misogyny, and Religious bigotry

Minor: Vomit and Transphobia

purplepenning's review

adventurous dark emotional hopeful mysterious medium-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Homophobia, Violence, Rape, Death of parent, Sexual violence, Blood, and Murder

Moderate: Sexism, Abandonment, Gaslighting, Body horror, Sexual content, Injury/Injury detail, Suicide attempt, Classism, Animal death, Grief, Panic attacks/disorders, Ableism, Alcohol, Animal cruelty, Fire/Fire injury, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Misogyny, Outing, Self harm, Vomit, and Xenophobia

Though it's a well-handled journey of healing, a main point of view character experiences significant trauma early in and deals with trauma recovery for much of the book.

s_l's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful lighthearted mysterious sad slow-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

3.5

The book was nice, but sort of naive in the way Tithenai society and Cae are so perfect for Vel and Markel, which I know some people would want and need to read about, that in the end it was boring for me
But other than that it was good

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Confinement, Rape, Sexual assault, Suicide attempt, Ableism, Animal death, Sexism, Injury/Injury detail, Outing, Murder, Transphobia, and Religious bigotry

wardenred's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful reflective medium-paced

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

3.75

Stolen me? As well to say a caged bird can be stolen by the sky.

I'll be honest, my main thought finishing this book was this: "It would have been so much better if it didn't have the entire external plot with the murders." And that's not because I'm against fantasy murder mysteries with court intrigue, or high-stakes situations mixing into slow burn romance. On the contrary, I absolutely love those things! But the way they were handled in this story was just—so incredibly off. Honestly, it felt like the author somehow decided they absolutely needed a high-stakes mystery and intrigue plot to go with the romance and healing, and so they produced one by the skin of their teeth.

And like... the book didn't really need that, you know? It already had plenty going on! This is a story of surviving sexual assault and healing from it; it's a slow-burn arranged marriage romance; it's a story of cultures clashing and of having to adapt to a completely new normal. That's quite enough. This could be a wonderful slice-of-life take on all those themes, with external conflict coming from interpersonal relationships, and with many more chances to explore the worldbuilding beyond basically just affirming over and over that Tithena is this queernorm, overall inclusive paradise that poses a sharp contrast to the patriarchal hell of Vel's homeland. The book kind of attempted to dig deeper into the nuances, but because it was trying to do more things than I think it needed to and because it kept swinging back and forth between all kinds of thing, losing focus... well. It didn't quite work. And honestly, all that mystery subplot only raised more questions about how the country functioned. I can't be the only one who kept thinking, "But don't you have any special people you can assign to investigate this?"

And really, the entire subplot with the investigation ultimately turned out to be so unnecessary, given that the culprit was found entirely by accident. The work the main characters put into solving the mystery didn't even pay off.

Other than raising more questions about Tithena's culture and politics than it answered, this external plot also just plain stood in the way of the developing relationship between Vel and Cae. I really liked the relationship, by the way! I liked both character arcs. I liked the way they both handled the weight of Vel's trauma, and how overall sensitively handled his recovery was: an authentic, nonlinear process with its ups and downs. I wanted a closer focus on this bumpy road, but every time they got a bit closer, something immediately happened connected to the murdery plot. Usually, someone just flat out got attacked. It was getting a bit ridiculous by the second time it happened, and the second time wasn't the last.

So, yeah. I would have absolutely adored the world out of this book if it was a healing + new culture story with a slowly, slowly developing romance and lower-stakes interpersonal drama. Because I loved those parts. I loved the undeniably "hurt/comfort fanfiction" feel of the storytelling of those parts, and this is something I'm saying as high praise here. There's this highly specific set of tropes, themes, and feels that can be find rather easily in fanfic land but seldom blooms in original fiction, and this? This is exactly it, and so well done. I loved the characters, and not just the main leads (Markel stole my heart especially). I loved so many things this book could have been, if only the pesky murders didn't constantly get in the way. But alas, they did, and so what could have been a total five-star favorite is... probably not going to even be a four-star read, if I'm very honest with myself :(

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Animal death, Rape, and Self harm

Moderate: Medical content and Violence

Minor: Ableism

badbud's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Sexual assault and Homophobia

Minor: Ableism

sabertoothjello's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Suicide, Ableism, Suicide attempt, Suicidal thoughts, Rape, Sexual assault, Violence, Outing, and Blood

Moderate: Vomit, Animal death, and Toxic relationship

Minor: Emotional abuse, Transphobia, and Infidelity

morebedsidebooks's review

slow-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Rape, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Vomit, Blood, Confinement, Homophobia, Animal death, Murder, Death, Violence, Panic attacks/disorders, Fire/Fire injury, and Sexual content

Minor: Death of parent, Ableism, Infidelity, and Misogyny

From the author: A Strange and Stubborn Endurance contains on-page depictions of rape, suicidal ideation, and self-harm. While the narrative arc is one of healing, readers should nonetheless be aware of this content in order to engage with it on their own terms.

whiteraven191's review

My copy from the library started falling apart.  I was loving the book and wouldn't have stopped reading it, otherwise.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape

Minor: Ableism

sophiesmallhands's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful mysterious medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Sexual violence, Death, Rape, Violence, Sexual content, and Death of parent

Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gaslighting, Self harm, Animal death, Homophobia, Toxic relationship, and Ableism

Minor: Vomit and Blood

ohelloandi's review

adventurous dark medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.0

I generally dislike first-person narratives. It is especially distracting to me switching between character A in first person to character B in the third person. The narrative would have been better off in the third person throughout. POV aside, there were some interesting fantasy elements: actually compelling political intrigue, queer-inclusive fantasy, and the PTSD/trauma was handled respectfully. I also feel that the story could have been tightened up and told in less than 528 pages. Overall, this was an engaging read with interesting worldbuilding and likable characters, but it's unlikely that I will read the sequel

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Suicide attempt, and Rape

Moderate: Animal death, Blood, and Homophobia

Minor: Fire/Fire injury, Ableism, and Toxic relationship