Reviews tagging 'Panic attacks/disorders'

A Strange and Stubborn Endurance by Foz Meadows

39 reviews

jessiereads98's review

adventurous emotional mysterious fast-paced

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

2.75

This book has potential it just doesn’t live up to. I really enjoyed the romance between the two main characters as well as the characters themselves. Velasin’s journey of acceptance and healing is also well handled and realistic. However, I went into this book expecting politics to play a much bigger role than they did. This book is more of a mystery than a political fantasy. I was disappointed that magic didn’t play a bigger role throughout the book as well. There were also times where the prose and dialogue felt clunky, awkward, and out of place. The occasional lecture-like dialogue from Velasin just seemed out of place with the style of the rest of the dialogue and came across as the author spoon feeding us her point. I found myself getting bored in parts and think this could’ve been shorter. There was a lot of mentions of the moons and religion which didn’t really go anywhere, along with mentions of Velasin’s siblings which served little to no point. I wish we had heard more about Riya and Laecia or other present side characters which would’ve been more relevant to the story. I personally also found the ending disappointing. Unsure if I will pick up the sequel to continue with the characters and romance and see if the promise of politics develops more. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Murder, Rape, Suicide attempt, Blood, Death, and Suicidal thoughts

Moderate: Violence, Panic attacks/disorders, Homophobia, Injury/Injury detail, and Confinement

Minor: Ableism, Alcoholism, Death of parent, Grief, Misogyny, Sexual content, Transphobia, Abandonment, Alcohol, Cursing, Fire/Fire injury, Medical content, Miscarriage, Sexism, Toxic relationship, and Vomit

abarnakwn_ourcolourfulpages's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional hopeful mysterious tense 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

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Body horror, Chronic illness, Kidnapping, Medical trauma, Self harm, Sexual harassment, Suicide attempt, Blood, Confinement, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Rape, Stalking, Suicidal thoughts, Vomit, Deportation, Animal death, Cursing, Death of parent, Homophobia, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Physical abuse, and Violence

Moderate: Ableism, Child abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Genocide, Alcohol, Gaslighting, Mental illness, and Misogyny

sorilis's review

emotional tense fast-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

3.5

Did not particularly like the writing style and the story was a bit confusing. Kudos for the diversity of the characters.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Panic attacks/disorders, Suicide attempt, Animal death, and Rape

Moderate: Homophobia

lee_noel's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional mysterious 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

4.25

This book was everything it claimed to be. While a bit disappointed by another fantasy novel replicating Middle Ages governments and behaviors, it’s clearly marketed as a queer spin on Byzantine politics so I really can’t complain! The characters are compelling, they grow and learn together, and while the mystery reveal is a big, exciting moment, I had inklings of it throughout, which suggests excellent planning. There is a great deal of trauma to sit with in this book, so I don’t recommend it lightly, but the healing and support around the trauma is beautiful. It feels uplifting without being naïve or heedlessly optimistic. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Suicide attempt, and Violence

Moderate: Blood, Murder, Animal death, Gore, and Outing

Minor: Homophobia and Panic attacks/disorders

angelbabe_cj's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional hopeful tense fast-paced

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

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Suicidal thoughts, and Violence

Moderate: Animal death, Death, Panic attacks/disorders, Torture, Suicide attempt, Blood, Xenophobia, and Sexual content

Minor: Kidnapping, Xenophobia, Ableism, Alcohol, Classism, Religious bigotry, Sexism, and Injury/Injury detail

hobbithopeful's review

adventurous challenging emotional hopeful inspiring 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? Yes

5.0

I read this book and I was like "HOLY CRAP". This is now one of my top books I have *ever* read in my entire life. (Y'all. I read a lot of books) This is a book about healing and courage. A book about political machinations and court politics. A book about magic and wonder.
But truly at its heart? It is a exquisite tale with excellent writing and a main character with a strange and stubborn endurance. The romance was so well done, it was very organic and their chemistry was a slow burn which I loved. The communication and boundaries in this book is *chefs kiss* I also adore how one of the main side characters communicates using ASL and that is a huge part of this book. Just about everyone in this book is queer and it is fantastic. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Panic attacks/disorders, Homophobia, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Infidelity, Animal death, and Sexual assault

20sidedbi's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring reflective 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

4.75

Lovely, imaginative book about QPOC fantasy romance with great mutism and sign language representation, but BE SURE TO CHECK TRIGGER WARNINGS. The subjects are handled well, but they are handled explicitly.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Suicide attempt, Ableism, Sexual content, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual violence, Gaslighting, Suicidal thoughts, Grief, Murder, Stalking, Outing, Sexual assault, Rape, and Self harm

Moderate: Classism, Violence, Transphobia, Religious bigotry, Emotional abuse, Blood, Torture, Sexism, Animal death, Misogyny, Fire/Fire injury, Death of parent, and Infidelity

There is ultimately healing in this story, but the author doesn't flinch away from full descriptions of all the traumatic events.

kstrammel's review

adventurous 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? Yes

4.5

A Strange and Stubborn Endurance is a fantastic romance novel amidst a backdrop of fantasy and mystery genre features. Meadows does a lovely job of painting the scenery, describing and characterizing the cast, and portraying trauma, grief, and healing in a way that feels vindicating and real, at least to me (a survivor, myself). The book is filled to the brim with political intrigue, queer and  diverse representation, fleshed out world-building, and some of the sweetest  usage of romance tropes that I could honestly ask for in a queer romance novel. Also, QUALITY HORSE USE AND KNOWLEDGE which is very important to me as a product of the horse-girl-to-queer-enby pipeline. I adore Velasin and Caetheri, and am so excited to pick up the sequel.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Sexual assault, Vomit, Animal death, Outing, and Panic attacks/disorders

Moderate: Transphobia, Homophobia, Sexism, Ableism, and Toxic relationship

annamwinter's review

adventurous emotional 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

3.0

I really wanted to love this and from the premise alone it could have been great but was unfortunately just ok.
The relationships are great, but the plot was quite unsatisfying. Saw the twist coming from miles away – not that that makes it bad per se, but if there is no element of surprise then the plot drags quite a bit especially once the central relationships are established and it is just event after event happening with some more intimate small scenes sprinkled in between.
Also was very confused by the two different narrative perspectives – first person for one main character, close third person for the other – there was no reason for them being different as far as I could see.

Definitely check content warnings, there are some traumatic scenes, though the aftermath of these events is handled quite carefully.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Self harm, Suicide attempt, Toxic relationship, Homophobia, Death of parent, Sexual assault, and Panic attacks/disorders

albernikolauras's review

adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious 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

4.5

An emotional queer romance that will put you through the ringer as you follow the main character (Vel) and his love interest (Cae) as they navigate their somewhat unplanned marriage and try to figure out who is trying to kill Vel.

This book has everything - great friendships, adorable romance, some fun politics to explore (and main characters who aren't very good at politics), and a murder mystery. It was a great book to read amongst the middling books around it.

Note - This story starts out with an extremely violent scene (check trigger warnings), and for a large part of the book, a character is dealing with the repercussions of that act. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Self harm, Rape, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Stalking, Sexual content, Outing, Murder, and Panic attacks/disorders