Reviews tagging 'Gaslighting'

A Strange and Stubborn Endurance by Foz Meadows

13 reviews

phiagrace97's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional 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? It's complicated

3.25

This book seemed slightly lifeless and forced. I did enjoy aspects of the romance and was intrigued by the mystery, but the resolution felt flat and lazy. Additionally, I really don’t know why we had to start off with a rape scene and suicide attempt. It just all felt like it was too big of stakes and simultaneously like there were no stakes at all. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide attempt, Violence, Vomit, Rape, Toxic relationship, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual harassment, Sexual assault, Murder, Gaslighting, and Abandonment

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

---

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.

sammuraichan's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful inspiring reflective tense 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

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Emotional abuse, Self harm, Death, Gaslighting, Gore, Murder, Domestic abuse, Toxic relationship, Grief, Homophobia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, and Suicide attempt

Minor: Alcohol, Fire/Fire injury, Classism, Cursing, Deadnaming, Homophobia, Kidnapping, Infidelity, Body shaming, Misogyny, Vomit, and Sexism

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

---

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

yomuyomub's review

2.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Hate crime, Physical abuse, Xenophobia, Rape, Self harm, Suicide attempt, Gaslighting, Homophobia, Stalking, Transphobia, Death, Emotional abuse, and Violence

30something_reads's review

adventurous challenging emotional 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? It's complicated

5.0

 OFC it's ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

I loved everything. All of it. No notes. These boys are my favorites. Especially Markel ❤️.

I'll probably write a more thorough review later 😆

EDIT: 3/8 "a more thorough review"

This book truly put me through all the emotions. I cried, raged, laughed, swooned, kicked my feet and squealed in giddy delight. I left this story with so much love for these characters.

A Strange and Stubborn Endurance is a queer political and romantic fantasy with the central themes of healing and the role the family plays in that journey.

This book does not start off in a happy place. The author lists content warnings for on-page SA, suicidal ideations, and self-harm; all of which should be taken very seriously. The first portion of this book is very emotionally taxing but well worth it.

This is the story of Velasin and Caethari as they are brought together in a political marriage meant to strengthen the trade agreements between their respective countries. But mysterious forces are acting against their marriage- escalating attacks both political and personal. Together, they are forced to trust one another as they figure out who would benefit from this failed alliance. A tenuous friendship develops and slowly blossoms into something more.

I adored the world-building and the depictions of gender identity and sexuality. I love a world that embraces the spectrum so thoroughly and lovingly. In that way, it very much reminds me of Winter’s Orbit.

The characters were brilliant and the dual POV was wonderful (I especially enjoyed that it didn’t jump chapter to chapter but instead happened in sections.) I think that really allowed the author to develop Velasin and Caethari so fully. And I don’t think I’ve ever adored a side character the way I adored Markel. His friendship with Velasin was so touching and honestly brought happy tears to my eyes on multiple occasions.

The overall mystery was very compelling, and I never felt drawn away from that storyline with the blossoming romance between Vel and Cae. Everything fit so well together. I did guess the villains, but I think that was just due to well-placed clues and characterizations rather than any fault in the storytelling.

Honestly, I could rave about this story for ages. I am so beyond excited to know that this has a sequel coming out this year. I cannot wait!

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny, Rape, Murder, Outing, Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Gaslighting and Homophobia

Minor: Transphobia, Death of parent, Toxic relationship, and Violence

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

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.

robin_reads's review

adventurous dark mysterious 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

5.0

This was much darker than I expected it to be. I was not prepared but still loved it all. 
It was intense, interesting, mysterious and dark but with funny and heartfelt moments. 
I’ll say that everything happened in a very short amount of time but such is life, isn’t it? Sometimes everything happens all at once and you gotta roll with the punches. 

One of my favorite tropes is "idiots in love" and this was just that. Reminded me a lot of "Winter's Orbit", which I loved just as much as this. 

Definitely check CW and TW if you’re interested in reading this. Prepare for a wild but amazing ride. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Rape, Suicide attempt, Animal death, Blood, Death, Death of parent, Murder, and Suicidal thoughts

Moderate: Fire/Fire injury, Homophobia, Panic attacks/disorders, Vomit, Gaslighting, and Outing

Minor: Ableism

jmross10's review

challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad tense medium-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? Yes

4.5

A Strange and Stubborn Endurance is told in both first (Vel) and second (Cae) person, swapping between the perspectives of the two man characters - Velasin and Caethari. Both of them are highborn men in a pseudo-medieval setting who are fairly educated, which is reflected in the writing style. This is especially apparent in Velasin's sections. The sentence structure and wording takes time to adjust too and may not work for some readers. It's important to note though, this a clear and deliberate choice by the author, not just bad writing. The style makes sense for the character even if it's a bit disorienting.

The novel as a whole takes place over a relatively short period of time and a lot happens within its pages. While I wish there were points where things slowed down and there was time to digest, I didn't think it was too over the top, and the progression of events made sense. I appreciated that the main characters were given a chance to somewhat (again, very short timeframe) organically find their way to each other instead of instalove. We get to enjoy those almost moments instead of diving in head first.

I thought motive behind the unravelling events was very interesting and I liked the way it played out. I also appreciated that there were real consequences for character's actions, which we don't always see.

I know that one major deterrent for some readers will be the r*pe scene early on. Reviews I've seen call it "extremely graphic" and make it seem very excessive, but I disagree with that.

It does play out on the page, but the emphasis is more specifically on the coercion of the main character and their feeling of helplessness at the hands of somebody they trusted. It talks about the conflicting signals between their body and their mind, as well as the humiliation of their body's reaction in the moment.

This is not something that happens just for a throwaway plot point to add drama. There is a genuine motivating factor and the character effected spends the rest of the book dealing with the trauma from it.

I would never advocate for someone to read something that makes them triggered or uncomfortable but I think it's important to shed light on the author's representation of the act, instead of immediately assuming the worst because of what it is. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Suicide attempt, Toxic relationship, Violence, Child death, Suicidal thoughts, Vomit, Animal death, and Blood

Moderate: Sexual assault, Transphobia, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual content, Homophobia, Classism, Emotional abuse, Ableism, Self harm, Body horror, Gaslighting, Grief, and Rape

Minor: Infidelity