Reviews tagging 'Emotional abuse'

Caraval by Stephanie Garber

195 reviews

hq_reads's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious 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

This was a fantastic read. Just what I needed to get me out of my reading slump. It was rich in plot within a magical world with an excellent FMC. This adventure was mysterious and high-stakes. I couldn't put it down, each chapter ended with me needing to immediately start the next. 

I had so many theories about the plot and the characters but this book had me mistrusting everything that was happening! I really loved Scarlett and Julian and thought their banter was great. I have some further character thoughts that contain spoilers which I will post below, but overall this book was fantastic. I can't wait to read the next one!

Okay, I was convinced early on that Julian was Legend, so when it was revealed to Scarlett in the dream, I was disappointed... only to find out he wasn't! The reveals in this book were really surprising! I was not expecting Tella to be behind the game as well though. However, the gaslighting that Tella does to Scarlett at the end of the book is so toxic, she's really minimised the role she played in Scarlett's trauma. The whiplash poor Scarlett has... I can't imagine she can move past that so quickly. Anyway - I do not like Tella!

 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Child abuse, and Emotional abuse

Moderate: Gaslighting

Minor: Death and Suicide attempt

trinitygriffin's review against another edition

adventurous dark medium-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child abuse, Physical abuse, and Emotional abuse

wickedgrumpy's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No

2.25

This book was very much whimsical nonsense tied up in a mystery that was reminiscent of a studio ghibli movie.  You question what is real and what is not, if what has happened actually did happen.

There was enough mystery and world building to keep me interested in reading more, though the characters were a bit one dimensional they managed to hold my attention.

Other books I've read with this vibe did not have strong enough characters to keep me engaged and since this was a debut novel it has a lot of promise for what comes next.

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Content Warnings

Minor: Domestic abuse, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Adult/minor relationship, Cursing, Death of parent, Kidnapping, Physical abuse, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual harassment, Stalking, Alcohol, Blood, Bullying, Child abuse, Classism, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Murder, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Suicide, Torture, Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, and Violence

louisesbookcorner_32's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring mysterious sad tense slow-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture, Blood, Bullying, Suicide, Physical abuse, Kidnapping, Injury/Injury detail, Gaslighting, Violence, Murder, Abandonment, and Emotional abuse

gale_bruckner's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful mysterious reflective tense fast-paced

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

3.25

There was a lot happening in this story.  Parts were fanciful, but that matched the young and naive characters.  There were many twists and turns, and I never had a solid idea about what was gonna happen next.  I think you can tell that Stephanie wrote from the heart, and there's a lot more to this world to look forward to in the next few books.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Death, Physical abuse, and Emotional abuse

fossilreads's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious tense

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

5.0

Thrilling fantasy to my taste! This was such a wild story from start to finish and I'm very interested to read the next part. I like how Scarlett notices the colors of emotions, that made those feelings more impactful to me. This is the first time I've had to put down a book to process my shock and sadness.

I love the magic and untrusworthiness of Caraval, it's not easy to tell what's real and what's for show! I read this years ago when I randomly picked it up from the library (good choice teen Dino) and I've been kind of thinking about some of it ever since. I'm glad I remembered some vibes and general settings of some scenes, but still got to experience the story as if I read it for the first time.

The sisters have such a traumatic past and I can't wait to see what's up next.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Kidnapping, and Murder

curiositylibrary's review against another edition

adventurous funny 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? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gaslighting, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, and Grief

Moderate: Blood, Murder, Suicide attempt, Suicide, Body horror, Death, Violence, Physical abuse, and Suicidal thoughts

Minor: Injury/Injury detail

kcmg710's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious fast-paced

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

4.0

WARNING // Minor spoilers like baby ones I'm sorry 🤗

I really loved this book so much, the writing as a whole was so beautiful it was like a feast for my eyes and some of the descriptions/metaphors I re-read over and over again because they were so beautiful. 

Loved the characters and the development (well Scarlett’s - I’m assuming we will see the others in the rest of the trilogy). 

Like in the beginning Scarlett really bugged me

with how obsessed she was with her sister and getting married and all that palava I actually (stupidly) thought she was quite boring and I understand because of her trauma and stuff and in reflection I was probably abit too harsh on her just because of my views on marriage but that doesn’t  mean that other peoples are wrong // I saw on TikTok one of the characters from little women? Say  something similar and thought she has a frickin point actually)  and seeing how brave and resilient she was in the end and strong for standing up to her father and going after her actual dreams (adventure and stuff)

was truly amazing. 👏🏼👏🏼

Even though I loved this book and it didn’t really have many faults but it’s just not quite 5*for me and I can’t figure out why ☹️

As you can tell from my rambling I am not a writer but I hope my review was helpful 
(I also don’t know if I’ve used the spoiler tags properly so sorry in advance) 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, and Emotional abuse

Moderate: Child abuse, Violence, Gore, Gaslighting, Death, and Murder

Minor: Sexism, Sexual content, and Sexual harassment

avie_j's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced

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

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Murder, Child abuse, Violence, Death, Gaslighting, Blood, and Emotional abuse

Moderate: Kidnapping, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Grief, Torture, and Misogyny

Minor: Suicide attempt, Abandonment, Confinement, and Suicide

catching5tars's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional 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

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Gaslighting, Toxic relationship, Emotional abuse, and Abandonment