Reviews tagging 'Sexual assault'

The Gifts That Bind Us by Caroline O'Donoghue

15 reviews

veggiestrawenjoyer13's review

adventurous emotional 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? It's complicated

3.75

Personally, I liked this book more than the first one. All the new plot points tied in really well and didn’t feel randomly added in, they felt planned. The modern media references continued to throw me off, but there were less so it was easier to read. I really enjoyed the conflicts and personal struggles each character went through. They felt realistic and relatable. The plot twists towards the end of the book had my jaw dropped and I didn’t know who to trust. I would say the only thing that I disliked was (minor spoiler about a new character’s background) 

Manon’s source of power. Gods were never mentioned before this, so it felt very random. It seemed like a way to give the group a super powerful ally (because they desperately needed one.)

Otherwise, I think the plot moved at a good pace and I enjoyed all the characters. It’s not a literary masterpiece, but it’s still a really good sequel and a nice casual read.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Religious bigotry, Blood, Transphobia, and Self harm

Moderate: Misogyny, Dysphoria, Homophobia, and Violence

Minor: Sexual assault, Forced institutionalization, and Fire/Fire injury

meganpbell's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful mysterious 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? Yes

4.75

This series is just so fantastic at capturing the feelings and growing pains and interpersonal challenges of the teen years, all while fighting religious fundamentalism with witchcraft, queer love, and the power of friendship. This installment especially excels with representations of queer, racial, neurodivergent, and disability marginalization—and with portraying the suffering so often behind the worst actions—and it’s just a fun ride!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Self harm, Transphobia, and Religious bigotry

Moderate: Deadnaming, Fire/Fire injury, Animal death, Blood, Car accident, and Death

Minor: Sexual assault and Sexual content

rinku's review

dark emotional mysterious reflective 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

4.0

The beginning of The Gifts That Bind Us was so great that I was ready to give it five stars but sadly, the focus of the main plot shifts later to the aspects that didn’t interest me so much and it becomes a bit too irritating for my taste. 

Lily is now back, and all our characters got some kind of magical power: Maeve can now read minds and emotions of other people, Fiona has healing powers, Roe can open doors, and Lily is able to control electricity. Weird things start to happen, and the friends have to find out what causes them before it’s too late. If I’m being honest, I was more invested in the coming-of-age-elements of the story since it’s the last year of school and Maeve is not totally sure what she wants to do after school and struggles with dealing with all the changes happening around her. 

What I still love about this novel is how fantasy elements get combined with social justice issues, like queer rights or classism, though I wish the Children and their influence on the town would’ve been thematized more. I’ve said it before, but this plot point still really reminds me of the Engelsfors series. This is probably coincidental but when comparing the two series, Engelsfors is just better in showing how a cult can slowly take over a whole town and manipulate it. Another similarity of both novels is that

the school is some kind of magically important place

. 

Towards the ending though, the story just got a bit weird, and I didn’t fully understand what was happening at the end. It was so obvious from the beginning that

Heather was evil. The story gets quite creepy towards the end which I liked but it’s so weird how Maeve suddenly owns the school

? 

What I appreciate about the characters is that they are a realistic portrayal of teenagers and that there’s a big focus on the friendship between them. At first, there’s jealously between them since Lily is back and mixes everything up between Maeve and Fiona. This creates a kind of tense dynamic between them. In the course of the story,

we see how Lily and Maeve get closer to each other again which was great

. What I appreciate about Maeve is that her feelings are quite relatable and that she messes up because she isn’t hundred percent a good person. Aaron is still an interesting character but I’m not sure what I should think about

his redemption arc. He was a great villain before, and I don’t know about the new villains

. I furthermore have to admit that I totally forgot that Lily and Roe are siblings since we barely see them interact as such. 

Besides some of the critique I had about The Gifts That Bind Us, I’m still curious how the story will end and if I will be happy about the ending. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Fire/Fire injury, Homophobia, Religious bigotry, Deadnaming, Self harm, and Transphobia

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Body horror, Gaslighting, Sexual assault, and Violence

Minor: Toxic relationship

osladek's review against another edition

adventurous dark 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Religious bigotry, Self harm, and Transphobia

Moderate: Fire/Fire injury, Deadnaming, Gaslighting, and Sexual assault

eversaurus's review against another edition

adventurous emotional inspiring mysterious medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Sexual assault, Transphobia, and Homophobia

sifairi's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Self harm, Sexual assault, Blood, Gaslighting, Fire/Fire injury, and Rape

chris_crossed99's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective 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

3.25

I love the book but felt like there was a lot of unanswered questions. I wasn’t too satisfied with the ending. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Stalking, and Kidnapping

Moderate: Self harm, Sexual assault, Homophobia, Transphobia, and Hate crime

mcdal's review against another edition

4.5

Not enough Roe. Could’ve been another 5/5 if there was more Roe. Aside from that, I have no notes, only incoherent screaming 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, Self harm, Fire/Fire injury, Suicidal thoughts, Transphobia, and Confinement

Moderate: Forced institutionalization, Biphobia, Deadnaming, Hate crime, Sexual assault, Homophobia, and Panic attacks/disorders

Minor: Stalking and Ableism

kstericker's review against another edition

adventurous emotional 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Religious bigotry, Self harm, and Transphobia

Moderate: Mental illness, Sexual content, Violence, Blood, Death, and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Animal cruelty, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual assault, and Hate crime

hollymileham's review

adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced

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

3.5

me reading this in less than a day would imply that its amazing. however it is simply the most bizarre story ever, especially considering that legit nothing happens in the first 200 pages. could have skipped them and saved myself some time
the potential of this series is so good however the writing really lets it down. she was shagged into being psychic??? huh??? big up this writer for giving me and abi something to piss ourselves at and we will for sure be reading the next book when its out but the series is just so bizarre... first book was defo better

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Religious bigotry and Self harm

Moderate: Homophobia and Transphobia

Minor: Sexual assault