Reviews tagging 'Drug abuse'

The Cruel Prince by Holly Black

30 reviews

emilycbaker's review against another edition

• 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? No

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug use, Blood, Death, Death of parent, Bullying, Classism, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual assault, Slavery, Suicide, Violence, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Murder, and Gore

brassmonkey's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense slow-paced

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

3.75

Not a huge fan of the "I'm abusing you because I'm attracted to you" plot, and the political exposition gets tiresome fast, but the book is good.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Murder, Suicide, Bullying, Drug abuse, Death, Death of parent, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Grief and Emotional abuse

Minor: Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, Suicide attempt, and War

jochaser's review against another edition

adventurous challenging 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

5.0

This book was so so great!!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Slavery, Torture, Drug abuse, Kidnapping, Violence, Blood, Body shaming, Bullying, Death, Murder, Physical abuse, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Toxic friendship and War

kelsokake's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious medium-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? It's complicated

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Drug abuse, and Murder

Moderate: Classism, Death of parent, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, and Kidnapping

stellenelcielo's review against another edition

challenging dark tense slow-paced

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

2.0

I will give two stars because I appreciated certain points of the book. Like, the portrayal of faerie lore and the malicious attitude towards mortals? I did like that. I also liked that there were certain niche memories of Jude’s that felt relatable, like the sticky fingers and television childhood, as well as different descriptions of emotions she was feeling.

However, this book’s pacing was hell on my ADHD and it truly felt like a chore to read. There were parts that were engaging and I had no problem getting through chapters, and others were so slow that I would lose focus and go do something else. This book took me a month to read, which is atrocious and I wish I had a the habit of DNFing a book without feeling guilty, but I don’t so here I am now. 

The characters as well, while relatable at certain points, are infuriating. Jude makes absolutely no sense. Why stay in Faerie if she’s angry and terrified all the time? If the people around her are all fucking terrible? Because you were raised there? You want power? Even though you are viewed as inherently inferior? 

You gonna go ahead and fall in love eventually with someone who ripped another’s wings right off and participated in sexually assaulting you?

Bullshit, sounds like torture porn. 

Vivienne was the only engaging character. I would read three books about her romance with Heather and her grappling with her identity and her hatred, but her determination to love a mortal and live there. 

I didn’t care for the romance either (I mean, I’m gay, so I would never have cared for the het romance anyway) but I bought the book because people were mad about the lack of it, only to find political intrigue. I love political intrigue, but this book was vague at best with the world building and system descriptions. So I found that to be lacklustre as well.

I hear that Wicked King and Queen of Nothing were better, but I don’t think they might be better enough to give a shot, also it will be the last time I take book recommendations from heterosexual booktokers.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Sexual assault, Emotional abuse, Gore, Infidelity, Sexual harassment, Stalking, Toxic relationship, Child abuse, Death of parent, Drug use, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Bullying, Grief, Hate crime, Drug abuse, and Kidnapping

miaaa_lenaaa's review against another edition

dark emotional tense slow-paced

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

3.75

Was this great? No, did it lead to murder yes, so very good *claps*

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Slavery, Drug use, Addiction, Alcoholism, Blood, Grief, Body shaming, Alcohol, Death, Emotional abuse, War, Injury/Injury detail, Bullying, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Murder, Sexism, and Violence

roosveld's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark inspiring 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

5.0

It's very unpredictable. The usual things that would happen in most romance books, just take a totally different turn here. I like it :)

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture, Violence, Bullying, Death of parent, and Murder

Moderate: Body shaming, Gore, Kidnapping, Drug abuse, Grief, Blood, Gaslighting, Slavery, Suicide, and Alcohol

booksmoviesandstories's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny inspiring 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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Death, Drug abuse, Alcoholism, Animal death, Grief, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Addiction, Blood, Bullying, Child abuse, Death of parent, Alcohol, Abandonment, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, War, Kidnapping, Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, Slavery, and Violence

lyd41's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.5

I was entranced by this book. 
My critiques are: 
1. the plot only started up in the last half of the book. the first half was mostly character introduction and worldbuilding.
2. the bully to lovers trope is a slippery slope, and i really hope black will continue to pull it off well. 
3. taryn was an odd character to me. her motivations were questionable and out of nowhere, despite them being twins and raised together...you'd think their motives would be fairly similar. 
Overall I really loved the dialogue and character writing. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Blood, Bullying, Death, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Infidelity, Murder, Toxic relationship, Violence, and Xenophobia

Moderate: Grief and Mental illness

Minor: Gore, Incest, and Torture

the_lord_of_ships's review against another edition

adventurous tense medium-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Blood, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Torture, and Violence