Reviews tagging 'Miscarriage'

A Winter's Promise by Christelle Dabos

45 reviews

lokes's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious 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? It's complicated

1.25

This was… well, is was something. 
The worldbuilding was a bit sloppy, but interesting, but plot and characters? Icky. Like, really bad. 

Not only did it have tropes such as forced marriage and hints of pedophilia (as soon as the guy was always called a “man with his big hands; like a father; etc” and the woman described as “girl with small hands; being generally very young and clueless and in need of constant help”) I had a bad feeling and boy wasn’t I wrong. 

I don’t know why so many people like a book which is filled with sexism, weird stereotypes, classism, racism and basically everything you don’t want to read about when it is normalized (or rather being glorified, because you just couldn’t catch a break when reading. It just kept coming)

I do feel like I need to apologize to the person I am now that I read this book because it wasn’t pleasant and I feel like I need to unlearn all of the very harmful stuff I just read about. 

The writing style’s not bad though, I could have liked it without the weird content. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Sexism, Suicide, Torture, Incest, Miscarriage, Sexual harassment, Body shaming, Toxic relationship, Misogyny, Toxic friendship, and Violence

Moderate: Drug use, Blood, Child abuse, Body shaming, Bullying, Classism, Death of parent, and Confinement

cagneynicole18's review

challenging dark mysterious sad tense slow-paced

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

3.0

I don't know where to begin this review. The book is slow and the plot only begins at the end (last 100 pages) yet I couldn't put it down? Probably because the individual chapters were interesting.  The characters are mid. If you get a bad vibe from them just know it doesn't change. Main character was cool but nothing crazy. Overall book was mid. I'm going to read the next one only because I want to know if we get plot and romance. I doubt it tho.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Bullying, Dementia, Ableism, Death, and Misogyny

Minor: Infertility and Miscarriage

If dimentia is a trigger at all for you, skip page 407 (paperback English version). It isn't for me but it was hard to read. It's not actually dimentia (it's an illusion) but still.

heoleen's review against another edition

adventurous challenging tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic relationship and Emotional abuse

Moderate: Miscarriage, Alcohol, Death, Pregnancy, Bullying, Gaslighting, Infertility, Infidelity, and Misogyny

Minor: Rape

robin_reads's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious tense medium-paced

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

I’ll hold off on giving this any stars. 

It was definitely intriguing and something else entirely. At the same time it’s confusing and the main plot wasn’t clear and still isn’t quite. It’s like following this main character while she navigates the new Ark. 
I find it difficult to find words to describe this. 
I’ll definitely read the next book and go from there. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pregnancy and Bullying

Moderate: Sexism and Death

Minor: Injury/Injury detail, Miscarriage, and Blood

bialves's review

adventurous challenging dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Child abuse, Death, Infidelity, Murder, Pregnancy, Toxic relationship, Suicide, Slavery, Violence, Child death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Misogyny, Sexism, Torture, Alcohol, Classism, Hate crime, and Miscarriage

rike125's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful reflective medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence and Alcohol

Moderate: Pregnancy

Minor: Child death and Miscarriage

rowanrelph's review

challenging dark mysterious reflective 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? Yes

4.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Confinement

Minor: Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, Pregnancy, Physical abuse, Police brutality, Animal death, Blood, Death, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, and Miscarriage

grizzlysnack's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Physical abuse, and Violence

Moderate: Death, Emotional abuse, Miscarriage, and Incest

Minor: Child death, Drug use, Sexual content, and Suicide

toffishay's review

adventurous funny lighthearted mysterious medium-paced

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

3.0

An interesting introduction to this world. I would have liked a little more world-building; we are kind of thrown into the deep end with this world and not given a lot of backstory or direction. I like Ophelia and I liked following her on her journey. And the court intrigue was fun and I want to learn more about that. It was a bit of a slog in the middle and they spent a lot of time at the Citeceleste that I think could have been cut down. But I am intrigued by the relationship between Thorn and Ophelia and I am interested in learning more about their powers.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Classism, Misogyny, and Sexism

Moderate: Murder and Suicide

Minor: Miscarriage

paduckling's review against another edition

adventurous lighthearted mysterious medium-paced

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

4.0

The main thing that hung me up in this book is the translation. There are quite a few typos and sometimes the word choice just seems off, which I assume is a product of the translation from French to English. I would love to be able to read this book in its native language one day.

As for the content itself, I really like this book. I think I actually enjoyed it more this second time reading it because I was just so lost the first time around. Usually I enjoy not knowing much going into books but it’s a lot of world-building and characterization to handle and it left me kind of lost. I appreciate the nuance of all the main characters - no one is completely good or likable; they all have realistic flaws. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Ableism, Physical abuse, Child death, Police brutality, Child abuse, Violence, Bullying, Emotional abuse, and Fatphobia

Minor: Miscarriage, Injury/Injury detail, Classism, Alcohol, Pregnancy, and Infertility

for content warnings: there is use of the M-word by a particular character to refer to shorter people in a derogatory way. There is also fatphobia in the sense of conflating being overweight with indulging in excess as a commentary on societal structure.