Reviews tagging 'Confinement'

Maeve Fly by CJ Leede

14 reviews

baileybeloved's review

dark tense medium-paced

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

3.5

Things I loved about this book: extended metaphors, Maeve's all-consuming possessiveness, and the absurdity of being a Disney princess / killer. CJ Leede does not shy away from or minimize the dark nature of Maeve and I respect that a lot. 
Leede is also great at detailed scenes and places which really transport you. Gore/body horror were definitely there, but some things glossed over enough that even I (new to the body horror subgenre) was okay with reading it. Suspense was definitely there - I felt genuinely nervous reading this. Ending was exactly what it was going to be, with who Maeve is. I was disappointed by and for her, but it never could have ended any other way.

Things I didn't love about this book: 
-the pacing!!! I felt like the first 60-70% were just slow meanders through Maeve's head, with no real plot or character development or an occurring - either make the book longer or make things happen faster. The back of the book talks about her following Patrick Bateman but that is such a small short part of the story that I felt the selling premise was not an accurate reflection of the book's contents. 
-the egg subplot/kink (but not for the reason you think). My issue with the egg thing is that it just seemed very heavy handed (lol) for the metaphor the author was trying to convey. On one hand, I get it - Maeve's constant struggle is eased when she finds someone who can help her, who does not judge her interests but instead assists with them, that Maeve is all or nothing so she never considered anything in the middle ground. But on the other hand.... really? She has been

attempting to put an egg in her ass for YEARS and never considered a temperature between hard boiled and raw?????? How many eggs has she wasted on this??

. This is probably also a commentary on the single-minded pursuit of her goals, how inflexible she is, how everything must go exactly as she imagines it, that she needs a companion to ..... soften ? .... her ridged nature. But I was just so annoyed by this for some reason. 
-the answer about the dolls:

It seemed so obvious to me that  Gideon was making the dolls. I did not for one second consider or buy that it was some random girl making them

. The writing seemed to say we should be shocked by this but I was not surprised at all.

Other: A lot of the really positive reviews are audiobook specific so maybe I would've liked it more if I would have listened to it. Also I ADORE the other cover, with Maeve in the princess dress holding an eye.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Chronic illness, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Gore, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Animal death, Cannibalism, and Alcohol

whatkatyread87's review

dark funny informative tense fast-paced

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

4.0

It’s almost as if someone looked at Patrick Bateman, and then said “Hold my Fucking Beer”. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Body horror, Body shaming, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Terminal illness, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Kidnapping, Medical trauma, Stalking, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

matchamarimo's review

challenging dark tense medium-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? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Gore, Torture, Violence, Blood, and Murder

Moderate: Confinement, Cursing, Sexual content, Terminal illness, Medical trauma, and Alcohol

Minor: Drug use, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Vomit, and Abortion

madelinequinnee's review against another edition

dark funny 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? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

This was a pretty fun weird girl book, with some great classic horror references and a unique storyline. 

I personally wouldn’t describe it as ‘feminist horror’ like i’ve seen it described by other reviewers. Maeve is absolutely not a feminist character, she’s actually quite actively misogynistic at times and SAs a lot of her victims, so I think it’s very misleading to describe this book that way.

But apart from the misleading descriptions, i did enjoy this book. It was pretty campy at times, and very gory, and even though i think more could have been done with the gore and actual horror scenes, this is a pretty solid story. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Cancer, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Terminal illness, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Stalking, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Gaslighting, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

hauntedantiqueshop's review

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

3.5

Hey, quick question— what the fuck was this?

Oddly enough, I did kind of like it though. Not the gross shit but the overall story I suppose. The ending made me a little sad for Maeve but I didn’t really expect a happy ending for her. Definitely not a book for everyone, I don’t think there’s anyone I would ever recommend it to. But I am interested in reading something from this author again!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Grief, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Confinement, Drug use, Misogyny, Sexism, Toxic relationship, Excrement, Medical content, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Toxic friendship, and Alcohol

Really weird sex stuff. Like uncomfortably weird sex stuff.

axel_p's review

dark funny medium-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Minor: Addiction, Body horror, Body shaming, Chronic illness, Confinement, Death, Drug use, Fatphobia, Gore, Infidelity, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Cannibalism, Abortion, Murder, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

shanebergman's review

dark tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Loveable characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Confinement, Domestic abuse, Gore, Self harm, Sexual violence, Torture, Excrement, Cannibalism, and Murder

gen_wolfhailstorm's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective sad tense fast-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? Yes

5.0

What a deeply disturbing and fantastic book.

Have was such an unhinged character but I somehow rooted for her and was utterly devastated by the ending.

There was a humorous yet strange scene that was definitely an ode to Patrick Batemen watching himself having sex.

This was such a captivating story. It was like a train wreck - I just couldn't look away. Every time I put the book down, it was all I could think about.

It had me physically cringing in disgust and shouting out in disturbance and I loved every moment of it.

This is going to stick with me for a very long time.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Body horror, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Gore, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Grief, Cannibalism, Stalking, Murder, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

emilymae303's review

dark funny tense medium-paced

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

3.5

Definitely a shocking read with a lot of blood, gore and torture. Being from a female perspective is a nice twist on the classic serial killer trope and while there were themes that explored the inherent misogyny in most horror novels, it felt like the author didn’t dig deep enough into those themes and opted for just shock and gore instead. 

It’s a quick read and the dichotomous relationship between the setting “happiest place on earth,” mixed with the themes was dark and quirky.

 It ultimately read like a love story to LA, which seemed fitting given the fake persona Maeve tried to carry throughout the book, ultimately to succumb to her true darkness. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Confinement, Death, Gore, Rape, Sexual violence, Torture, Blood, Cannibalism, and Murder

ecn's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad fast-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? Yes

4.75

Points off for the inclusion of (potentially?) Johnny Depp. No thanks

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Confinement, Death, Fatphobia, Gore, Mental illness, Misogyny, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Terminal illness, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, Cannibalism, Medical trauma, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail