Reviews tagging 'Physical abuse'

Maeve Fly by CJ Leede

39 reviews

disguisedposer's review

dark emotional mysterious fast-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Terminal illness, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Cannibalism, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

wends_nblw's review

dark 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

2.0

I'm heartbroken. I wanted to love this. I so desperately wanted to love this story. But I didn't. 

Maeve as a character left me rolling my eyes. Her entitlement and edginess was underwhelming at best and annoying at worst. I understand what the author was trying to do with her, but it only reminded me of a tumblr-esque femcel whining in her trash filled nest of a bed. Maybe it's because I understand Maeve in a way, and it just frustrated me that I could somehow relate to such a whiny character. I will note that she becomes more likable as the story continues, however.

A lot of people label this as "unhinged woman", but it just seemed more like a mentally ill woman’s spiral into madness. 

I didn't like the ending either. I felt Maeve's plotline with Kate was unfinished in the worst possible way. The plotline with Gideon? It was quite satisfying until the very end reveal; a reveal that I thought was really obvious until the random red herring halfway through.

I even read this In Disneyland. I read parts of the story in the exact lands she'd describe. I watched Elsa and Anna in a parade while holding this book. Yet I couldn't find any love to give to this story. It's not even a bad book. It's just not for me.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Gore, Mental illness, Sexual content, Terminal illness, Grief, Murder, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Drug use, Physical abuse, Rape, and Sexual assault

Minor: 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

snowiceblackfruit77's review

dark emotional funny mysterious sad tense 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

4.75

This story was made for me. The MC was so interesting.

Her and Gidion’s story was so sad, he was the same he was her equal. But because the belief that no one would understand her, that she would always be alone was in her head she couldn’t see.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Body horror, Cursing, Death, Drug use, Gore, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Torture, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Cannibalism, Stalking, Murder, Abandonment, and Alcohol

caitbop5's review against another edition

challenging dark 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

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Cursing, Death, Drug use, Gore, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Terminal illness, Torture, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Medical content, Kidnapping, Murder, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, and Injury/Injury detail

ruthypoo2's review against another edition

dark emotional tense medium-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

3.25

This is a well-written and interesting story with a unique and somewhat unbalanced protagonist with feminist-leaning sensibilities. While the flow of the storyline is pretty tight, at times it felt a little slow to me, but around 60-70% it became quite engaging.

The bottom line is that I don’t care for body horror or sexual content, especially when they’re combined. Even though the body horror and sexual content in this book are relatively mild and the author doesn’t go into a lot of detail, it was still, personally, more than I want to read. With that said, it works for the main character, Maeve Fly, and the story, just not for this reader.

I listened to the audiobook, narrated by Sosie Bacon. The personality and vocal inflections Ms. Bacon brought to all the characters fit perfectly, but I thought the huskiness of her voice took a little getting used to at the start.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror and Torture

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Blood, Grief, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Gore

anna_pizzichidilibri's review against another edition

dark sad tense fast-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Gore, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Torture, Violence, Blood, and Murder

mxpringle's review

dark medium-paced

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

2.25

This is probably one of the most depraved and bizarre books I've ever read, which is definitely saying something. I feel like I could've used more background as to how the events that happened in Maeve's life or thoughts she had led her to doing certain actions in the book, because a lot of the actions she did just seemed so off the rails that I couldn't see any human reasoning behind it anymore. It kind of felt like the things she did were just like trying to get a reaction out of the reader rather than being authentic character development. However, this was still overall a really interesting/enjoyable read (though very dark and depraved). 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Death, Gore, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Terminal illness, Torture, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Death of parent, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Drug use, Misogyny, Pregnancy, and Alcohol

Minor: Toxic relationship and Pregnancy

citizensoup's review

challenging dark funny tense fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Torture, and Murder

atmissv's review against another edition

fast-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

4.5

I loved this book, but it is DARK! I read a review that compared it with American Psycho, and that is an apt comparison - though this one has more moments of (dark dark pitch black) humor.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Bullying, Chronic illness, Cursing, Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Terminal illness, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Kidnapping, Grief, Murder, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, and Injury/Injury detail