Reviews tagging 'Terminal illness'

Maeve Fly by CJ Leede

48 reviews

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

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

bwoo's review against another edition

dark fast-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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Misogyny, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Terminal illness, Torture, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Kidnapping, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, and Sexual harassment

Moderate: Alcoholism, Body shaming, Drug use, and Cannibalism

Minor: Abortion

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

hyphae's review

challenging dark mysterious tense medium-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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Gore, Terminal illness, Blood, Murder, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Sexual assault, Sexual content, Torture, and Grief

orizenda's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad medium-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

4.0

I really liked this book except for the romance, which I didn’t realize would be such a large plot element. Like to me this felt like a love story with some other weird fucked up stuff happening around it and then some genuine emotions. I would have liked it a lot better if it had been about Maeve and Kate ijs i think a love story there would be a lot more potentially interesting. but like interesting plot elements, although sometimes i think it feels like there’s too much going on for such a short story. idk. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gore, Mental illness, Rape, Sexual content, Terminal illness, Violence, Murder, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

Moderate: Excrement

delaneyanne's review against another edition

dark funny sad 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

3.75

It’s not as much like American Psycho as you might expect based on the blurb, but there are similarities. Maeve’s a lot more…sympathetic (I don’t want to say likeable haha) than Patrick Bateman, but they certainly have more than a few things in common.

I wish it was just a bit longer because it wraps up so fast (like unbelievably fast) and the ending feels unresolved, but I assume that was intentional.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Sexual content, Violence, and Murder

Moderate: Sexual assault and Terminal illness

It name checks Patrick Bateman in the description so just bear that in mind. Was American Psycho too much for you? Maybe skip this too. There’s not just sexual content but, like, weird sex stuff and there’s no tag for that so I’m telling you here.

There’s this whole thing with eggs that I don’t know how to explain. Or want to explain. Idk man.

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

grey_jayne's review

dark mysterious sad tense slow-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? It's complicated

3.5

I really wanted to love this book but it first directly references American Psycho and Fight Club before riffing on their styles and I found this jarring. Also, this is a book much more about relationships than slashing. It was okay, it was fine, but I wasn't wowed.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Bullying, Terminal illness, Violence, Death of parent, and Murder