Reviews tagging 'Cannibalism'

Wake, Siren: Ovid Resung by Nina MacLaughlin

9 reviews

magikskydad's review

It was very well written but incredibly triggering for me. It is not an anthology for the light hearted.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexism, Sexual assault, Stalking, Sexual content, Adult/minor relationship, Misogyny, Vomit, Pedophilia, Emotional abuse, Domestic abuse, Child death, Rape, Incest, Excrement, Child abuse, Cannibalism, Body horror, Animal cruelty, Physical abuse, Hate crime, Gaslighting, Kidnapping, Xenophobia, Violence, Toxic relationship, Acephobia/Arophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Infidelity, Self harm, Sexual harassment, and Sexual violence

Wonderful book but if you’re struggling with mental health I would be gentle with your self. It’s pretty rough.

violetbooklover's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Child abuse, Sexual violence, Murder, Cannibalism, Sexual assault, and Child death

laserdiscreader's review

challenging emotional hopeful reflective sad fast-paced

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

5.0

Incredible retelling of myths I knew well, recognized, and didn't know prior to reading. I loved the structuring of each narrator's story within the larger book which, per the author's note, was intentional and therefore I appreciated it even more. Because of who the narrators are, the majority are very tough to read, especially if the topics at hand are personally triggering. I'm rarely bothered by any questionable content and even I started squirming during a few of these retellings. But then a hard tale is followed up by a beautiful one and it just all flows so well. This was read during a time I'm only reading from the library, and I plan to add this to my personal collection soon.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Emotional abuse, Incest, Murder, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Sexual content, Violence, Cannibalism, Stalking, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Infidelity

heathervg97's review

challenging dark emotional reflective sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• 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

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Cannibalism, Child abuse, Pedophilia, and Rape

courtneyfalling's review

dark emotional 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? No

3.0

Dark feminist retellings of the myths in Ovid's Metamorphoses? Conceptually I'm so here. But this collection was... heavy and very viscerally in the characters' voices and experiences. I have to wonder who the intended audience is because people who pick up feminist Ovid retellings probably already agree that these stories are about gendered violence and likely have experienced gendered violence themselves, but this collection feels very sharp and potentially retraumatizing to that exact set of people. Not all the time, and not in an intentionally dangerous way, but still... this was pretty hard to get through at points and I had to wonder to what end. 

Edit a few weeks later: the more I think about it, the more that the equation of sexual violence and vulnerability to cis womanhood in this book feels gender essentialist and slipping into TERFdom...

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, and Sexual violence

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Domestic abuse, Incest, Infidelity, Stalking, Suicide, and Torture

Minor: Animal death, Cannibalism, Dysphoria, Lesbophobia, Pregnancy, and Transphobia

littlegretty's review

challenging dark emotional fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes

4.25

AS a lover of Greek myth, this book felt very important to me. Maclaughlin has crafted stories and a complete narrative that changes the focus of Ovid's Metamorphoses from Ovid himself to the women whose stories he tells. Some are sweet and soft, others are dark and challenging. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, and Cannibalism

hunkydorky's review

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad 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

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Cannibalism, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Grief, Incest, Kidnapping, Misogyny, Murder, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Suicidal thoughts, Stalking, Toxic relationship, and Violence

kirstenm's review

challenging dark medium-paced

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

4.5

I liked how this book showed womens anger and their sides of stories we know that are so often dominated by male voices. I did enjoy this book but as its retelling of greek/roman myths it comes with a lot of content warnings. I have added some but I'd look them up before reading to be sure this is a book you want to get into 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Cannibalism, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Grief, Incest, Misogyny, Pregnancy, Rape, Sexual assault, and Stalking

aclaman's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Vomit, Transphobia, Toxic relationship, Suicidal thoughts, Sexism, Physical abuse, Misogyny, Mental illness, Incest, Infidelity, Gore, Grief, Eating disorder, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Drug abuse, Domestic abuse, Death, Deadnaming, Cursing, Child death, Child abuse, Cannibalism, Bullying, Body shaming, Body horror, Blood, Animal death, Animal cruelty, Alcoholism, and Addiction