Reviews tagging 'Drug use'

The Poisoner by I.V. Ophelia

19 reviews

thecatconstellation's review

dark mysterious tense 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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gore, Misogyny, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Stalking, Murder, Alcohol, and Sexual harassment

Moderate: Animal death, Body horror, Confinement, Death, Suicidal thoughts, Trafficking, Grief, and Death of parent

souleater_'s review

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-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? Yes

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Gore, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Grief, Cannibalism, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, and Sexual harassment

ewilkins's review

dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.0

Such a great style of writing. Spicy. Dark. I loved the world she created and the new monster lore this book had. I was all in until the last 50 pages. 

**spoiler** 
*spoiler* 
I absolutely hated the raping that happened at the end. Silas allowing... and then taking part in her abuse, after knowing what she'd gone through was so out of Character it made me have go reread the section again. Disappointing that our badass avenger was raped multiple times, and for what? Nothing. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Misogyny, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Vomit, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

dcnireads's review

dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

1.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Confinement, Death, Drug use, Gore, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Violence, Blood, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Cannibalism, Stalking, and Murder

Moderate: Alcoholism, Vomit, Medical content, Death of parent, and Alcohol

Minor: Misogyny, Sexism, Slavery, and Grief

purplegurgles's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny hopeful mysterious 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

3.75

This is really good, but it deserved at least another round in edition. Some settings, attire and characters needed more description which led to some confusion and the characters seemed very genre-aware. Important to read the trigger warnings beforehand. Author has a way with words that I really like and writes action, dialogue and sex really well and the story in and of itself is very good. Cant wait for book two 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Drug use, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Medical content, Stalking, Murder, and Alcohol

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Misogyny, Self harm, Sexism, Kidnapping, Grief, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Child death, Vomit, and Death of parent

hexedmaiden's review against another edition

dark mysterious medium-paced

3.0

I don't really fuck with dark/taboo romance books, but I will say the author got me hyped to check this book out. I will say please heed those trigger warnings before going into this. Because this book is full of dubious consent between our main male & female character.

I hope that Alina ends up with Phoebe because both men are trash full stop.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug use and Sexual content

Minor: Rape, Sexual assault, and Torture

livfowler's review

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad 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

4.75

You know when people recommend you a “dark romance,” but then it turns out there’s just a little light choking or something? This is not that. Like actually, seriously, reader beware.

The main characters’ internal dialogue is sometimes a little stilted, especially at the beginning, but improves a lot as their interactions become more frequent and the stakes become higher.

Smutty bits were *chef’s kiss* delectable. Had me making feral clicking sounds that I didn’t think possible.

I think my favorite part of this book was that I predicted one plot twist from a mile away, but I was so focused on it that the next twist hit me like a train.

Speaking of, there’s a little train action (like actually on a locomotive train, get your head out of the gutter), and I sincerely hope for more in the next installment. Picture the already

incredibly erotic chase scenes from book 1

but across train platforms and through different cars as Silas pursues Alina

across the United States

. 

All in all, dying of thirst for book 2.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Grief, Cannibalism, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

flowersfortessa's review

challenging dark emotional funny mysterious tense 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

1.0

What??? What even was this book? I have mixed feelings about this. I was quite excited to read it and it was a terrible let down.

Plot:
What plot? Where? Plot who? I mean like what even happened? The plot didn't pick until the 70% or 80% mark and everything before it was just smut, Silas chasing Alina and Alina experimenting on Silas' blood. It was so simple and plain, I already saw most of the plot twists coming which were just random.

Characters:
The characters lacked any depth, they were boring and annoying, although I did like it when Alina stood up to Silas and Silas was funny and dramatic sometimes but other than that, just boring. And I want to kill Silas so badly, like please get the fuck out, nobody wants you here. In the book, we were told that Alina is a poisoner and she poisons terrible men, girl where did all of that go?? Like I wanted to read more of Alina doing that, I don't want to read her be fucked by her stalker. And the romance, actually it was not even romance, it was nothing. 

So much was happening, yet it feels like nothing happened, no progress was made. I don't really hate this book but I don't really love it either, it had a lot potential, like a lot. It feels as if the author just wanted an excuse to write smut. If you like just ignore all of the bad stuff, I kind of enjoyed reading it, I wasn't bored. And Silas better grovel a lot after the shit he pulled, the ending was not anything phenomenal like everyone else was saying, it was just fine. Anyways, if you like vampire smut, this book is for you, don't come into this book expecting amazing plot and breathtaking characters, I can assure you there's nothing like that at all.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Sexual assault, Blood, Stalking, and Death of parent

Moderate: Drug use, Gore, and Alcohol

fadingkings's review

dark 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? It's complicated

3.0

Characters: 4/5 

World building: 3/5

Spice: 1/5 (not included in overall total)

Plot: 3/5

Ending: 2/5

Overall: 3/5 


Did I enjoy the book? I think so? Or rather I was excited by the prospects of it and was left with something flat. Will I read the sequel? As of right now I think I have enough curiosity that I will, but that could fizzle out just like the ending of the book. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault

Moderate: Drug use and Gore