Reviews tagging 'Body horror'

A Touch of Malice by Scarlett St. Clair

9 reviews

ninahuynh's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• 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

3 things:

1. A few of the sex scenes are confusing, some of which I think could do without. As the amount of explicit scenes increase and how they arrive to it feel... sudden and might I say, cheap. I makes their relationship's foundation as sex. In some cases, it just feels out of place.
2. I like how Scarlett St. Clair illustrates the deep trauma that comes with boundaries violation and sexual assault. I like that it wasn't just glossed over or simplified; everyone deals with trauma and heals from trauma differently.
3. Who is Theo? Dunno if that's a typo in my ebook but could not find who Theo is. First scene with Theseus.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual violence, Kidnapping, Murder, Cursing, Body horror, Rape, Pandemic/Epidemic, Misogyny, Gore, Sexual content, Hate crime, Grief, Vomit, Stalking, Injury/Injury detail, Addiction, Death of parent, Abortion, Alcohol, Violence, Alcoholism, Blood, War, Fire/Fire injury, Torture, Sexual assault, and Death

Minor: Pregnancy, Abortion, Child death, Torture, Cannibalism, and Vomit

angelofthetardis's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious tense 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

4.0

Hades and Persephone should be ecstatically happy. They are madly in love, engaged to be married and rulers of their own domain. Except Persephone is still struggling to process her recent trauma, her mother is holding New Athens in an icy grip until they separate, Zeus is yet to grant his blessing on their union, and a conspiracy to topple the Olympians is afoot. 

Overall, I think it's the best paced and most enjoyable story of the series to date. I'm enjoying seeing Persephone grow into her powers and the slow expansion of the 'found family' (even if most of them are actually related in some way...), the twists and turns of the over-arching narrative and Hades just being Hades. And for the first time, I didn't get annoyed by Persephone's immaturity - her character has shifted in to something a little more befitting of the future Queen of the Underworld; she's still a little bit immature and naive in places, but the darker thread of her power coming to the surface and the development of her persona to match Hades, gaining satisfaction from the torture of the souls of those that wrong people makes her feel far more rounded. 

That being said, there's a small part of my brain berating me for liking this. I think my main issue is that, while the trauma Persephone went through in the last book is addressed and it does affect her relationship with Hades, it only feels like it's addressed on a surface level and then discarded in favour of a quick recovery. Likewise, the sufferings of other characters are dismissed fairly quickly and one dimensionally - the author had a great opportunity to give us a deeper insight and context into Demeter's motives, but instead it's referred to in a single sentence and she's branded a hopeless case. 

I also think the author has come to rely on the spicy scenes as a bit of a crutch. Persephone claims that she feels at her most powerful when in bed with Hades, and that could be illustrated so, so well to add layers to the story. But instead, it feels like the choice was quantity over quality, and for the most part Hades is the one in the position of power IMO. She can certainly write the scenes, I just think she needs to be more selective about placing them.

As before, I do like the way the author has seamlessly weaved in elements of various myths to expand the world, and reading some of her explanations in the Author's Notes really make these moments stand out. In particular, I like the twist in the character of Helen, the development of Apollo's character and acknowledgement of his past errors, and the continued back and forth between Aphrodite and Hephestus.

The writing is far from perfect and I would kill for more depth, but I couldn't help but enjoy this. Looking forward tonreading Hades' POV shortly!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Injury/Injury detail, Panic attacks/disorders, Death, Torture, Body horror, Sexual assault, and Sexual content

Moderate: Alcoholism, Rape, Stalking, Infertility, Car accident, Murder, Alcohol, Cursing, Death of parent, Gore, Hate crime, Kidnapping, Child death, and Blood

mlh95's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Cursing, Rape, Gore, Violence, Death, Blood, Kidnapping, Physical abuse, Death of parent, Genocide, and Torture

scarlett_f's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

2.0

Well, I read all three books, hoping the writing would improve. The story is constantly interrupted by whatever sex scene can be whipped up next. It seemed like the author used the Karma Sutra page by page to come up with something. I'm not opposed to sex and romance. It's just all of it was so repetitive, overdone, laughable. Roll-your-eyes boring after a short while. It forces you to start skimming. Literally, nothing got done within the storyline due to the constant sex scene interruptions and no exaggeration that it happened every other page. Very poor and disappointing, choppy writing.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cannibalism, Death, Death of parent, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, War, Confinement, Infertility, Sexual violence, Stalking, Torture, Violence, Kidnapping, Alcohol, Blood, Body horror, Child death, Medical trauma, Sexual content, Vomit, Murder, Rape, Grief, Misogyny, and Sexual assault

Disappointing writing.

wrensreadingroom's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Body horror, Car accident, Child death, Sexual assault, Confinement, Grief, Animal death, Blood, Cursing, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Gun violence, Murder, Self harm, Sexism, Outing, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Violence, Vomit, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Stalking, Toxic friendship, War, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Gore, Infertility, Kidnapping, Medical content, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Torture, Abandonment, and Alcohol

kimmy0__0's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny lighthearted mysterious sad fast-paced

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

5.0

Probably my favorite of the series so far. Lots of spicy scenes, but mostly just loved how the story progressed and the growth we saw in Persephone. So excited for Game of Gods!!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Hate crime, Alcohol, Panic attacks/disorders, Murder, Classism, Sexual content, War, Violence, and Body horror

Moderate: Violence, Sexual assault, Mass/school shootings, Toxic friendship, Death, Bullying, and Sexual violence

Minor: Death of parent, Rape, and Grief

karambit's review

dark emotional 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

2.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Body horror, Sexual violence, Torture, Death, Blood, Sexual content, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Violence, Death of parent, and Grief

Moderate: Self harm, War, Infertility, Alcoholism, Cursing, Gore, Confinement, Gun violence, and Misogyny

Minor: Infidelity, Vomit, Ableism, and Pregnancy

kinskinn's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content, War, Violence, Torture, Injury/Injury detail, and Body horror

Moderate: Rape, Sexual assault, Murder, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, and Cursing

Minor: Stalking, Child death, and Confinement

msta9789's review

adventurous dark sad tense fast-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

this book really was something else

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Vomit, Violence, Torture, Sexual content, Murder, Kidnapping, Death of parent, Death, Car accident, Blood, and Body horror