Reviews tagging 'Child abuse'

The Shadow Cabinet by Juno Dawson

12 reviews

minervacerridwen's review against another edition

dark lighthearted mysterious relaxing tense fast-paced

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

3.5

Just like Her Majesty's Royal Coven, this was a fast-paced read with spy movie elements in a magical world. I did feel like it dragged a bit in the middle of the book, though the point-of-view changes helped to keep me intrigued about other things that were going on enough to keep reading. Overall the atmosphere was a little darker and less magical, with more focus on characters fucking each other over than on sisterhood (which makes sense, considering the new main character, but also made it a little less appealing to dive back in after a reading break). The pacing of the ending was a lot more satisfying to me than in the first book, and once again there were some interesting twists to make me very curious about the next part!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Murder, Infidelity, and Misogyny

Moderate: Child abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Cursing, Vomit, Self harm, Violence, Death, Religious bigotry, Sexism, Transphobia, Grief, and Child death

Minor: Blood, Animal death, Bullying, Racism, Abandonment, and Alcohol

wallflovver's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.5

despite everything, i loved ciara.. i loved her, i cried for her and i (unfortunately) related to her.

i gave this a lower rating than HMRC, because i think there's a lot more i dislike about the sequel compared to the first book in this series.. but nevertheless it was a wild ride and seeing the story unfold had me gripped!

i will absolutely be tuning into the final installment, im very excited for it! 

ciara i love you and you've never done anything wrong x

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Body horror, Child abuse, Death, Suicidal thoughts, Grief, Blood, Fire/Fire injury, and War

battysbooks's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious sad 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? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Violence, Vomit, Misogyny, and Blood

Minor: Death of parent, Alcohol, Fire/Fire injury, Child abuse, and Animal death

imds's review against another edition

• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Grief, Racism, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual violence, Physical abuse, War, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Violence, Xenophobia, Misogyny, Abandonment, Death, Blood, Body horror, Child abuse, Gore, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Murder, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Transphobia, and Death of parent

sashahc's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

I read “The Shadow Cabinet” by Juno Dawson today.  It’s the follow up to “Her Majesty’s Royal Coven.”  It’s dark and intense and you have no idea who is going to die next and I couldn’t stop reading in. HOW MANY DOUBLE CROSSINGS CAN ONE BOOK HAVE?  Anyway.  If bloody British coven politics is your jam, here you go.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse, Domestic abuse, Death, Child abuse, Death of parent, Gaslighting, and Torture

rabelais's review

3.0

the underlying premise of magic continues to be transmisogynistic. why? why is it necessary to require the entire existence of the world to be based on transmisogyny??? 🤬

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Hate crime, Abandonment, Cultural appropriation, Grief, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Ableism, Child abuse, Classism, Colonisation, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Gaslighting, Gore, Misogyny, Racism, Homophobia, Panic attacks/disorders, Kidnapping, Outing, Suicidal thoughts, Transphobia, and Violence

keya_caivalur's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Murder, Addiction, Drug abuse, Grief, Blood, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Fire/Fire injury, and Kidnapping

Moderate: Miscarriage, Infertility, Adult/minor relationship, War, Misogyny, and Child abuse

Minor: Hate crime, Death of parent, Dementia, Genocide, Car accident, Suicidal thoughts, Abandonment, Child death, Bullying, and Cursing

hobbithopeful's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad medium-paced

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

5.0

 Thank you Penguin for this ARC
This book tore my heart out and then served it back to me on a silver platter. What's worse is that I loved every second of it!
Dawson perfectly captures what's like to experience life as a woman, it feels like she reaches into my brain and puts my darkest experiences to page. Part of the reason this trilogy is so difficult to read is because how close to real life it is. All the hate, fear, and bitterness isn't fictional. The only thing fictional about this book is the magic and witchery. Everything else sadly, you can easily find anywhere in the world.
This is in no way shape or form a light and happy read. There is sisterhood, family, and love, but what they all go through and experience is difficult at best, depressing at worst. Definitely check your tws before reading because there is a lot of death, murder, homophobia, sexism and more fun stuff.
I was so ready to hate Ciara, everything we learned in the last book really had her painted as "evil" plain and simple. If there's anything I should have learned from Dawson's writing, is that people are messy, complex, floundering creatures. There is no good or evil, only the choices we make, and we can always come back from it. ‘No. There’s always a way back,’ he said, trying to convince them both. ‘You just . . . turn around and go the way you came.’
My favorite pov is from Leonie, she is such a badass and I loved her adventure. On the flip side I always have such a hard time enjoying reading Elle's chapters. She just really annoys me and the way she behaves would drive me to therapy if I were her child. I didn't expect Luke's plotline to take him where it did, I enjoyed it, but it almost feels like too much out of left field.
Another MUST READ from Juno Dawson, this is shaping up to be one of my favorite series! Please I need the final book! DAWSON LOVES CLIFFHANGERS TOO MUCH!!

 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Murder, Sexism, Animal death, Animal cruelty, Grief, Gore, Homophobia, Sexual harassment, Toxic relationship, Blood, Death of parent, Misogyny, Death, Kidnapping, Physical abuse, Racism, and Drug abuse

bibliophil_leah's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.25

I enjoyed this book alot all though not as much as the first book. Some pars felt frustrating because storylines of cheracters simply stopped and i really wanted to see their develoment. Overall this was still an amazing read with good queer rep and a gripping story and interesting cheracters.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny, Transphobia, Violence, and Homophobia

Moderate: Torture

Minor: Domestic abuse and Child abuse

kateyhb's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful sad 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

4.5

Oh my goodness, I adored HMRC and this was no different. Lighthearted but heartwrenching. Fun but spooky. I think this book added on to the series so well and I can’t wait to read the next one when it comes out. 

I am so sad that Niamh never made a return in this book. I was holding on to hope that Juno wouldn’t kill the best character. Seems that’s the case. BUT Ciara’s character arc was a pleasure to read. She just needed so much more love than she got. No excuses for the terrible things she did, but it goes to show that if you tell someone they are “bad” enough times they will start to believe it. Heartbreaking.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Drug abuse, and Sexism

Moderate: Sexual harassment, Transphobia, Suicidal thoughts, Abandonment, and Child abuse