Reviews tagging 'Drug use'

The Shadow Cabinet by Juno Dawson

5 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

ejspiese's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.5

It was good but not as good as HMRC. It felt very very slow until the last 150 pages or so. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, War, and Violence

Moderate: Drug abuse and Drug use

adancewithbooks's review against another edition

adventurous dark slow-paced

3.5

Thank you to Penguin Books and Netgalley for the review copy in exchange for an honest review. This does not change my opinion in anyway. 

The ending of Her Majesty's Royal Coven was quite the ordeal. With two of our main characters dead and the whole of the royal coven in disaray, it is quite a feat to pull this all back together. Spoiler: they don't. 

One of the things that drew me to Her Majesty's Royal Coven was Niamh and the way she managed to do the right thing, regardless of what was on the other end. Whether this was her sister or one of her best friends, she would always do the right thing. Her relationship with Theo was the high point for me. 

But that was completely gone with the ending of the last book and it put us on new footing. Footing I didn't particularily like. Ciara, Naimh's replacement, is quite the opposite, despite being her twin. And this whole book was Ciara's redemptions arc. I didn't nessecarily care for that.  Again, the book is another slow build-up that dragged a little. 

I also cringe at the choices that were being made. Steps back for certain characters, as if to even the playing field to show that Ciara isn't all that bad either. Or just weird typical plot points. It didn't work for me. I also missed seeing more of Theo and hated how Ciara treated her. Leonie had her hero moments there and I think she grew on me more this book. 

Yet, like with the first book, the ending was spectaculair. Just enough for me to want to continue on reading with the series. And yes I have a good idea of that very last bit to the ending. Which is why I want to read on with the series.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder and Violence

Moderate: Drug use, Drug abuse, Transphobia, and Addiction

bigotry

amy_reading_23's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional hopeful inspiring 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? It's complicated

4.5

Wow this was an incredible sequel to the first book! I'd recommend anyone read these books, they're written really well and are really gripping. There were loads of unexpected twists and turns in this one but overall it was really enjoyable. 

I really enjoyed the themes of why people do the things they do and how you can come back from it. I love Ciara's storyline and ended up really liking her.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Drug use, Misogyny, and Grief

Moderate: Death, Sexism, Racial slurs, Addiction, War, Abandonment, and Body horror

Minor: Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Medical trauma, Confinement, Domestic abuse, Injury/Injury detail, and Toxic relationship

jamieleepilk's review against another edition

dark emotional funny 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: Dysphoria, Sexism, Sexual content, Drug abuse, Drug use, Blood, Body horror, Death of parent, Toxic relationship, Emotional abuse, Grief, Misogyny, and Death