Reviews tagging 'Domestic abuse'

Spinning Silver by Naomi Novik

101 reviews

irinalast's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny inspiring tense medium-paced

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

5.0

An interesting and complicated world is created through several perspectives; setting is established through ‘show don’t tell.’ Great writing that establishes realistic character feelings and dialogue.  

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Content Warnings

Minor: Physical abuse, Racism, Child death, Death, Death of parent, Toxic relationship, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, War, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, and Fire/Fire injury

biteychan's review against another edition

dark sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No

2.5

I’ve held planks that were more pleasurable than this book.

First person wasn’t my favorite choice, neither was SIX different POVs, one of the biggest clashes being narrated by an 8 year old, the fact that an 8 year old even *had* a POV, and a confusing world system.

The enemies to lovers caught me off guard on both accounts.

With Irina and the Tsar, when she finally chose him and looked at her with admiration, I guess it worked, but she had no reason to save him as he was a brute the entire time. She was actively plotting to try to marry someone else once she could figure out a way to have him removed somehow!

And Miryem with the Staryk King, it felt like their entire relationship was out of duty. His “proposal”  didn’t have any romance in it but yet they were married in 2 weeks?? Yes, he’d never lie or cheat you, but also he worked you like a slave and terrorized mankind for the sake of his own. He took you from your family!! I was also frustrated that Miryem put the entire human race at risk because she felt guilty of letting the ice citizens die. Would that have sucked? Yeah, but the King didn’t work with anybody.

The positives about this book was that it was a story about women in their oppressive circumstances, taking back their power. I grew to love Irina, and even Wanda, though I feel like her and her brothers didn’t serve much except to be a vehicle that we got snow fruit, was able to grow. But Miryem made me want to DNF the book.

This is supposed to be a series, but I thought it was a stand alone. I will stick to the dragon rider series instead.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Domestic abuse

cgwynne's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional 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? It's complicated

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, and Antisemitism

a_rash_read's review against another edition

adventurous dark hopeful relaxing 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? Yes

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pregnancy, Religious bigotry, Grief, Kidnapping, Death, Physical abuse, Torture, Emotional abuse, Domestic abuse, Child abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Miscarriage, Violence, Alcoholism, Bullying, Child death, and Death of parent

heartfruit's review against another edition

adventurous hopeful 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? No

4.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Domestic abuse and Violence

Minor: Antisemitism

dcdc's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective slow-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? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Antisemitism, Death of parent, and Domestic abuse

Moderate: Grief, Misogyny, and Alcoholism

Minor: Sexual violence

teigenbereadin's review against another edition

adventurous 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? No

4.0

This is a perfect fairytale retelling that has me trying to guess what fairytale it was based on through most of the book! (I hate it when the original fairytale is too obvious) I love the clever princess trope (think shaharazad) and so that was awesome. The characters have depth and grow through the book. My only complaint is that sometimes the plot ties can be a bit hard to follow. Like there was an explanation of some of the magic rules and it was pretty vague and left me confused until it came into play in the book. But I definitely would recommend this book to fantasy lovers!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse and Domestic abuse

Moderate: Antisemitism

Minor: Rape

kurumipanda's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful mysterious tense slow-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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Confinement, Death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Antisemitism, Torture, Violence, Child abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Alcoholism, Injury/Injury detail, and Physical abuse

Minor: Animal death, Rape, Xenophobia, Blood, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Child death, and Classism

kateceratops's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence and Domestic abuse

Moderate: Kidnapping, Alcoholism, Antisemitism, Child abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Torture, and Death of parent

Minor: Sexual assault

There isn't a lot of violence, but two or three scenes get very intense.

val_theburrowofstories's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious 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? Yes

4.0

From the very first pages I felt like I was in a dream with the way this book is written, I really like how this author was describing the setting and presenting the characters, besides the narrator has such a nice voice and it changed it for each POV… it was a full experience and from the beginning this was a 4 ⭐ for me!

This is a young adult book with fantasy elements and magic! Which is perfect for me, but if you’re looking for romance this isn’t it (like AT ALL, and I’m okay with that but I know it’s a deal breaker for some people), also, the fantasy is very low in the beginning but after a few chapters is there.

I liked Miryem from the second we met her, I don’t care if she’s “cold” or “ambitious” for others, to me she was caring for her family, doing the job, she was organized, really wise, not afraid of anything and always with a plan, proud of her religion and loyal to the people she loves until the very end. I just love her.

I was rooting for Wanda all the time, I just wanted her to be okay in the end, be free from her father, find her way and have a good and happy life. She’s such a hardworking girl, smart and quick learner, but overall she has a lot of courage and is ready to protect her family from anyone (even if it’s a demon or a scary King!)

Then we have Irina who I also came to love by the end. She looked weak in the beginning but she quickly adapted to her new reality, she was protective of her people and so brave. I just love women plotting, taking action, involved in politics, always with a plan and one step ahead!

I loved these girls so much! I’m tired of reading about girls who just go and do whatever without thinking, no plans, making things worse and not caring about the others. But Miryem, Wanda and Irina? They have such different backgrounds and yet their main qualities were being hardworking, really smart, brave and protective over their love ones. Honestly? I feel like that’s just me, in each girl I saw myself reflected and maybe that’s part of why I loved them.

When you are reading this book, I understand why some people might find it boring, but to me it was as if I was enchanted by it, so focus on the story and the characters with this beautiful writing. Besides the audiobook helped and I knew when the POV changed from one girl to another (or sometimes another character), it was so addictive and interesting.

So yeah, I don’t think this book is for everyone but I still recommend you give it a try if the premise sounds interesting to you.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Child abuse, Grief, Death of parent, and Domestic abuse

Moderate: Alcoholism, Misogyny, Sexism, and Child death

Minor: Sexual content

Here is a list of the content warnings and how is it that they’re present in the book, if you don’t want spoilers just skip this part:

Death of parent / Grief: Wanda lost her mother when she was eleven years old.

Child death: Wanda’s mother had a lot of babies but I think they died soon after being born or were stillborn.

Domestic abuse / Child abuse / Alcoholism / Violence: Wanda’s father was a really bad man, beating his three children for years and spending most of his money on alcohol.

Sexual content: There is just talk around the topic or slight mention of it, not explicit at all.

Misogyny / Sexism: Because Wanda’s father would just give her in exchange for a pig or alcohol. And there’s some other instances.