Reviews tagging 'Blood'

Juniper & Thorn by Ava Reid

245 reviews

princegene95's review against another edition

adventurous dark 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Body shaming, Gore, Blood, Vomit, Cannibalism, and Murder

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Death, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Sexual content, Death of parent, and Alcohol

Minor: Pedophilia, Sexual assault, Medical content, Medical trauma, and Sexual harassment

chofa96's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal death, Death, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Gore, Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Murder, and Gaslighting

kschuster's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse and Gore

Moderate: Child abuse, Death, Eating disorder, Rape, Blood, Vomit, Cannibalism, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, and Classism

fayesavanne's review against another edition

dark emotional medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Loveable characters? Yes

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Gore, Pedophilia, Sexual assault, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Vomit, Antisemitism, Cannibalism, Death of parent, and Murder

readingwithkaitlyn's review against another edition

dark tense medium-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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body shaming, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Misogyny, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Murder, Gaslighting, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Alcoholism, Body horror, Bullying, Gun violence, Hate crime, Rape, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Kidnapping, and Death of parent

Minor: Domestic abuse, Incest, Infertility, Infidelity, Pedophilia, Racial slurs, Colonisation, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Beastiality.

kimco_reads's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark tense medium-paced

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

4.25

 Overall I really enjoyed reading this book! I picked it up for the 2024 Trans Rights Readathon  and had a difficult time putting it down. I even spent the majority of my afternoon off reading the second half because it was so intriguing. Going into it I was already drawn in by the idea of a grim-dark retelling of a fairytale, and add in a fairytale I hadn’t heard before and I was hooked. 

This was the first book I’ve read by Reid, and I was impressed with how intelligent the writing was and how poetic the prose was. Reid’s descriptions were visceral and made it feel like I was right there in the story with Marlinchen. The setting of the house felt like it was straight from a fairytale with the description of the main character’s house, yard and various creatures living there. Then as a direct contrast the setting outside of the main character’s house was a developing city with day laborers, a theater, bars, and a beach. Putting these two contrasting settings was an ingenious way for Reid to show the character’s father’s inability to move forward or let any outside influence in. The magic system was simple, but well fleshed out within the story.

Throughout the story I felt the pain and anguish of the main character. I also really appreciated how Reid was able to depict the psychological effects the trauma and abuse often described in fairytales have on different types of characters. The very real way Marlinchen, Undine, and Rose reacted so differently to their father’s abuse was chilling to the core. 

While I thoroughly enjoyed reading Juniper and Thorn, there were a few things that didn’t quite line up to my personal tastes in order to make it a five-star read. For me, the moments of levity were very short and far inbetween. It seemed they were over as soon as they started and they were still always tinged with the main character’s fear of being caught. It makes sense for the story so I understand why Reid wrote it this way. Also, the way the characters were written, I didn’t really know enough about the other characters to care if anything bad happened to them and it wasn’t until close to the end that I cared about the main character’s love interest. The romance read as an instant love connection, and unfortunately I’m just not a big fan of this trope, however, the author did a fantastic job showing that it wasn’t a perfect love, but rather a love that two very scarred characters would realistically cling to. 

That all being said, this book was a great short read. It was chilling in a more psychologically heavy way than I expected, but was pleasantly surprised with. 

Please check your trigger warnings before diving into this one!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Eating disorder, Sexual assault, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Death of parent, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Rape, Blood, Cannibalism, and Murder

bohemianhermit04's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• 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

Moderate: Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Vomit, and Cannibalism

Minor: Confinement, Physical abuse, Death of parent, and Alcohol

kateships's review against another edition

dark tense medium-paced

4.75

I don’t usually read books like this. I love folklore/fairytale based retellings which is why it interested me, and the authors writing drew me in. 

It is… gory, uncomfortable, dark, weird, and at no point did I know what was going to happen. It was oddly more sexual than I was expecting and I don’t think the story needed most of it, but that didn't ruin it for me. 

It’s FOR SURE not a book for everyone. Again, dark and VERY uncomfortable, not scary, but I was fascinated by the theme of hunger and the monsters. I ended up really really enjoying this way more than I expected. 

I am weirdly obsessed and will probably read everything by this author. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Gore, Sexual assault, Violence, Blood, Cannibalism, and Murder

Moderate: Child abuse and Sexual content

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Abortion, Death of parent, and Alcohol

orangewitchling's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional tense slow-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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Gore, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Violence, Blood, Grief, Cannibalism, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Sexual harassment, War, and Classism

2_black_dogs's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, Cannibalism, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail