Reviews tagging 'Self harm'

Vespertine by Margaret Rogerson

71 reviews

charloforce's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious medium-paced

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

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical content, Mental illness, Body horror, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Domestic abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Self harm, Abandonment, Death, Violence, Bullying, and Medical trauma

Moderate: Murder and Torture

Minor: War

celinbean's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny 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

4.0

margaret rogerson truly loves her fearsome powerful and petty demons with a weakness for humans and you know what? So do i. 

it was a little predictable but that didn’t really dampen my enjoyment of the whole thing i was giddily waiting for everything i assumed was going to happen to happen and it delivered every time 😌 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse and Eating disorder

Moderate: Blood, Body shaming, Bullying, Confinement, and Self harm

rosemary_for_remembrance's review

adventurous dark emotional fast-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Self harm, and Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Death

asiamd's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad tense fast-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

This book was sooooo good. I loved the main character and her revenant!! The way the author added depth and feelings to every character that came on the page was amazing. I really adore books that allow for villians to also be victims of pain and fear and I felt like this book did a great job of incorporating that wit a kind of anti-hero in the revenant as well as all the other spirits throughout the book. I really liked the different take on religion as well, while it was really similar to Christianity(?) with the blind belief of the people, the praying, and the saints, Rogerson also made it unique in the book by adding a more ghostlike twists that in my opinion added way more humanity to what the spirits were. Overall I really enjoyed this book and read it in one day 🤭 so 10/10

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, Self harm, Panic attacks/disorders, Confinement, Death, and Forced institutionalization

Moderate: Abandonment, Pandemic/Epidemic, and Violence

Minor: War, Suicide, and Vomit

sapphicsoilscientist's review against another edition

adventurous reflective 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

4.0

I enjoyed this. It’s a good balance of metaphor for religious trauma and general healing from abuse. The audiobook was very fun as the voice of the Revenant was *chef’s kiss*

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail and Self harm

Moderate: Violence and Child abuse

Tagging for self harm, but the actions aren’t done to actually harm the individual. It’s complicated. Also tagging injury detail, though it’s mostly handled in a ‘acknowledging limitations for a disability’ sort of way.

parrothesis's review against another edition

adventurous dark hopeful fast-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Self harm

kaiyakaiyo's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious reflective fast-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? It's complicated

5.0

I REALLY liked this. Artemisia is a fun, strange main character that misses social cues and has social anxiety, but it isn’t written in that cloying internalized misogyny “I’m not like other girls” way. She just feels like a real girl that spent her formative years in a terrible situation, and doesn’t quite know how to interact as a result. She also doesn’t fall into the boring misanthrope trope; she is incredibly kind and empathetic despite thinking she’s terrible at people & kind of wishing they’d leave her alone. 

The world building in this novel is exquisite! I love when religious institutions are called into question and have their agendas interrogated. The friendships and interpersonal connection in this book are so heartwarming yet nuanced. 

I loved how Artemisia was able to step back and consider how cloying and sacrificial “chosen one” mentality is, and is able to empathize even with villains for that reason. Often in fantasy you get people chosen for or pushed into some grand fate and they kinda just… go with it. In this, Artemisia goes with it, but she also clearly articulates how shitty and painful and isolating the road will be, and how much she feels like a pawn in someone’s game. She’s tired, she forgets to eat, she realizes that caring for herself is just as important as the mission she’s on. 

10/10 would recommend and I would not mind if this turned to a series (duology would be nice but I will take 3 if I must)

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Self harm, Murder, and Child abuse

Moderate: Child death and Panic attacks/disorders

Minor: Suicide

marsh_mall0w's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny medium-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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Death, Confinement, Fire/Fire injury, and Self harm

Moderate: War, Panic attacks/disorders, Religious bigotry, Child abuse, Gaslighting, and Vomit

Minor: Gore

lilifane's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful mysterious medium-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

I think I just love Margaret Rogerson stories and characters. 
This one is much darker than Sorcery of Thorns, but I loved the atmosphere so much. The story takes place in a France inspired fantasy world that reminded me a lot of the atmosphere in A Plague Tale (just with ghosts/demons instead of rats). I also loved the characters with all my heart. Artemisia, the traumatized nun with social anxiety and a penchant for self sabotaging, and the Revenant, an ancient, grumpy demon that wants to kill everyone, are just a great pair. Their banter is the best and the way their "relationship" develops is so wholesome. Also, amazing side characters, character dynamics and character development in general. And it never gets boring, the plot progresses at a constant pace and although you see a lot of things coming, there are still some unexpected twists. 
There was some really interesting discussion about the masses idolizing/worshiping a person and basically making them a symbol for their religion and how this affects this person. 
I'm actually sad to leave this world behind. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, Self harm, Child abuse, Confinement, Eating disorder, Blood, Death, Medical content, Panic attacks/disorders, Religious bigotry, Violence, and War

Minor: Bullying and Grief

jenniferwong's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse and Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Self harm and Blood