Reviews tagging 'Physical abuse'

The Diviners, by Libba Bray

6 reviews

trippalli's review

dark funny lighthearted mysterious 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

5.0

A funny adventurous book about a murderous ghost set in a roaring 20s plus occult and individuals with specific powers, like seeing memories in touching an object or seeing glimpses of the future, becoming unseen temporarily... But I never thought I'd let l laugh so much while a serial killer is trying to be stopped. I loved all the very diverse cast and I wanted them to all be safe! They are so quirky, using their ability to pick pockets or make party games and sprinkled constantly with the 20s slang of the lead character, a girl who wants to party and turns detective and PR for her academic uncle's museum of the occult she is so sassy, spontaneous and friendly... All the characters are very vivid and unique and the world is fabulous. I have the first 4 books and am eager to read the next one!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Gore, Gun violence, Religious bigotry, Sexual harassment, Murder, Physical abuse, Stalking, Torture, Abandonment, Animal death, Death, Alcohol, Xenophobia, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Injury/injury detail, Violence, Animal cruelty, Racism, Child death, Confinement, and Domestic abuse

Moderate: Ableism and War

k_galloway's review

adventurous dark emotional funny inspiring mysterious reflective 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? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Religious bigotry, Torture, Body horror, Xenophobia, Violence, Gore, Blood, Death, Grief, Hate crime, and Murder

Moderate: Kidnapping, Physical abuse, Stalking, Abandonment, and Alcoholism

Minor: War

dsarbear's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful mysterious tense 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

The book had me on the edge of my seat despite that fact that

Spoiler

the book tells you who the killer is pretty much on page one

. Mysterious and suspenseful. There's some side-plot romances but they don't overshadow the main plot. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence and Murder

Moderate: Physical abuse and Racism

Minor: Rape, War, and Abortion

r1dh4's review

adventurous dark informative mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.25

For the time that I read The Diviners, I was almost completely transported into its world. The setting really came off the page for me, and I really enjoyed the author's writing style. I will say that Libba Bray seems to really like long-winded descriptions and discussions; however, I did not find it boring here and instead thought it was important in order to fully visualize the world she is trying to show. That being said, I feel like it's important to know this and have the right mindset going in, because I definitely wouldn't have been able to read this so quickly or deeply had I read it earlier last year since I wouldn't have had enough focus at the time.

The characters were also all really well-developed in my opinion. Even minor characters that did not show up for very long felt like real people. At times it did feel like there was just a lot of information on the character's backstory coming in at once, but considering the rest of Bray's writing style it didn't feel that out of place to me and it didn't hinder my enjoyment of the book at all.

Additionally, the plot doesn't really pick up speed until about halfway through the book. However, even though the plot started a bit later, I still enjoyed the beginning because it provided some good exposition and allowed the reader to become familiar with the characters and their motives/personalities. When the plot actually does get underway, I found myself really wanting to know what happened next. Not only does the book feel rightly creepy, but there's a lot of movement between places and characters that was handled well and prevented me from feeling bored.

Along with this, the story itself also felt really well-crafted; you could tell the author had taken a long time to research and write this book, and you could see the carefully laid threads that allowed this book to finish completely while still leaving some great material for the next few books. The only thing I didn't like about this book was the romances; each felt either forced or too fast. I feel like some extra development would help this out, which I'm looking forward to seeing in the next few books.

Honestly, since I've heard that the subsequent books are better than the first, I definitely will be reading the next few, and I'm looking forward to continuing the series! I would also recommend this book to anybody, as long as they feel up to the longer page length and have checked out the content warnings (because there are quite a few). Overall, a great book to start off 2022!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder

Moderate: Alcohol, Blood, Body horror, Death, Domestic abuse, Gore, Grief, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, and Sexism

Minor: Sexual assault

davidrb's review

adventurous dark funny slow-paced

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

3.0

Just Okay. I think I'm just never gonna get into a YA fantasy, but the setting and lore both appealed to me! I'll probably continue the series, seeing as some characters (namely Memphis, Henry, and Sam!?) didn't have much of a presence in the story when it came to the main plot. (Poor Mabesie too!)

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Ableism, Addiction, Alcohol, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Cannibalism, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Confinement, Death, Death of parent, Dementia, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Injury/injury detail, Kidnapping, Mental illness, Misogyny, Murder, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Police brutality, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Religious bigotry, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Slavery, Terminal illness, Torture, Toxic relationship, Vomit, and War

This book is much more graphic than I was expecting, especially when it comes to the child death, sexual and domestic abuse, and animal death. Watch out!

celery's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny hopeful informative inspiring lighthearted mysterious relaxing 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Minor: Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, Emotional abuse, and Rape