Reviews tagging 'Outing'

The Mermaid, the Witch, and the Sea by Maggie Tokuda-Hall

5 reviews

decembera's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark tense fast-paced

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

2.0

It is... certainly a choice to make your Black lead an enslaver.

Mind the content warnings. This was significantly more graphic than I expected from a YA book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Vomit, Blood, Child abuse, Trafficking, Physical abuse, Torture, Classism, Confinement, Injury/Injury detail, Gun violence, Child death, Colonisation, Death, Emotional abuse, Xenophobia, Gore, Kidnapping, Murder, Slavery, and Violence

Moderate: Alcoholism, Addiction, Drug abuse, Lesbophobia, Homophobia, Sexual assault, Excrement, Rape, Outing, Abandonment, Drug use, Dysphoria, Sexual harassment, and Sexual violence

kananineko's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

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

3.0

There were a lot of things I liked about this book, including the short chapters, focus on pirates and mermaids, the sea as a character, and the way the worldbuilding was developed. Overall, I enjoyed reading it. But ultimately, I don’t think it was super memorable, and I didn’t really care about the characters, unfortunately. For some reason the only character I really cared about was Rake. Honestly, couldn’t really tell you why. The romance was cute, yet a bit rushed. Everything in general felt a bit simplified and not super memorable to me. 

I still think a lot of people will love this book, though. If the description sounds interesting to you, go for it!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Colonisation, Gore, Violence, Murder, Blood, and Death

Moderate: Torture, Gun violence, Lesbophobia, Misogyny, Homophobia, Classism, Trafficking, Mass/school shootings, Slavery, and Abandonment

Minor: Alcohol, Alcoholism, Outing, Sexual assault, Child death, and Rape

pineapple_queen's review against another edition

adventurous 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? Yes

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Classism, Confinement, Misogyny, Murder, Homophobia, Colonisation, Addiction, Kidnapping, Outing, Child abuse, Alcohol, Torture, Blood, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, and Sexism

Moderate: Gun violence, Homophobia, Racism, Physical abuse, Violence, Xenophobia, Animal cruelty, Trafficking, Slavery, Pedophilia, Murder, Mental illness, Grief, and Death

Minor: Rape, Sexual violence, and Sexual assault

talonsontypewriters's review against another edition

adventurous medium-paced

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

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Trafficking, Violence, Colonisation, Gun violence, Murder, Slavery, Death, and Torture

Moderate: Gore, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Xenophobia, Alcohol, Confinement, Grief, Sexual assault, Transphobia, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Child death, Classism, Misogyny, Outing, Pedophilia, Body horror, and Vomit

Minor: Homophobia and Lesbophobia

Self-injury for magical purposes. Misgendering of a side character.

lolajh's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful inspiring reflective 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

5.0

This book make me fucking sob from start to finish. Flora is the main character, who is originally a woman disguising on her pirate ship as a man: Florian, before eventually discovering to identify as both man and woman, not just one, because neither told the whole story. Along the way Florian falls in love with a newcomer, Evelyn, who I think tries her best to understand Flora’s gender, but still comes off across a bit dodgy at times, like once when she called Florian out, who was presenting as a man at the time, as not being a guy because he didn’t have an Adam’s apple. This gives off the idea that trans men aren’t real men and vice versa, whereas I believe she shouldn’t have commented on that at all and just accepted how Florian had presented himself and identified at the time. There are also mermaids, which pirates hunt for their value and Flora and Evelyn strive to change. The ending is what made me cry with happiness and sadness most of all. Loved this book very much, Florian’s experiences with gender and dysphoria were so raw and I appreciated her character very much.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture, Body horror, Gore, Murder, Sexual harassment, Blood, Death, Alcohol, Colonisation, Outing, Physical abuse, Slavery, Trafficking, Sexism, Transphobia, Gun violence, Dysphoria, Homophobia, Lesbophobia, Misogyny, Alcoholism, Violence, Grief, Kidnapping, and Injury/Injury detail