Reviews tagging 'Torture'

Rhapsodic by Laura Thalassa

29 reviews

messica's review against another edition

2.75

This is like if Charlaine Harris wrote ACOTAR. 

I’m new to the romantacy genre and I just have some observations. First, what’s up with the body horror? Most fantasy does not include this amount of torture and gore. Frankly I’m not sure why adding boinks warrants the extra horror. Related, are we not capable of writing one of these that doesn’t include SA? What’s going on with all these insanely unsexy plot lines? Is it overcompensation for the boinks? Conflict can happen without torture and SA. I’ve seen it done in every other genre. I just 💁‍♀️

I think I originally put a hold on this because some random Reddit thread suggested to read this after ACOTAR. And yeah honestly that’s a good way to rec this book because this reads similar. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Torture, Rape, and Suicidal thoughts

Minor: Homophobia and Vomit

poetsofsweetpea's review against another edition

dark fast-paced

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

3.25

Rhapsodic was a fairly spicy Romantsy story. It was scary but threaded with sexual assault.  The age difference between the characters was problematic for me.  It wasn't just that there was one, but the age and circumstances of their first meeting  gave me the ick.  The mystery of the children and catatonic fae was scary, but I wasn't satisfied with the resolution.  Perhaps the payoff is further down the series, but I won't get there.  I don't like sexual victimization as a plot point, and it was really the only thing moving the story forward.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Murder, Adult/minor relationship, Sexual harassment, Kidnapping, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Child death, Confinement, Torture, Sexual violence, Mental illness, Abandonment, Domestic abuse, Child abuse, Death, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Rape, and Physical abuse

Moderate: Confinement, Dysphoria, Adult/minor relationship, and Infidelity

helminthy's review against another edition

dark medium-paced

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

2.0

Very easy to read. The plot is interesting but the pacing made it clear that the characters were the focus. This would be fine if the character arcs were fleshed out, but they seem to change opinions and states in order to make the tone feel more broody. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Death of parent, Sexual assault, and Adult/minor relationship

Moderate: Sexual content, Pedophilia, Death, Blood, Child abuse, and Murder

Minor: Torture and Alcoholism

ali_sun's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content

Moderate: Sexual assault

Minor: Sexual assault, Blood, Sexual violence, Child abuse, Child death, Torture, Kidnapping, Pregnancy, Slavery, Violence, and Vomit

verk's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-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? No

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Death, Torture, and Sexual content

Moderate: Murder, Rape, Sexual assault, Blood, and Kidnapping

Minor: Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Pregnancy, Child abuse, and Vomit

avialaeleigh's review against another edition

dark emotional sad medium-paced

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

4.0

This is a really great romantacy read. Funny and witty with just enough angst to not make it too frilly. I like that we kind of flop back and forth from present and past times so we see how Des and Callie met and used to be but also how they are now and everything. 

Also the surprise soulmates thing was a nice touch. Did not see that one coming. I also like that we get that bad boy, broken girl trope as well as strangers to friends to enemies to lovers thing that they have going on. 

Also the banter, really great made me laugh a lot and pause my audiobook to really make sure that I heard the narrator correctly. Both of them have some great one liners. And there were also moments that I was truly sad and also those that I wanted to hit them both upside the head cause they were both being idiots. 

I'm really interested in seeing where the rest of this series goes.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Sexual assault, Vomit, Confinement, Death, Kidnapping, Torture, Alcohol, Death of parent, Grief, Rape, and Sexual content

kayceeisbookish's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad tense fast-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

2.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Cursing, Sexual content, Death of parent, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Vomit, Alcoholism, Blood, Violence, Alcohol, Stalking, Abandonment, Body horror, Sexual harassment, Torture, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Rape, and Toxic relationship

britbrit29's review against another edition

emotional mysterious reflective fast-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? No

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Kidnapping, Murder, and Sexual content

Minor: Pedophilia, Torture, Rape, and Death of parent

wrensreadingroom's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Confinement, Cursing, Panic attacks/disorders, Pregnancy, Rape, Stalking, Torture, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Sexual assault, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Vomit, Child abuse, Child death, Gaslighting, Gore, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Animal death, Bullying, Mental illness, War, Grief, Kidnapping, Toxic relationship, Abandonment, Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Blood, Death, Misogyny, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Sexism, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Forced institutionalization, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Murder, and Self harm

chrisljm's review against another edition

dark mysterious fast-paced

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

2.0

First of all, everyone who recommended this book is a sick freak. Because why are you people obsessing over this adult/minor grooming relationship. And even if you were to argue that they don't technically get together until the girl is an adult, it's still very strange how often they had to mention her being a "lovesick" teenager. Like that shit made me sick. It was also weird af that there was another (of lesser importance) adult male character that was dating a 16 year old girl. Although the focus was on him locking her in his basement, there didn't seem to be any criticism on him dating teenagers so it's kinda giving obsessed with grooming..

Second of all, why is a white author making a black character talk like that. It's weird enough she made her the stereotypical sassy black best friend, but the fact that the author sat there and typed "oh, naw, girl" as a part of her dialogue is kinda driving me insane. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Rape, Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Death, and Sexual assault

Moderate: Kidnapping, Alcohol, Pregnancy, Sexual content, Child death, Torture, Death of parent, and Confinement

Minor: Fire/Fire injury and Slavery