Reviews tagging 'Toxic relationship'

Elektra by Jennifer Saint

16 reviews

irinalast's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Minor: Sexual assault, Emotional abuse, Death, Murder, Death of parent, Confinement, Rape, Child death, Toxic relationship, War, Violence, Suicidal thoughts, Physical abuse, and Misogyny

sarahsbooklife's review against another edition

dark emotional 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: Murder, Grief, War, Misogyny, and Child death

Moderate: Rape, Blood, Sexual assault, Pregnancy, Slavery, Gaslighting, and Violence

Minor: Vomit, Alcohol, Classism, Infidelity, Toxic relationship, and Suicidal thoughts

lnolen01's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Child death, Genocide, Death, Physical abuse, Death of parent, Gore, Grief, War, and Violence

Moderate: Slavery

Minor: Toxic relationship and Misogyny

emma3674's review

dark emotional mysterious slow-paced

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

2.0

Fairly entertaining but I found this quite boring compared to other books I’ve read recently, it took me about six months to finish compared to a few days to a week for others

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Mental illness, Death of parent, Child death, Animal death, Toxic relationship, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, Murder, Slavery, Pregnancy, Gore, and Blood

vnfhcxksiw's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Child death, Death of parent, Slavery, Toxic relationship, War, Toxic friendship, Violence, Emotional abuse, Kidnapping, Suicidal thoughts, Grief, Genocide, Infidelity, Murder, and Abandonment

Moderate: Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Suicidal thoughts, Rape, Sexual violence, and Torture

garnethalo's review

dark emotional sad medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder and Blood

Moderate: Violence, War, and Toxic relationship

It's a Greek tragedy, of family curses and blood spilled.

alibrarymouse's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

3.5

If we were supposed to dislike Elektra, Saint did an amazing job. The titular character, and I absolutely could not stand her and her inability to think beyond herself until it was too late. She was selfish, bitter, and mean. 

However, the rest of this book is SO GOOD. I adored Cassandra’s perspective and appreciated the look into what her life was and how she was affected by the war before

begging for an end, and an end she chose for herself.

I absolutely cried for her and Clytemnestra. The ending was almost fitting, but I do wish there was more justice for Clytemnestra after everything—though Orestes didn’t deserve to face the consequences alone and it felt as though he did. So, it’s a bit of a mixed bag. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Death of parent, Toxic relationship, Misogyny, Gore, Violence, and Death

Moderate: Sexual assault and Rape

alexiasophii's review against another edition

dark emotional 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

3.5

Of all the books that retell The Trojan War I've read in the past months, this was the one I liked the least. Primarily because of Elektra's character. I know I'm biased since this isn't my first book on the Trojan War and I'm very familiar with most characters, but I just could not like Elektra. There's one quote, in particular, that annoyed me profoundly and made me hate her:

" They buried the woman [Kassandra], the one I saw walking behind him. No one has told me how she died. I wish that I could have talked to her: perhaps she could have told me stories about my father. The slaves say she was a princess of Troy. She was so lucky to be chosen by a king, the greatest king in Greece, to be brought here to a palace that must be as fine as the one she left. Finer, I’m sure. Whatever wealth Troy possessed, Mycenae had Agamemnon. And she did too, for a little while. "

I mean... how ENTITLED do you have to be to think that a SLAVE is "lucky" to be driven from her home, used by your father, and see her family and home dead and burned just because... what? You miss your daddy? I swear, this character just boiled my blood. And, once again, I'm on  Clytemnestra's side in this whole ordeal, though I still find myself wishing she had influenced her children not to be so devoted to Agamemnon but oh well. 
Overall, this book is not as good as the ones I've read before and the MC really annoyed me, so it's a 3.7 stars for me. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, and Rape

Minor: War, Death, Death of parent, Toxic relationship, and Violence

nialiversuch's review

dark emotional reflective sad 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: Bullying, Child death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Misogyny, Suicidal thoughts, Murder, Ableism, Blood, Infidelity, Sexism, Sexual assault, Pregnancy, Rape, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Toxic relationship, Abandonment, Colonisation, Confinement, Death, Death of parent, Grief, Violence, and War

amschelly153's review against another edition

dark informative mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

Beautiful writing. A+ to Jennifer.
These characters though made me want to scream. But she did a fantastic job writing them, just really frustrating circumstances lol.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Sexual assault, Gore, Death, Death of parent, Child death, Blood, Abandonment, Confinement, Murder, Violence, Injury/Injury detail, Infidelity, Toxic relationship, Sexual harassment, Rape, and Grief