Reviews tagging 'Murder'

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

92 reviews

sea_sea's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional funny mysterious sad tense fast-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

5.0

I love this book! It is incredibly diverse and has really good sapphic, gender-fluid and non-binary rep. It is written absolutely beautifully! Reading it was such an amazing experience. The characters, the world building, the words, everything just fit and was so beautiful. It was so mythical and magical, the author just transports you straight into this amazing and beautiful world. I was invested the whole time, the story never felt dragged out or disconnected. The ending was so sljdlslskslsj T^T. I would 100% recommend this book. Already in the first chapter I knew it would become one of my favorites! 💕🌊🪼

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Confinement, Death, Drug abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Homophobia, Misogyny, Racism, Sexism, Torture, Violence, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Alcohol, Colonisation, and Classism

Moderate: Sexual assault, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, and Sexual harassment

Minor: Child abuse and Child death

marigold82's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful mysterious sad tense slow-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

4.0

A love story above all else. However a  story about family, self discovery, and so much more. Quaintly written as folklore.

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Confinement, Homophobia, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Blood, Trafficking, Murder, Lesbophobia, and Injury/Injury detail

carolined314's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious 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

4.5

Emotional pirates and mermaids and about the tradeoffs that happen with poverty, fear, solitude, and addiction. Quite a book, with multiple nonbinary characters, queer love, and lovely lady operatives, along side cruel and vicious men. A lot of the latter.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gun violence, Torture, Violence, and Murder

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Confinement, Drug abuse, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Sexual assault, Trafficking, Colonisation, and Classism

Minor: Homophobia, Rape, and Injury/Injury detail

dealingwithdragons's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful 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

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Biphobia, Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gun violence, Homophobia, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Vomit, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Death of parent, Murder, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

shannonbauchat's review against another edition

3.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Torture, and Murder

Moderate: Rape, Sexual assault, and Slavery

Minor: Homophobia

lilacs_book_bower's review

adventurous dark mysterious sad medium-paced

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

3.0

Blurb: "In a world divided by colonialism and threaded with magic, a desperate orphan turned pirate and a rebellious imperial lady find a connection on the high seas."  Very mixed feelings about this one.  There is great LGBTQ rep, and the two leads are POC characters, and I appreciated the discussions and seeing the effects of colonization by the Empire.  The Witch had some great stories.  The world building left a lot to be desired, but there were some cool elements and ideas.  
Other than that, I didn't like most of the characters, and didn't even care about the two leads especially.  They fall in love very quickly.  This book is dark, please check the CW.  CW:

even off-page, I don't want to read about child rape.

There are a few plot holes.  There are two endings and I didn't appreciate either of them.  I get what the author is going for

with Evelyn and Florian, it's their reward and they get to be together, but it didn't feel like Florian really has atoned enough to earn that, and "they both turn into mermaids' fits with the magic of the book, but also feels like a story a five year old would tell.

.  The second ending is about a character that I didn't like, so I didn't care about what happens to them, even though, again, I feel like I understand what the author is going for.  
If you like fantasy, especially with good LGBTQ rep, and like stories on the darker side, I would give this one a try.  In spite of the mixed bag of reactions, I would read another from this author.  

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Gore, Gun violence, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Sexism, Slavery, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Murder, Abandonment, Alcohol, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Rape

fiolud's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense 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? N/A

4.25

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Torture, Violence, and Murder

Moderate: Alcoholism, Drug abuse, Slavery, and Colonisation

raynearchv's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture and Murder

Moderate: Homophobia, Misogyny, and Violence

rennhint's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful mysterious 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? No

5.0

It was a beautiful story. Flawlessly queer, beautiful diverse. Wonderful poetic story. What a book

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Genocide, Sexual assault, Slavery, Trafficking, Death of parent, Murder, Alcohol, Colonisation, and War

katiethepenguin's review

adventurous dark emotional mysterious 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? No

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Minor: Death, Rape, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Murder, Alcohol, Colonisation, and Injury/Injury detail