Reviews tagging 'Murder'

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

92 reviews

luna_is_superior's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional hopeful inspiring reflective 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? Yes

5.0

This book provides a great take on colonialism and its effect and has abundance of representation - especially in terms of gender identity. Overall a great book with excellent world building and memorable characters!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Racism, Sexism, Blood, Kidnapping, Murder, Gaslighting, and Colonisation

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Death, Drug abuse, Trafficking, and Classism

Minor: Child death, Homophobia, Rape, Sexual assault, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Transphobia, Vomit, Grief, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail

miabellawymer's review against another edition

adventurous emotional reflective 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? It's complicated

4.5

loved it. I cried at the end.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Emotional abuse, Rape, Sexism, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Abandonment, and Alcohol

anniereads221's review against another edition

adventurous hopeful mysterious medium-paced

• Loveable characters? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gun violence, Slavery, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Rape

Drowning

maggie_daydreaming's review against another edition

adventurous emotional reflective medium-paced

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

4.0

This was a lovely book.

I did feel like it was trying to be deeper and more lyrical than it was, especially toward the beginning. The concept felt like it could have been written in a similar style to Black Sun, with beautiful worldbuilding and descriptions and breathtaking writing, but it didn't quite get to that point. But that's okay- this author simply has a different style, and I don't mean to complain about her style not being someone else's.

A more fair complaint- the world at the beginning felt a little flat and dry, kind of like a middle grades novel where it doesn't go super in-depth, though maybe it was just me having a hard time getting into it. It did pick up as the book went on.

But okay! The plot of this book! Was so good! Mermaids and witches and pirates and magic and imperialism and love, with twists and turns, always enthralling... it was fantastic.

And the characters and their relationships and the rep in this book <3

Highly recommend if you like pirates, mermaids, and/or queer relationships. If that's not your jam, this probably isn't the book for you.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Torture, Murder, and Colonisation

Moderate: Slavery, Blood, and Alcohol

Minor: Death of parent and Fire/Fire injury

bookfairyesmee's review against another edition

adventurous hopeful lighthearted relaxing 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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Minor: Alcoholism, Bullying, Genocide, Slavery, Violence, Murder, Abandonment, and War

lolajh's review

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

susanmary55's review

adventurous emotional hopeful 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

I haven’t read a book in one day in a very long time! I loved this book, it was fast paced and so well written, I can’t believe it is a debut novel. A wonderful story that kept me on the edge of my seat.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Torture, Violence, and Murder

sssssoup's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Death, Gun violence, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexism, Torture, Violence, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Alcohol, Colonisation, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Child death, Gore, Homophobia, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Transphobia, Vomit, Kidnapping, Lesbophobia, Sexual harassment, and Dysphoria

Minor: Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Medical content, Trafficking, Religious bigotry, Abandonment, and War

matheo's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional

• 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Body horror, Child death, Death, Drug use, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Blood, Trafficking, Grief, Murder, Alcohol, Colonisation, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Pedophilia, Vomit, and Death of parent

grets_reads's review against another edition

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Torture, and Violence

Moderate: Alcoholism, Drug abuse, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Xenophobia, Blood, Lesbophobia, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Child death, Rape, Sexism, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Vomit, Trafficking, Grief, Murder, Abandonment, and Colonisation