Reviews tagging 'Torture'

La congregazione reale di sua maestà by Juno Dawson

12 reviews

shae_purcell's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense medium-paced

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

3.75

I didn't like this book as much as I thought I might. I enjoyed the multi-POV chapters and the diverse representation. I liked a lot of the characters and relationships. I don't know what it is. It fell a little flat for me, like the characters could have been fleshed out more maybe.

A word of warning: Don't go into this expecting a tidy ending. It ends on a huge cliffhanger. I was ready to start the second book until I was halfway through that last chapter. Now I'm really irritated and thinking about taking a break. I'm sure as an author you want readers to be so excited for the next book that they'll run out and pick up a copy immediately. This ending didn't make me excited for the next book. It makes me dread reading it, even though I still kind of want to hang out with the characters a bit more. I may pick it up eventually but I'll feel sour about it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Medical content, Death, Child abuse, Sexual content, Child death, Injury/Injury detail, Cursing, Outing, Transphobia, Animal cruelty, Blood, and Animal death

Moderate: Murder, Misogyny, and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Lesbophobia, Eating disorder, Incest, Islamophobia, Pandemic/Epidemic, Suicide, Classism, Homophobia, Self harm, Drug use, Alcohol, Colonisation, Torture, Racism, Sexual harassment, Emotional abuse, and War

There is a lot of intentional misgendering in the chapters told from the

anti-trans character's

POV.

mossbelle's review against another edition

adventurous medium-paced

3.5

🌶

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic friendship, Outing, Death, Car accident, Transphobia, Torture, Racism, Infidelity, and Death of parent

shannenscribbles's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Child abuse, Bullying, Animal death, Transphobia, Toxic friendship, Torture, and Abandonment

katcass's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious 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? Yes

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Transphobia

Moderate: Child abuse, Cursing, Sexual content, Alcohol, Toxic friendship, Violence, Torture, Body horror, and Car accident

Minor: Animal death

mareish's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional reflective medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Transphobia

Moderate: Torture

Minor: Infidelity

kathaarinaa's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Transphobia, Toxic friendship, Racism, Kidnapping, Murder, Misogyny, Child abuse, and Torture

questingnotcoasting's review against another edition

adventurous dark 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

4.5

I think this is my favourite book of 2023 so far. I loved the premise and luckily the execution really lived up to my hopes for it. I found the structure and bureaucracy of the magic system so interesting and I became very attached to some of the characters. Juno Dawson also does a great job mixing urban fantasy and contemporary social justice issues. I listened to the audiobook which was brilliantly narrated by Nicola Coughlan. I sometimes don't feel like I'm as invested in stories I listen to rather than read with my eyes but I was so absorbed in this. The different character POV chapters felt so distinct because Coughlan's accents were great. Although I usually hate

a cliff-hanger ending

I can respect it and I'll definitely be picking up the next one. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Torture, Blood, Body horror, Kidnapping, Car accident, Death, Grief, Animal death, Mental illness, Outing, Transphobia, Violence, and War

keya_caivalur's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional informative inspiring mysterious 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? It's complicated

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Transphobia, Hate crime, and Dysphoria

Moderate: Racism, Violence, Murder, Torture, Outing, Kidnapping, Religious bigotry, and War

Minor: Bullying, Outing, Abandonment, Child abuse, and Grief

azebrareads's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful mysterious 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: Gaslighting, Homophobia, Toxic relationship, Transphobia, Injury/Injury detail, Classism, Deadnaming, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Torture, War, Alcohol, Car accident, Violence, Biphobia, Confinement, Self harm, Bullying, Outing, Panic attacks/disorders, Police brutality, Toxic friendship, Death of parent, Forced institutionalization, Lesbophobia, Kidnapping, Murder, Racism, and Sexism

annelihghh's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective sad 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? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Blood, Sexual content, and Transphobia

Moderate: Cursing, Death, Kidnapping, Medical content, Torture, Toxic friendship, Infidelity, Car accident, Confinement, Grief, Outing, Physical abuse, Racism, Violence, War, Bullying, Gore, Alcohol, Animal death, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail, and Murder

Minor: Vomit