Reviews tagging 'Child death'

The Bad Ones by Melissa Albert

5 reviews

sophia_pearl's review

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• 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

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Body horror, Bullying, Cancer, Child death, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Religious bigotry, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Drug use, Infidelity, Vomit, Mass/school shootings, and Stalking

lost_page's review

dark emotional reflective tense fast-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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child abuse, Homophobia, and Grief

Minor: Child death and Murder

stardustgutz's review

adventurous dark mysterious medium-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? Yes

4.25

It was page turner near the end of the book when

"Sister bitch" was being murdered and we find out the goddess is real.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Cursing, Sexual assault, Blood, Murder, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship

avidreaderandgeekgirl's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.5

    When 3 students and a teacher go missing one night, one of their best friends, Nora, and the mysterious boy James, get pulled into an old town myth, the Goddess Game.
    Well, I found the book partly predictable. I figured out what was up with the connection to the old game, or who was now in the story was connected to it pretty easily.
    There were some good parts, like the interesting twist as to why these particular people disappeared, and what exactly was going on with Becca being a bit harder to guess.
    I didn't like the "evil Goddess" thing. It's an anti-Pagan trope that rubs me the wrong way, even though I do not identify as Pagan.
    Overall, the book wasn't terrible, it was just a bit too anti-Pagan and predictable for me. Though at least it wasn't preachy it was more overall anti-religion.

Narrator Rating: 4 stars
   The narrator was excellent but not spectacular. Her voice can also be a bit annoying at certain points; it just depends on her tone.

Elemental Levels:  Heartfelt-3/5   Mystery-3/5     Predictability-3.5/5   Suspense-1/5   Tear- 2.5/5     Thrill-1/5 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical content, Grief, Lesbophobia, and Alcohol

Moderate: Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Death, Gore, Misogyny, Violence, Blood, Religious bigotry, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, Toxic friendship, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Cancer, Child death, Infidelity, Self harm, Sexual violence, and Mass/school shootings

justinekorson's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny mysterious tense fast-paced

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

5.0

Thank you Netgalley for giving me an ARC of this book
SPOILERS TO FOLLOW

I've been really into thrillers/horror stories recently and this one was so good! I really enjoyed Nora and Becca and how complicated their friendship had become. The love these two girls showed for each other in the book though was everything. It really encompasses I think how tightly knit friendships can be, that you would do anything for this person who is your platonic soulmate. It reminds me of the friendship between Claudia and Monday in the story "Monday's Not Coming". The similarities end there though. 

The idea of this goddess was really fun too. It made me wonder if it was an actual goddess, or a demon who had been locked away. Part of me thinks it might be an actual goddess who used to have people praying/sacrificing to her  and that Rita invoked it because of all her praying and vengeful acts against the Principal. 

I honestly don't fault young Rita for what she did and how she fed this goddess inside of her. (I support women's rights but also women's wrongs lol). I almost thought that Nora might agree with Rita and decide to continue the work of the goddess. If Becca hadn't been taken and trapped away by her then I think the two girls would have been up for something like that. (Though maybe not since Nora was really shaken by what happened when they prayed to the goddess of vengeance).

Either way this was a really good novel and I throughly enjoyed it. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Child death, Death, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Car accident, Death of parent, and Injury/Injury detail