Reviews tagging 'Physical abuse'

A Marvellous Light by Freya Marske

60 reviews

miaaa_lenaaa's review

adventurous mysterious medium-paced

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

3.5

I am conflicted, i liked some parts and some of the character building was fun but i have various issues
I didnt like the pacing (150 pages of uh oh a curse lets take a train to yours where we fail to do anything effective 30 pages of smut 2 pages of oh look i solved the curse weve been trying to solve thats fun 40 pretty predictable -but also stupid- pages of plot and then a nice 5 pages of smut to finish it off)
I dont feel like the magic system and world was really fleshed out? I dont really understand the rules and boundaries? The three families in england thing? What if your family moved there after?
And it feels odd to me to read queer MM smut written by a woman, like idk?

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Death, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Violence, Blood, and Murder

unsuccessfulbookclub's review

adventurous 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? Yes

5.0

The world Marske built here is really fascinating and I loved the yearning and slooooowwww emotional build up between Edwin and Robin. The magic is cool and the mystery is even cooler. I am excited to read the rest of the series!!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Death, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Death of parent, and Murder

Moderate: Homophobia

meredithnudo's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny lighthearted mysterious medium-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Physical abuse, Sexism, Sexual content, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Murder, Toxic friendship, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Confinement, Torture, Kidnapping, Death of parent, Outing, Gaslighting, and Alcohol

flavoredfaeman's review

adventurous emotional funny hopeful 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? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Chronic illness, Sexual content, Torture, Violence, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Bullying, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Death, Physical abuse, and Murder

kimzeyk's review

adventurous mysterious medium-paced

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

3.5

I had trouble keeping the two MCs straight - I was constantly going back to check who said that.  I liked the story, but it was more sexually explicit than I expected.  Didn’t enjoy it enough to continue with the sequels.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Cursing, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Kidnapping, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Classism

mweir16's review

adventurous emotional 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? Yes

4.5

Omg the romance in this was so cute and queer! Interesting system of magic too

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse and Physical abuse

Moderate: Homophobia

catrijn's review

adventurous 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? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content

Moderate: Bullying, Emotional abuse, Violence, and Murder

Minor: Physical abuse and Death of parent

levilore_'s review

adventurous dark emotional funny 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? Yes

3.75

I really liked the characters and the story was compelling, so I will probably continue the series. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Physical abuse, Sexual content, Violence, Murder, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Homophobia and Toxic relationship

joensign's review

adventurous dark mysterious 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Death, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Torture, Violence, and Murder

Moderate: Homophobia, Misogyny, Sexism, and Death of parent

Minor: Chronic illness

emily_mh's review

emotional lighthearted mysterious 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? It's complicated

4.25

This book is what a true romantasy looks like for me. So often books are called romantasies when really they’re romances with a fantasy backdrop, or fantasies with a romantic element. A Marvellous Light is a book where one genre is given just as much weight as the other: the story is guided as much by classic romance-genre beats as it is by a thick, mysterious fantasy plot. I found this deeply enjoyable, as while I love a good queer romance, having a separate but relevant fantasy plot kept me fully engaged.

The romance was gorgeous. Robin and Edwin’s physical chemistry was palpable from their first meeting, but this was not to the detriment of their emotional chemistry. The slow, tentative path both men took to true vulnerability was lovely to read. I came away from the book with a full understanding of why Robin and Edwin fell for one other and why they loved each other. This may sound silly to say about a romance book, but I often find that authors don’t properly convey this in their romance plots and books. The romance here also had one of my favourite tropes: where the MCs have to live together because of x reason. The kinds of interactions this leads to are so fun to see play out.

On the other hand we have the fantasy storyline. I was greatly entertained by this, although I do have a couple of criticisms. What I really liked was that there was so much mystery. Robin and Edwin stumble upon and become entangled in a nefarious plot which they know nothing about, and want nothing to do with, but must get to the bottom of to save Robin’s life. Consequently, there’s a lot of researching and investigating, which was thrilling for me. The magical world that Robin and Edwin inhabit had quite a unique magic system. I could easily picture the system of cradling in my head, it being similar to the string games I played as a kid. It was really fun imagining how the movements looked, and what movements might set what spell boundary. I will say that it sometimes felt like the magic system had been written for the story, and not the story for the magical system, if that makes sense; like the way magic worked was at times too convenient.

One other criticism I had was that the characters would discuss the magical world and all these interesting magical places, but for the most part this book was set not at them but at country manors, which while magical, didn’t pique my interest in the same way. I think more variety of place would have done this book some good. Having said that, I don’t think the monotonous setting of the second book (a ship on the Atlantic) will bother me, as I find overnight transportation fascinating.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content

Moderate: Bullying, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Sexism, Torture, Violence, Murder, and Outing

Minor: Ableism, Animal cruelty, Drug use, Homophobia, Infidelity, Physical abuse, Racism, Suicide, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Car accident, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: gambling, fainting, self-injury