Reviews tagging 'Sexual assault'

The Diviners by Libba Bray

17 reviews

catbrigand's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious 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

4.0

This book is enchanting, atmospheric, and such a huge step up from Bray's Rebel Angels trilogy. Honestly the only reason it wasn't a 5-star for me is because it very easily could have been a standalone book and might have even been stronger for the excising of Memphis's subplot or SpoilerTheta's/Henry's abilities. The book could have been a really satisfying standalone if more had been made of their abilities or if Memphis's subplot had more closely intertwined with the main characters. So I'm cautious about the fact that it's going to ultimately be 4 books. I hope that the rest are as cohesive as this one and that the series doesn't stretch itself too thin.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Murder, and Alcohol

Moderate: Forced institutionalization, Body horror, War, Sexual assault, and Toxic relationship

Minor: Abandonment, Animal death, Animal cruelty, Death of parent, and Cancer

hardbackhoarder's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Racism, Gore, Body horror, Abandonment, Sexual harassment, Blood, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Religious bigotry, Fire/Fire injury, Death, Child death, Toxic relationship, Suicide, and Murder

Moderate: Slavery, Grief, Death of parent, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, Ableism, and Domestic abuse

Minor: Drug abuse, Terminal illness, Abortion, Sexual violence, Racial slurs, Police brutality, Misogyny, Sexual assault, Vomit, Confinement, Deportation, Xenophobia, Colonisation, Rape, Cannibalism, and Homophobia

annakh16's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced

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

4.0

A fun book that I got through surprisingly quickly. Great audio narration and great storytelling.  

I really appreciated the diversity of settings and characters, and learning about their struggles. It greatly strengthened  the historical element of the story for me. 

The characters themselves were lovable - well, mostly. Evie had me po-si-tutely annoyed sometimes, but she grew on me, and I also think her behaviour is actually realistic for a teenager in her position, which was refreshing. (But yes: too much slang. I agree with everyone on this). 
I also absolutely loved the different friend/sibling/family dynamics. Theta/Henry and Memphis/Isaiah have my heart.

I do think it was a shame that Mable was kind of dropped 3/4 through the story. It didn’t make sense, and I also just liked following her pov. Hope this gets remedied in the next book.

 

Regarding the ending,

I did think the final fight was surprisingly quick. It felt a bit anticlimactic.

Regarding the romance,

is it really meant to be romance? I think it’s very clear Jericho likes Evie. I think it’s also clear she just sees him as a distraction, with a bit of shared scary experiences/teenage horniness to sort the sexual tension. Will be interesting to see how this develops. Definitely think we have a love triangle incoming.

 

Overall a fun read. Almost too spooky for me. But looking forward to the next book. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child death, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, and Religious bigotry

Minor: Animal cruelty, Sexual assault, Suicide, Animal death, Grief, War, Abortion, and Racism

guessgreenleaf's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Blood, Cannibalism, Classism, Racism, Alcoholism, Animal death, Violence, Child death, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Homophobia, Murder, Grief, Suicide, and Sexual assault

cady_sass's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious slow-paced

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

3.5

Oh man, here’s another one where I may get decimated by the booktube / booktok girlies. I was SO INTO this for the first 70%. This is a long ass book and I think I read that chunk in like 2-3 days. Then….. we lost the plot. I could not stay interested or engaged. It goes from plausibly supernatural in a fun way to completely off the wall unbelievable bonkers in a way that I simply can not keep up with what’s happening. I borrowed the audiobook to try to help myself just power through the last quarter of the book and it did not help. It took me 2 weeks to get through the last quarter and I just … idk, it’s not satisfying. I’m still confused. I want to reread it and see if its better/makes more sense the second time around, but also absolutely not because this book is SO long?! The internal struggle is real. 

I think I’m not the right audience. Is this something that could make sense to someone else who enjoys a more deeply fantastical story? Probably. Am I that person? Absolutely not. I am a light fantasy type bitch and i thought you had me, but then you lost me.  Rip my brain cells 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexism, Violence, Abortion, Racism, Animal death, Sexual assault, Body horror, Bullying, Murder, Abandonment, Blood, Misogyny, Alcohol, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Injury/Injury detail, Death, Gore, and Fire/Fire injury

amariela02's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious 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: Gore

Moderate: Racism, Sexism, Murder, Kidnapping, Sexual assault, and Religious bigotry

Minor: Homophobia, Death, Abortion, Animal death, and Domestic abuse

christy_mitten's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious tense 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Murder, and Sexual assault

grbookworm1818's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced

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

3.25

This book is a good start to a great series.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder and Sexual assault

Moderate: Homophobia

satin's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny mysterious fast-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

5.0

OMG. this book was “posi-tute-ly” perfect. I loved the characters and how all of their stories intertwined, and the plot was so mysterious, dark, and always kept me on my toes. I read this book as a physical copy and i have SO many annotations in it. Overall, i highly recommend this if you’re in the mood for a spooky read with a lively cast of characters. definitely continuing with the series, im excited to learn more about these characters.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder

Moderate: Sexual assault and Racial slurs

ellanarose's review against another edition

adventurous dark 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

5.0

Started off more focused on world and character building, but once the plot began this really livened up. Excellent book

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Alcohol, Animal death, Blood, Body horror, Cannibalism, Child abuse, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Hate crime, Murder, Pregnancy, Rape, Sexual content, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, and Violence