Reviews tagging 'Toxic relationship'

Sistersong by Lucy Holland

5 reviews

careinthelibrary's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix

4.0

I was sure I'd like this trans-affirming early middle ages feminist retelling of one of Child's murder ballads and I did 😌
Didn't expect so much to feel like an honouring of <i>Hild</i> by Nicola Griffith, one of my all-time favourite historical fiction epics. Although <i>Hild</i> takes place in this book's future, it feels like they are referencing the same texts, worldviews, problems, and imaginings of the land. Even the references to the patterns that connect us all to the land felt very Griffith and very <i>Hild</i>! Love it.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Transphobia, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Religious bigotry, and Sexism

Moderate: Pregnancy, Sexual content, Dysphoria, Death of parent, Grief, Ableism, Violence, War, and Toxic relationship

mostlyvoidpartiallystars's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional 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

4.75

A beautiful, heartbreaking, but inspiring book. The worldbuilding is rich. I love the combination of magical realism & historical fiction, it felt seamlessly woven in. I appreciated the strong anti-colonial themes. The disability representation is decent - I started out hesitant over how it was being handled, but I loved the progression. 

Finally, a recurring section I'm going to be adding to all my reviews going forward: Do they bury their gays?

No. The only queer/queer adjacent characters are a trans man, a bigender person, and the trans man's girlfriend, who isn't queer herself, but is part of a queer romance given her boyfriend is trans. None of these characters die, and no queer romances end tragically

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Child abuse, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Gore, and Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Misogyny, Religious bigotry, Colonisation, Sexual content, Murder, Ableism, War, Transphobia, Deadnaming, and Toxic relationship

Minor: Rape, Pregnancy, Kidnapping, and Physical abuse

lilifane's review

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

I. Loved. It.

Some of the very first fantasy books I've read as a child were the Albion/Avalon books by Marion Zimmer Bradley. And especially the beginning of this book reminded me SO much of them, it has the same vibes. 

The story takes place in Ancient Britain between the departure of the Romans and the Saxons attacks. It's about 3 siblings, the children of a British king, about their life endangered by the Saxons, about their personal struggles, about magic (vs Christianity), about love and jealousy and betrayal and war and family and identity. Also, there is amazing LGBTQIA+ and disability representation. 

The further I got into the story, the harder it was to put the book down. I loved the atmosphere, the (very flawed) characters, the plotting of the story as a whole. There was one plot that was painfully predictable. Like it made everything more cruel because you knew it was coming. But then there were parts of the story that totally took me by surprise. 

So, if you don't want to ruin this surprise for you, don't research the ballad (The Twa Sisters), which the story is based on. I did after reading the book, and now I'm even more in awe by how well this retelling was done. Also, a modern version of the ballad is one of my favorite songs by Loreena Mckennitt... and I realized I had never paid enough attention to the lyrics before. Ooops. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Blood, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Death, Deadnaming, Misogyny, Outing, Pregnancy, Death of parent, Dysphoria, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Gore, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Religious bigotry, Sexism, Toxic relationship, Transphobia, and War

Minor: Sexual content

nicnevin's review against another edition

adventurous challenging mysterious tense 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

4.0

Interesting story about ancient Britons holding off against the Saxons. I worked out the twist with a character pretty early on and the two sisters sides of tge story interested me far less than the one of Keyne

(Constantine).

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Alcohol, Animal death, Blood, Body horror, Bullying, Body shaming, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Chronic illness, Deadnaming, Death, Grief, Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, Xenophobia, Death of parent, Dysphoria, Hate crime, Homophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Misogyny, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Murder, Outing, Police brutality, Religious bigotry, Sexual content, Transphobia, Violence, and War

virdix14's review against another edition

adventurous tense fast-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? No

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming and Body horror

Moderate: Death, Transphobia, Toxic relationship, and Violence