Reviews tagging 'Sexual assault'

Muse of Nightmares by Laini Taylor

25 reviews

bethfern04's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful mysterious sad tense 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: Child abuse, Blood, and Child death

Moderate: Death of parent, Grief, Sexual assault, Death, Mental illness, Rape, Slavery, Torture, Trafficking, Self harm, Sexual violence, Confinement, Murder, Emotional abuse, and Suicide

kylemhaggerty's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Sexual assault and Slavery

tell_them_stories's review against another edition

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Kidnapping, Xenophobia, Death, Grief, Child death, Murder, and Sexual violence

Moderate: Pregnancy, Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, Sexual content, Rape, and Blood

Minor: Emotional abuse, Suicide, Slavery, Trafficking, and Confinement

kathrynleereads's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-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

4.75

Picking up only minutes after Strange the Dreamer ended, Muse of Nightmares, by Laini Taylor, was everything that its predecessor wasn’t… in the most surprising ways.

With the Citadel now in Lazlo’s control but still looming over the city of Weep, Muse of Nightmares opens with a whole new level of chaos. Citizens are fleeing, Eril-Fane is trying to corral the Tizerkane warriors, and Lazlo is meeting the other Godspawn for the first time.

Before we find out how the night's events play out, however, we’re introduced to Kora and Nova, sisters living in a desolate village, who have an incredibly different view of the blue-skinned “gods” that the people of Weep have come to dread. 

As the story plays out for the sisters, Lazlo, the Godspawn, and the people of Weep, the book really lives up to its name. 

Where Strange the Dreamer was all dreams and imaginary worlds, Muse of Nightmares is all horror and unimaginable crimes. The books were like two sides of a coin. Readers fell in love with the picturesque and awe-filled version of Weep, then had that whole idea spun on its axis until it was an ugly truth. 

There are very few times when reading a book that I can honestly say I experienced gut-wrenching horror, and Muse of Nightmares was the reason for many of them. 

All of the questions presented in Strange the Dreamer were finally granted answers, but they were the answers of nightmares.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Gore, Blood, Body horror, Suicidal thoughts, Genocide, Sexism, Sexual assault, Suicide attempt, Toxic relationship, Violence, Death, Domestic abuse, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Rape, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicide, Torture, Trafficking, Vomit, and War

Moderate: Confinement, Kidnapping, Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Medical content, Mental illness, and Misogyny

Minor: Infidelity, Abandonment, Abortion, Fire/Fire injury, and Homophobia

dcnarvaez's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense slow-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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Genocide

Minor: Suicide, Slavery, and Sexual assault

grets_reads's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional hopeful inspiring 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: Death, Child death, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, and Violence

Moderate: Kidnapping, Grief, Confinement, Murder, Xenophobia, Child abuse, War, Trafficking, and Slavery

Minor: Domestic abuse, Suicide, Sexual assault, Sexism, Rape, Fire/Fire injury, Pregnancy, and Physical abuse

libraryoflei's review

adventurous emotional tense 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Suicide, Trafficking, Rape, Sexual assault, and Suicidal thoughts

laneys_library's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious 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? It's complicated

5.0

I LOVE IT!!! So much better than first! One of my now favorite books!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Blood, Child death, Child abuse, Death, Murder, Violence, Gore, Grief, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Trafficking, Fire/Fire injury, Genocide, and Kidnapping

Minor: Suicide attempt, Suicide, Suicidal thoughts, Sexism, Rape, Torture, Slavery, Self harm, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, and Sexual harassment

lizzie24601's review

adventurous hopeful 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

3.5

A well-done second half of the duology, though not as good as Strange the Dreamer imo. That's mostly bc Lazlo had such an interesting arch and growth in the first book, and in this book he's mostly just spending his time being Sarai's bf and Sarai doesn't really more of an arch than she does in the first book. SOOO much of the Lazlo/Sarai romance scenes could've been cut.

Nevertheless, there is some great character growth here, too - mostly for Minya and Thyon. The new characters were interesting and helped broaden the world. There's a little less adventure and mystery in this book, but Laini Taylor's writing is so good that you're still devouring each page, and it is quite a satisfying ending. (Obsessed with

Thyon's growth (I was so excited for him to reunite with Lazlo afterward) and with Sarai deciding to become a therapist at the end. Love that for her.

)

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Death of parent, Sexual assault, Torture, Child abuse, Death, Kidnapping, Murder, Rape, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, and Slavery

intoshadows's review

adventurous emotional 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

4.75

The themes at first light, became heavier with each word towards the end a beautiful fantasy story about what the ability to heal or not looks like and something I had hoped to accomplish in my own book for a long time, she has done magnificently here. She created a work that means something and imparts hope and sorrow and all the feelings without focusing too much on the things that created them. Very eloquently done. Both of the books are in my favorites and forever will be on my mind. 

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Content Warnings

Minor: Child abuse, Rape, and Sexual assault

The content warnings are very implied and the R word is mentioned. Thankfully this author does not feel the need to describe any of these incidents. They are easily deduced though. So tread carefully if this is a sensitive subject for you. Big hugs and wishing you all the best.