Reviews tagging 'Gaslighting'

A Psalm of Storms and Silence by Roseanne A. Brown

28 reviews

tak_everlasting's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious sad tense 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? Yes

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Panic attacks/disorders, Murder, Self harm, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Toxic relationship and Gaslighting

Minor: Animal death and Vomit

paigeinabook's review against another edition

dark fast-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Minor: Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, and Gaslighting

strawberrytheauthor's review

adventurous dark emotional 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

This book was fabulous! An upper YA fantasy book and the second in A Song of Wraiths and Ruin duology. This duology is full of African mythology and a setting similar. The prose is wonderfully written and concludes the story of Karina and Malik in a way that, while somewhat disappointing, makes sense for the way their characters have developed. 

Tropes: Enemies to Lovers, untimely ascension, Found Family, assassinations. 

I loved the magic system and how Roseanne A. Brown made it all fit within a set mythology of the world. Nothing about the magic system seemed out of place or like it didn’t make sense.

There is wonderful disability representation with anxiety, depression, and what seems to me to be autism. There is also a lot of LGBTQ+ representation and I think every character is a person of color (don’t quote me on that I don’t see pictures when I read I have no idea what these characters look like). 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Death, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, War, Child abuse, Classism, Grief, Racism, Violence, Blood, Bullying, Colonisation, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, and Racial slurs

Moderate: Child death, Death of parent, Sexual content, Suicide attempt, and Kidnapping

Grooming

kaylamoran's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful 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

5.0

I am obsessed with this duology.  I absolutely loved book 1 and was so worried that this one wouldn't live up to it, but I liked it even more!  Both easy 5 star reads for me.
Malik has my heart and I'd die for him.
I'll definitely be checking out anything else Roseanne A. Brown writes.  Everything about this felt so unique, and even the tropes didn't feel tropey.  It was genuinely unpredictable, which for someone who reads as much YA fantasy as i do, can be very difficult to achieve.
Did I mention I love Malik?  I love Malik.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Gaslighting, Self harm, Mental illness, and Panic attacks/disorders

Moderate: Blood, Child death, Classism, Death of parent, Toxic relationship, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Murder, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, and War

Minor: Kidnapping, Alcohol, Bullying, Confinement, and Fire/Fire injury

andatherrin's review against another edition

adventurous challenging hopeful 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: Suicide attempt, War, Xenophobia, Mental illness, Gaslighting, and Panic attacks/disorders

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Violence, and Death of parent

Minor: Sexual content

internationalreads's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious fast-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Incest, Murder, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Violence, War, Blood, Child abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Grief, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Racism, Self harm, Sexual content, Torture, Toxic relationship, Abandonment, Animal death, Classism, Colonisation, Confinement, Death, Injury/Injury detail, and Racial slurs

monicalaurette's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional sad 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

4.5

There’s not much that I can say about this book without spoiling it since it’s a sequel (so if you haven’t read the first one WHAT are you doing here?)

“It’s not every day you get to embark on a new character arc.”

I thought one thing would happen to a character, and something else entirely different would occur which just goes to show how wonderful the writing is to have you also not notice what is happening along with the POVs. And I loved the new characters that we were introduced to in this book, mainly Ife. I wanted to travel the world with them because they kept me laughing even in the saddest parts.

Seeing how this was a sequel, certain relationships developed and others deteriorated during the course of the book. I was happy for some, and others hurt me to my core. Part of that is because I thought of my own similar relationships (sibling/child/friend) and thought about how emotional it would be for me. But thankfully (I guess) I am not from a line of royalty with a magic secret nor am I destined to fight someone like that.

"Every time she’d look for a savior and hadn’t found one, she’d become her own.”

I’m glad that we were able to explore more of the Sonande world in this book though. I've always loved it in books where they explore their world, even if it’s not the point of the particular book and the world building is mentioned in passing. It helps keep me connected while reading. Now I just need Rosanne to write a book of a traveler just going through all of Sonande, maybe Ife, and talking about all the beauty & magic of the world around them.

I gave this book 4.5 stars because it twas a wonderful story and a great way to end a curse. I just dislike open endings which this book sort of had, I want to have more of a solid ending, but that’s a personal thing and nothing against the book or author. If you’ve gone this far in my review and haven’t read either both books or just this one in the series please do now. You’re missing out on a wonderfully crafted & enrapturing story.

“This was still his mind. He was still the strongest person here.”

I honestly thought Nadia was going to get sacrificed for a minute there because of her like….stoic-ness

so like….would Malik have a right to the through with Khenu

I knew Farid’s lust for love (and power) would kill him in the end, and kill him his love did

that long run-on sentence/paragraph on pg 401-402 literally had my heart racing I love the way Malik’s anxiety is portrayed it’s just like

when Afua took over Maame’s role I wanted to cry because she deserved to see the end of it all and live life how she always wanted to :(

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Blood, and Death

Moderate: Animal death, Murder, and Slavery

Minor: Gaslighting

alliei's review against another edition

adventurous emotional medium-paced

• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

💗 check trigger warnings 💗

- enemies to lovers & slowburn romance 
- soft boi male lead & a badass confident female lead 
- anxiety rep (which i 100% relate to) 
- diverse & complex characters
- the overall story and how it developed?? YES

what more could u want 😭

*The reason why this isn't a 5-star read is just a personal thing. I took too long reading it and stopped at a crucial part in the book, which kind of ruined the buildup. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Physical abuse, Self harm, Child abuse, and Death

antonique_reads's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful reflective 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Suicidal thoughts, Self harm, War, Death, Gaslighting, Violence, Murder, and Emotional abuse

meluhnie's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional inspiring reflective 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Emotional abuse, Violence, Mental illness, Toxic relationship, and Self harm

Moderate: Child abuse, Xenophobia, Blood, Classism, Colonisation, Confinement, Death, Gaslighting, Gore, and Grief

Minor: Sexual content