Reviews tagging 'Colonisation'

Violet Made of Thorns by Gina Chen

9 reviews

sophiesmallhands's review against another edition

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Murder, Toxic relationship, Xenophobia, Violence, Death of parent, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Colonisation, War, Emotional abuse, Blood, and Sexual content

mareshempire's review

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.25

This was okay, I feel like it needed more fleshing out and more editing. I think the romance was too quick and also their moments were fleeting. The ending was a bit random? The world building was lacking and the magic system needed more fleshing out too. The MC was all talk, no action. I wish she was more active in her story. It felt like she was just waiting for things to happen to her but then had snarky things to say back when she didn’t even do anything to fight against what was happening. Anyways, I still think it was fun and had just enough to keep me reading. Not sure if I’ll read the next book, though.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood

Moderate: Violence, Murder, Death of parent, Death, Sexual content, and Cursing

Minor: Colonisation, War, and Xenophobia

annasneddon's review

adventurous dark mysterious fast-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Blood, Colonisation, Murder, and Xenophobia

emilysreadingbooks's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful reflective tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• 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

Graphic: Colonisation, Death, Murder, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Blood, War, Drug use, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Self harm, and Violence

Moderate: Alcoholism, Child abuse, Alcohol, Classism, Death of parent, and Racism

Minor: Confinement, Genocide, and Fire/Fire injury

scorbunneh's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Xenophobia, Colonisation, Classism, Blood, Body horror, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Violence, and War

Moderate: Confinement, Death of parent, Cursing, Sexual content, and Gore

Minor: Animal cruelty, Alcohol, and Medical content

tak_everlasting's review against another edition

dark

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

1.0

An insult to fairytales, anyone who has ever liked anyone romantically, and, most egregriously, me.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual harassment, Self harm, Sexual content, and Gore

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Violence, War, Colonisation, and Toxic relationship

Minor: Violence, Drug use, and Addiction

imds's review

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Colonisation, War, Chronic illness, Blood, Self harm, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Death of parent, Murder, and Violence

thecatconstellation's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious 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? Yes

4.0

It took me a while to get into this, but I really enjoyed the last third and am eager to see what happens next. The love-hate relationship between the two main characters is well done with plenty of tension. The other characters are also interesting enough. Story of fate and what happens when you fight against it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood and Body horror

Moderate: Colonisation, Death, Infidelity, Murder, Racism, Self harm, Sexual content, War, and Xenophobia

Minor: Confinement

snowwhitehatesapples's review

dark tense medium-paced

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

4.0

 Review can also be found at Snow White Hates Apples.

With elements of a classic fairytale, Violet Made of Thorns is a love-hate romance that can get pretty toxic yet remains an addictive read. The story unfolds through the eyes of Violet, the seer working for the royal family who had once, defied fate and saved Prince Cyrus who immediately lifted her from poverty upon her request as thanks. Unfortunately, the Prince is also cursed and his choice of a bride will either save or damn the kingdom While this may sound like the perfect setup for a sweet fairytale, the actual story is far from that.

Both Violet and Cyrus are liars in their own ways. For Violet, lying is a means to live. She lies to keep herself alive and safe, to make herself as useful as she can be so she doesn’t have to return to being alienated as an Outsider street urchin, and so she can live her life on her own terms. Cyrus, on the other hand, lies to hide his true feelings. He isn’t the Prince Charming you’d expect and is, instead, quite selfish and manipulative (though, he’s sometimes unaware of it as he believes he’s doing something good).

They’re also both incredibly flawed characters that often make wrong decisions yet aren’t afraid to defend those wrong decisions of theirs. This can make them more unrelatable and dislikeable to some readers, but for me? I really enjoyed this aspect because it’s refreshing to read from the perspective of someone who struggles with things that come easily to a ‘good’ hero(ine).

Moreover, I really liked the way the plot unfolded and the writing. The twists and turns, plus Violet’s sardonic tone kept me hooked from start to end. It was easy to see how Violet fell in lust with Cyrus (I wouldn’t say love at this point because she is very much still afraid of trusting parts of herself with others), and how Cyrus loved her yet hated the person she became. Though, ngl, I did get a little annoyed when Violet went to visit Cyrus while dressed up just for him but then again, people can’t be without weaknesses…

All in all, Violet Made of Thorns is perfect for those looking for unconventional characters and an unconventional romance within a story with fairytale elements. This book here is mainly about the lies, the liars and their precarious, treacherous (toxic) love, but when you look away from the spotlight, you’ll be able to see how it’s also about seizing and making your own fate, colonialism, human greed and more.

PS: If your reading preferences is similar to mine, you’d fall in love with the side cast of intriguing, diverse characters as well (Camilla, the sapphic, chaotic twin sister of Cyrus has completely stolen my heart)!

Thank you so much Hodder & Stoughton and Netgalley for providing me a copy of this in exchange for an honest review!

 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Toxic relationship

Minor: Blood, Colonisation, Death, Gaslighting, and Racism