Reviews tagging 'Domestic abuse'

The Gilded Wolves by Roshani Chokshi

7 reviews

friendly_neighborhood_grandma's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

The vibes. I loved reading it and wanted to come back every time. It isnt 5/5 just because I didnt understand where we were in the space sometimes and I did not understand their age. When I started the book i thout that they were adults but they're like 18. Overall love love highly reccomand will definitly be continuing.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Blood, Classism, Colonisation, Death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Kidnapping, Violence, Antisemitism, Body horror, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Physical abuse, Racism, and Sexual content

Moderate: Racism, Gaslighting, Gore, Sexual content, Torture, and Xenophobia

Minor: Self harm and Suicide

thedambookshelf's review

adventurous challenging emotional 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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Kidnapping, and Toxic relationship

lisa_m's review

adventurous challenging dark funny inspiring mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.75

I usually don't like comparing books to other books because most times they can't live up to the expectations.
This book however reminded me so much of some of my favourite books:

It has:
- a found family that reminded me a lot of Six of Crows (especially Kaz & Séverin!)
- a magical Order reminding me a lot of the Shadowhunters
- tattooed vows that reminded me of ACOTAR
- great unique gifts that reminded me of Raybearer

and somehow while reminding me of so many other books and series this book managed to stay unique.

I really enjoyed reading this book and I can't wait for the sequel. The only reason I'm not quite giving it 5 stars is the ending & Séverins behaviour in the end.. Careful: BIG SPOILERS AHEAD!

I get that he is hurt and grieving but what he said to Laila is in my opinion pretty unforgivable.. He knew how insecure she was about that and still he said it and didn't even apologise.. so so shitty!! The are both hurt but she did they right thing and overcame her fears while he was just an asshole.
I generally really liked Séverin throughout the book but this just didn't stick right with me..

Also what happened to Tristan was so unexpected and super sad. I usually get emotional very easily while reading but I didn't cry this time. I was sad but not THAT sad. That is also one of the reasons I decided to not give the book 5 stars. It didn't manage to ruin me..

I guess I did like the characters but I wasn't really attached to any of them. I do like though that the other is not afraid of killing of her main characters.

Also I really liked Laila and I think her POV was also always the most interesting to me. I really hope she will stay kind even after what happened because in one of the last chapters we get to see the new her and I have to say I don't like it. She carries her hurt around like a blade and that is so unlike her.

What I probably enjoyed most about this book was the scenery. Paris 1889 but with magic and secret societies.
I still have a lot of questions about the magic system and general world building but I hope that will all be clearer to me when I read the sequels.

I also really enjoyed the Authors Note at the end. What the author said about the Exposition Universelle and "La Belle Epoque" was really interesting. I like that she said you cannot just take the good and ignore the bad and I think you can definitely see that in the book as well. It has the glamour but also the seriousness which you already know I love in my books :)

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Antisemitism, Violence, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Blood, Child abuse, Death, Murder, Physical abuse, Colonisation, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Grief, Religious bigotry, and Torture

karambit's review

adventurous challenging funny 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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Racism, Violence, Child abuse, and Grief

Moderate: Ableism, Alcohol, Colonisation, Domestic abuse, Murder, Antisemitism, Fire/Fire injury, Torture, Kidnapping, Religious bigotry, Bullying, Death, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Death of parent, Gore, Miscarriage, Self harm, and Biphobia

oliverreeds's review

adventurous emotional tense medium-paced

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

3.75

i liked it. i just felt like the book lacked that extra step of vibrancy that really brings books to life. i felt as if something important- some greater substance was necessary for me to truly love this book

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Alcohol, Animal death, Blood, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Kidnapping, Murder, Physical abuse, and Torture

aseel_reads's review

adventurous 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

2023: 4.25. unfortunately bringing down the rating :( while I still love the premise of the world, having a rag tag team of characters perform a hiest, and it being a historical fantasy that talks about racism/colonisation, I felt that the book itself wasn't as tight in execution. The pacing was choppy, some of the action scenes were long and confusing to read + we would get random descriptive paragraphs that were a bit excessive, and the arc of some of the characters is a bit confusing at times, just to name a few things. The final chapter still is a great plot twist and I'm still keen for the next book, it's just that the last 100 pages weren't as gold as the first 200.  

2021: 5 stars  I was hooked by page 50, I am OBSESSED with this book, this world, these characters omg. this has everything: cool magic system, fantastic historical element, a heist, a group of cool characters, omg I'm in love. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Violence, Kidnapping, Racial slurs, Bullying, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Injury/Injury detail, and Torture

izzie_chamomilletea's review

adventurous dark emotional funny reflective 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

5.0

I absolutely loved this book. I have to admit that I was a little confused at first when the story was being set up, and when each of the characters motives were being explained. But once I got into it I was HOOKED. I’ve grown to love the characters so much and rooted for their romances

(it’s like do I ship Enrique and Hypnos or Enrique and Zofia??). The ending left me sooo upset (I don’t approve of Manjun’s self sabotage, and I miss Tristan sm. I feel like Zofia’s growth backtracked so much and Laila… I’m worried for her).

But I can’t to get my hands on the second book. The character’s background, personality, and traumas are a big part of the book and the characters are diverse which I appreciate. DEFINITELY recommend.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Domestic abuse, and Death of parent