Reviews tagging 'Suicide'

The Binding by Bridget Collins

222 reviews

acasiamae's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide and Animal death

Moderate: Rape, Vomit, Sexual violence, and Sexual assault

Minor: Death, Homophobia, Murder, Addiction, and Alcoholism

thewileyseven's review against another edition

emotional mysterious slow-paced

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

3.75

I feel complicated in this rating--I really loved the book and, especially once I got to part II, I could hardly put it down! But I also have some major qualms. The uneven pacing left a lot to be desired for me. I understand why Part I was paced the way it was (considering

the impacts of binding on Emmett's mind--I kept wondering why he spent so much time just staring off into space. Now I know!

, but ultimately Parts I and II both dragged in places for me. 

I also agree with another review I read regarding the treatment of women in this book. All completely sidelined, used as plot devices, killed off to further men's emotional development, and worse. Rough! Again, I can understand why, with commentaries on gender violence, historic sexism, and more, but I dunno. The main characters' complicity in this was a bummer. 

Part II, however, sang for me. Beautiful, aching, blossoming. And the system of binding is a splendid magic. Overall, I think this was 100% worth the read for me. But there are just pieces that grated at me a little too much to go unsaid. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual harassment, Homophobia, Pedophilia, Child abuse, Sexism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Forced institutionalization, Sexual assault, Misogyny, Outing, Alcoholism, Death, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual violence, Suicide, and Violence

sapphicmacbeth's review against another edition

dark emotional

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide

looking4thedr's review against another edition

emotional mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

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

5.0

Bridget Collins writes wonderful descriptions that border on poetry, I could always perfectly picture the scene and moment I was reading.

This story is a tragedy with  painful moments, which makes the happier moments precious and important. I was absorbed in the story right at the first line, which was helped, in part, to the narrator Carl Prekopp, whose voice breathed life into these characters who felt like real people.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Fire/Fire injury, and Suicide

Minor: Rape

xbeka56x's review against another edition

dark emotional inspiring mysterious fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Minor: Animal death, Murder, Animal cruelty, Rape, Sexual assault, and Suicide

coffee_and_wool's review against another edition

adventurous dark 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? No

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Outing, Suicide, Sexual violence, Gaslighting, Emotional abuse, Animal cruelty, Homophobia, Vomit, Domestic abuse, Rape, and Physical abuse

Moderate: Child death, Classism, Incest, and Pedophilia

sannesbooks's review

adventurous dark emotional mysterious slow-paced

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

2.75

This book was darker than I thought. Would recommemd to check trigger warnings before reading. This book was very atmospheric and perfect for autumn/winter. This book is also heavy on the (gay) romance side, so you might like this if you are into those romantacy stories.

I was so excited about the premise of this book! Unfortunately, i ended skim reading a large portion of this book, especially the last part. It was just too slow and I didn't care anymore. I also didn't know this would be so romance heavy. It doesn't say clearly in the synopsis. However, I do enjoy some romantacies and part 2 was cute, but overall this was not the book for me.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Sexual harassment, Homophobia, Sexual assault, Violence, and Sexual violence

Moderate: Vomit, Murder, Sexual content, Animal death, Fire/Fire injury, Suicide, Animal cruelty, and Violence

areen's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Rape, Gaslighting, Suicide, Homophobia, and Sexual assault

hanahf's review against another edition

emotional mysterious medium-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape and Suicide

Moderate: Homophobia

spiderlilies's review against another edition

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? Yes

4.5

It's a little slow to start with in part I, even though I love the premise of books being stories cut out of people's memories. Emmett isn't a very strong-willed person and much of the plot simply happens to him, while he gets pushed around and most of his protestation is limited to internal dialogue. 

Part II, however, made me absolutely fall in love with the story although it becomes clear from there that this is not so much a grand story with a plot that will shift the whole binding world, but rather a more focused romance story. And I loved the romance. It had an enemies to lovers feel to it and the banter between Emmett and Lucian was a joy to read. Though be warned that the story gets pretty dark. There are a number of scenes with extremely homophobic reactions from their parents and Lucian's father is an all-around disgusting human. 

Part III gets even darker as we get to Lucian's POV and see what kind of person he had the potential of being without the influence of part II. This is where the story picks up the pace and grows even more tense, with murders, arranged marriages, and missing memories all working against our protagonists. I finished this part in one setting, because I had to know how it was going to end. Great read!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death and Suicide

Moderate: Murder, Rape, Homophobia, and Physical abuse

Minor: Pedophilia