Reviews with content warning for Murder - Cursed

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Reviews tagging 'Murder'

Cursed by Marissa Meyer

20 reviews

bandysbooks's review against another edition

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hopeful mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

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

3.0

Once long ago, I read and enjoyed The Lunar Chronicles by Marissa Meyer, so naturally when I saw Cursed, I thought I might enjoy it as well. I don't know if it's just that I was much younger when I read The Lunar Chronicles or if this duology isn't quite of the same quality, but I was left wanting.

We have a fairytale retelling which is Meyer's bread and butter. This time it's of Rumpelstiltskin. Instead of centering on Rumpel himself, we have a story that features a damsel in distress and he is her protector of sorts. I thought the way she twisted the story was fairly interesting.

Where it fell apart for me was the main character. I found her incredibly frustrating. I can't count how many times the bad guy did something horrible, she pleads with him, and then he does something even more horrible. He's clearly a sadist who gets off on psychological torture and she gives him exactly what he wants by begging him. She even makes deals with him on multiple occasions and they always end with him doing something terrible and finding a loophole in the deal. I understand trying once, but after he backstabs her once, she should never make a deal with him again. It honestly got a bit tedious.

Also, this book relies heavily on the unplanned pregnancy trope which is one of my least favorite tropes. I get that it's an important part of the story arc, but it just wasn't for me.

All in all, I just think I am maybe the wrong demographic for this book. I could imagine a 14 or 15 year old reading and enjoying this, but as a 35 year old there was a lot that left me cringing. I honestly wouldn't have read this second book in the duology, had I not had an ARC of it. If you're into young adult fantasy, you might enjoy this.

* I received an E-ARC of this from Netgalley. This in no way affects my review.

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reading_ani's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes

5.0

I already loved the first book, but this sequel has truly blown it out of the park. And though I thought I knew where the story was going after the first one, I didn’t see some of the twists coming. I absolutely loved, loved, LOVED this sequel! I especially enjoyed the fact that certain LGBTQIA couples weren’t presented as something special, but just a normal occurrence - as it should be! This duology is by far my favorite retelling of the Rumpelstilzchen/Rumpelstilskin story there is!🥰🥰

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iz_kap1225's review against another edition

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adventurous hopeful inspiring sad tense medium-paced

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

3.75

Mystical and adventurous. Has some sad scenes but nothing MAJOR, just slight sad parts. Very good in my opinion. Book two after Gilded.

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camiandkitread's review against another edition

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adventurous funny hopeful mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

Marissa Meyer’s “Cursed” continues the spooky Rumpelstiltskin retelling she began with “Gilded.”

As fun and spooky as the book is, it’s extremely repetitive. Serilda constantly reminds us that she has to go along with the lie about carrying the child of the villainous Erlking to protect the spirits of the five ghost children that she feels responsible for. She also constantly reminds us that she can’t tell Gild the truth that the baby is his, while mentioning over and over that she has to come up with a plan to free the ghost children, return Gild to his human body, herself to her human body, and escape with her baby. The reader didn’t need so many blatant reminders to know what the stakes were.

Aside from that, I did enjoy “Cursed” and thought it was a satisfying end to Meyer’s duology.

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trulyhopelessromantic's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

4.25

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nrogers_1030's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.5

I liked this one much more than Gilded.

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sylvia_reads's review against another edition

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adventurous dark tense fast-paced

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

4.5

This book went a lot darker than I thought, but I’d really recommend it to people who don’t have a problem with that.
Because it was really pretty good, there were some twists I saw coming and some I didn’t and overall it was just a very good mix that kept me on the edge of my seat. The story of rumpelstiltken was not as prominent anymore, but then we had most covered already in the first book.
Just. I really liked it. Read it.

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