Reviews tagging 'Child abuse'

The Gilded Ones by Namina Forna

133 reviews

holodrum's review

adventurous dark 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? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny, Violence, and Physical abuse

Moderate: Sexual violence and Child abuse

josieruby1's review

adventurous dark 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? It's complicated

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Death, Gore, Hate crime, Confinement, Misogyny, Body horror, and Blood

Minor: Rape and Sexual assault

kbairbooks's review

This is a book that is intensely triggering for me and even if I wasn’t having a rough time it would still be hard. I am making the executive decision to accommodate myself and my needs and DNF this book. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Violence, Vomit, Murder, Religious bigotry, Sexual harassment, Bullying, Child death, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Blood, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, and Torture

rustylasagna's review

adventurous emotional inspiring fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• 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: Torture, Religious bigotry, Death, and Sexism

Moderate: Child abuse, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, and Trafficking

yulecogs's review

2.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Vomit, Adult/minor relationship, Body shaming, Confinement, Death, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Genocide, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual violence, Blood, Body horror, Emotional abuse, Abandonment, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Torture, Violence, Child abuse, Child death, Cultural appropriation, Pedophilia, Religious bigotry, Sexual harassment, War, Kidnapping, Pregnancy, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, and Slavery

kyannarichard's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective medium-paced

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

4.75

It took me a bit to really gravitate to the book. But it was so good from the beginning. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death of parent, Body shaming, Cannibalism, Child abuse, Grief, Misogyny, Abandonment, Classism, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, and Rape

bookforthought's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark 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

3.5

A powerful story about a group of young women made to believe their golden blood and superior abilities mark them as demons. As they are made to choose between certain death and fighting in an army to protect the empire from monsters, hard truths will come to light and the biggest question of all: who is the real monster?

The cast is lovely and diverse and I loved Deka as the main character. It was refreshing to have a complex, three-dimensional black female main character for once! The female friendships in this were also gorgeous. I also enjoyed the worldbuilding and the internal mythology but my main issue with this book was that there was much too telling and not enough showing. There were a lot of very important underlying themes which definitely make this a valuable read, but my enjoyment of it really took a hit because of the way this story was told.

I quite struggled to connect with the writing style, which while easy to read was at times maybe overly simplistic. This is probably just me though, not the book's fault, and it may not be a problem for other (younger) readers. I also had some issues with the use of trauma in this, even though I appreciated the effort to show a wide range of experiences and reactions to some severely traumatic events.

This book gets pretty explicitly violent for a YA fantasy, so be mindful of triggers before reading this.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Religious bigotry, Misogyny, Sexism, Violence, Murder, Death, Torture, Child abuse, and Physical abuse

Moderate: War, Blood, Racism, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Sexual assault and Rape

captainoliimar's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Panic attacks/disorders, Religious bigotry, Violence, Vomit, Classism, Death, Genocide, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, War, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Confinement, Self harm, Slavery, Torture, Death of parent, Medical trauma, Body horror, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Mental illness, Murder, Police brutality, Racism, Blood, Child death, Kidnapping, and Medical content

Minor: Pregnancy, Suicidal thoughts, Eating disorder, Toxic friendship, Sexual assault, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Toxic relationship

analienfromouterspace's review

adventurous dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious sad 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

4.0

I picked up this book spontaneously and ended up loving it so much. The character development, plot twist and just the whole world, LOVED IT. A little slow at times, hence not 5 stars

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Torture, Violence, Abandonment, and Sexism

Moderate: Death of parent, Vomit, Death, Sexual violence, Rape, Physical abuse, Murder, War, Trafficking, Emotional abuse, Genocide, and Gaslighting

Minor: Child abuse, Racial slurs, Death of parent, and Pedophilia

sunberry's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring medium-paced

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

5.0

An absolutely incredible book. So hard to put down. The characters were engaging, interesting, and fun to root for. All kinds of twists that kept the book engaging. The magic elements were also a lot of fun. It has very dark themes, and heavily features abuse, but it is empowering as well as the characters overcome. The ending feels hopeful, but with knowledge of consequences.  Can't wait to pick up the sequel. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Animal cruelty, Blood, Confinement, Child abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Body horror, War, Religious bigotry, Death, and Physical abuse

Moderate: Suicide attempt, Classism, Vomit, Sexual violence, Slavery, and Body horror

Minor: Bullying and Mental illness