Reviews tagging 'Child abuse'

The Book of Life by Deborah Harkness

22 reviews

zoenelson's review against another edition

adventurous challenging 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? It's complicated

4.25

The trilogy, overall, was entertaining. The romance was convincing and thoughtful; the supporting cast was mostly wonderful and I enjoyed the character progression. I remain impressed by Harkness' ability to ground this fantasy in our historical and scientific knowledge. 

This particular book did a few things well: it left enough open at the end for the reader to interpret as they please; it solidified Matthew and Diana's love story; and gave us more time with the supporting cast. I did not like that Harkness introduced

another existential conflict in the form of Benjamin raping witches to create a superior creature race. It's related to the main conflict but felt manufactured and was really dark without warning; it also distracted from the main conflict, so the resolution there felt unsatisfying even though it was desirable. I felt that the final battle scene was anticlimactic because there were no real trials or tribulations. Additionally, Matthew's refusal to form a scion was merely a plot tool and thus felt superficial and drew the story out. Speaking of which, this book, to me, felt very choppy trying to tie so many loose ends together which impacted the plot and pacing.

I wanted to rate this a 4.75 because I loved the first book and parts of the second, but choices to add so many elements in the second and third books diminished what the first book set up so well. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Rape, Sexual violence, and Torture

Moderate: Blood, Child death, and Gore

Minor: Stalking and Pregnancy

gillian_aftanas's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Pregnancy, Mental illness, Torture, Violence, Gore, Grief, Murder, Rape, Cursing, Death, Child abuse, Child death, Sexual violence, Vomit, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Medical content, Medical trauma, Sexual content, and Sexual assault

Moderate: Confinement and Alcohol

Minor: Animal death, Classism, Genocide, Homophobia, Antisemitism, Lesbophobia, Drug use, and Death of parent

laurenfink's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional 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

I really love this series but it’s just a little to convenient how some of the plot lines work out

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Blood, Pregnancy, Child death, Miscarriage, Kidnapping, Child abuse, Murder, and Rape

booknerderika's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Gore, Kidnapping, Medical content, Child abuse, Murder, Torture, Vomit, Death, Violence, Fire/Fire injury, Pregnancy, and Blood

Moderate: Miscarriage

Minor: Antisemitism, Sexual violence, Rape, Misogyny, Sexual assault, Sexual content, and War

saroreen's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Injury/Injury detail, and Violence

Moderate: Rape, Pregnancy, Misogyny, Death, Sexual assault, War, Torture, Child death, and Child abuse

Minor: Racism

megan_martha_reads's review against another edition

adventurous dark hopeful 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

Great conclusion to the series, felt sad to see them all go. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Sexual violence, Rape, Child abuse, and Torture

euphemiajo's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Pregnancy, Blood, Confinement, and Miscarriage

Minor: Alcohol, Bullying, Murder, Physical abuse, Torture, Rape, Sexual violence, Child abuse, Child death, Deportation, Death, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Gore, Grief, Medical content, Miscarriage, Abandonment, and Chronic illness

parkinmaia's review against another edition

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Torture, Sexual violence, and Rape

bookjocelyng675's review against another edition

challenging dark reflective tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Child abuse, Child death, and Torture

artmajorese's review against another edition

adventurous medium-paced

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

3.75

I mostly picked this one up because I'm a completionist, I needed something to do on a 5-hour flight, and I had already powered through book 2. To my surprise, I enjoyed reading the book!  Expect a convoluted plot, which to me felt a little bit un-earned in its resolution. Most of the book is spent doing things OTHER than solving the central problem.  But if you can suspend your disbelief, you'll find some fun character development moments and (finally) the answer to "what's the deal with Ashmore 782?"

Heads up that the main subplot contains a lot of sexual violence, including incest and sexual violence against children.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Death, Domestic abuse, Gore, Physical abuse, Torture, Emotional abuse, Incest, and Confinement

Moderate: Child abuse, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, and Sexual violence