Reviews tagging 'Misogyny'

The Kingdom of Sweets by Erika Johansen

11 reviews

colloreda's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Classism, Death, Emotional abuse, and Grief

Moderate: Misogyny and War

Minor: Miscarriage and Incest

lateromantic's review against another edition

adventurous dark medium-paced

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

2.0

 

This was an interesting metaphor, but badly executed: the setting was shoehorned in (and, as a romanticist, I do not appreciate the Hoffmann or Dumas erasure), the characters and their actions boring, the references to the real world jarring and eye-rolling. Every time I started to get into it something would bounce me out of it. I wasn't a fan of the prose, I found the turn of phrase clunky, and the structure was strange - was it going for thriller? Why did it run on so long? Also, it was 'edgy', which I find incredibly boring. 

 

Not without merit, just not my kind of thing - perhaps if you want more 'dark faerie' content after reading ACOTAR, or want a book that has vibes of the first Wonder Woman film, you'll like it, but I found both of those put together by a better craftsperson than this. 

 

(Sorry, I don't like to write mean reviews, but I have nothing nice to say about this beyond 'nice idea' and that I will inevitably read another Nutcracker book next Christmas.)

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Miscarriage, Classism, Confinement, Abortion, Alcoholism, Misogyny, Torture, Bullying, Child abuse, Death, Homophobia, Drug abuse, Sexism, and Toxic friendship

lauren_shilling's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

2.25

I want to start off by saying that this book is beautifully written. The writing is absolutely gorgeous, and very very immersive. However, that was really the only thing I really enjoyed about it. I felt like the plot was kind of all over the place. If the plot had only been the first half of the book, I would have probably given this 3.25 stars, but everything that came after the halfway mark bored me to tears. I also really couldn't stand the main character. She was very thoroughly an "I'm not like other girls' character, and in a way that put down other women, particularly Clara, who enjoyed things like collecting dolls and who cared and enjoyed caring about her appearance. Natasha, the main character, kind of made it seem like these were bad things and her lack of interest in them made her better than Clara, which bothered me. By the end of the book, this is supposed to have been changed and show that Natasha has changed as a person, but it felt almost lazily done, and it wasn't good enough for me. The reason I kept reading was because, as I said, the writing was gorgeous, and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Murder, and Death

Moderate: Pregnancy, Infidelity, Misogyny, Sexual content, and Toxic relationship

Minor: War and Incest

kelseyr713's review against another edition

dark mysterious 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

I had high expectations for this because I love what I’ve read by the author before, but it gets repetitive and many questions aren’t ever answered. Great atmosphere though.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse, Child death, Alcoholism, Violence, Misogyny, Body horror, Alcohol, Classism, Drug use, and Child abuse

Moderate: Mental illness, Injury/Injury detail, and Stalking

Minor: War, Infertility, Miscarriage, and Sexual content

maregred's review against another edition

dark mysterious slow-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? N/A

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder and Infidelity

Moderate: Mental illness, Body shaming, Confinement, Violence, Classism, and Emotional abuse

Minor: Misogyny, Gaslighting, Drug abuse, Blood, War, Pregnancy, and Death

chasingpages1's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad 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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Murder, Child death, Classism, Confinement, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Infidelity, Stalking, Alcohol, Body horror, Kidnapping, Torture, Bullying, and Grief

Minor: Addiction, Sexual content, Violence, Abandonment, Drug abuse, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Miscarriage, Incest, War, Infertility, Gaslighting, and Pregnancy

gondorgirl's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Body shaming, Bullying, Classism, Gaslighting, Sexism, Sexual content, Kidnapping, Grief, Misogyny, Death, Drug use, Confinement, Emotional abuse, Alcohol, Infidelity, Mental illness, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Murder, Pregnancy, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic friendship, and Toxic relationship

that_person_logan's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful mysterious tense

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

4.0

I really enjoyed this book. I read it in two sittings in less than 24 hours, which says a lot. I enjoyed the first half way more than the second half, which felt rushed and jolting in its pacing. I really enjoyed the eerie descriptions of the Kingdom of Sweets and wish there had been more of that. Overall I really enjoyed this book and would recommend it to anyone who enjoys the following things:
- Family Drama
- Historical books
- Fairytale inspired
- Winter Horror
- Lush Descriptions
- How classics are written 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic friendship, Murder, Toxic relationship, Misogyny, Death, Sexism, and Miscarriage

Moderate: Body horror, Child death, Drug use, and Drug abuse

dragongurrl's review against another edition

I’m so over this troupe! Here’s a summary of the first 30 pages. FMC is ugly because she has straight brown hair, likes to read, and isn’t super skinny. Twin sister is gorgeous gorgeous gorgeous because she has curly blond hair, skinny, dances and parties and (as said in the book) doesn’t read even though she knows how. 🙄 literally this is drilled into you time and time again nonstop in the first 10% of the book! It’s annoying. I’m not a fan of the troupe already but ok say it once. Maybe even twice! But 10% of the book?! And I stopped reading there. I’m guessing it goes on longer. I just can’t stomach it. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming and Bullying

Minor: Misogyny and Classism

kyrstin_p1989's review against another edition

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

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

3.0

An intriguing and compelling story built from the world of The Nutcracker yet vastly different from the story told in that ballet. This wasn’t what I expected but I still found myself enjoying parts of the story. My biggest issue with the story is the writing style made it less accessible than other books I tend to read. It read like a classic novel and I had to look up several words in order to understand certain passages. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Torture, Toxic friendship, War, Toxic relationship, Murder, Classism, Confinement, Infertility, Miscarriage, Stalking, Child death, Grief, Addiction, Abandonment, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Infidelity, Violence, Blood, Child abuse, Gaslighting, and Sexism