Reviews tagging 'Toxic relationship'

Uprooted by Naomi Novik

20 reviews

silversparkles50's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious tense slow-paced

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

3.0

This was hard to get through for me.  I didn't like the fact the main character was instantly the best at magic, I hated the verbally abusive love interest, there was a sex scene that came out of nowhere that seemed out of place,  the story was too complicated.  I liked the premise and some of the writing,  but it was way too long. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Kidnapping, Sexual content, Blood, Death, Toxic relationship, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Murder, and Violence

anyashadows's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious medium-paced

• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No

3.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Toxic relationship

siglerbooknook's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious tense slow-paced

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

4.75

Where to begin? This book is as close to a unique story as I've ever read. It's hard to describe because it feels quite original.

The underlying tones are definitely Beauty and the Beast but in very much its own way. 

Our heroine, Nieshka is instantly loveable for her clumsy, messy, confident self. I've never read a hero quit like her and it was very enjoyable.
Her sunshine to the Dragon's grumpy was delightful.

Perhaps one of my favorite things about this book was the themes of friendship and individuality seen side by side without being pitted against each other. Nieshka and her best friend Kasia have a beautiful friendship that acknowledges their flaws but never stops them from loving each other. We see hints of real human jealousy, grief, annoyance, and love in both girls even though their personalities couldn't be more different. I don't know if I've ever seen such a wholesome and believable friendship in literature before.

I enjoyed the story over all, though for a while the plot did get terribly confusing and difficult to follow. Once we were given answers they were mostly satisfying.

While I will never completely enjoy the "undefeatable villain" trope, the reasoning behind this one was at least understandable.

Even the ending was quite unique. I enjoyed the less-than-perfect end. I think everything neatly wrapped in a bow would have betrayed the overall feel of the story.

Over all I definitely liked Uprooted, and am likely to read it again.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Kidnapping, Fire/Fire injury, Medical trauma, Body horror, and Confinement

Minor: Toxic friendship, Rape, Sexual harassment, Suicide, Toxic relationship, and War

walkie_check's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad fast-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Blood, Grief, Violence, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Sexual assault, and Sexual content

Moderate: Grief, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Gore, Sexual violence, Sexual content, Fire/Fire injury, Animal death, War, Injury/Injury detail, Confinement, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Xenophobia, Violence, Toxic relationship, and Vomit

Minor: Infidelity, Classism, Forced institutionalization, Child abuse, Alcohol, Cancer, Drug abuse, Gaslighting, Kidnapping, Sexual harassment, and Rape

kbkbkbkbkb's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious fast-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? Yes

2.0

If the creepy romance between the main character and her captor didn't exist this would have been a solid 5. The story is really captivating, but the rediculous and creepy age gap and how quickly it's accepted (as well as how blatantly abusive the dragon is) is disgusting and takes so much away from the book. It would have been incredible if it stayed entirely a mentor-mentee relationship.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic relationship and Emotional abuse

orchidlilly's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

2.0

Overall, subpar. The magic and world building are far more interesting than any of the characters could ever dream of being, which is a shame because we don't get to see much of it. The premise was interesting, the plot was an actual plot, but it could have been fleshed out so much better if it only had a bit more time. The ending was a semi-refreshing subversion of the expected romance ending, but it felt a bit rushed. The romance part itself was, in my opinion, wholly unnecessary and a bit unpleasant. The main romantic interest is an immortal while our mc is... 17-ish. Not to mention the attempted rape scene.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Death, Grief, Kidnapping, Sexism, Toxic relationship, Violence, Rape, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Misogyny, Bullying, Fatphobia, Gore, and War

Moderate: Mental illness, Death, Sexual harassment, Blood, Body horror, Murder, Adult/minor relationship, Classism, Sexual assault, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, Torture, Domestic abuse, and Emotional abuse

Minor: Ableism, Animal cruelty, Alcohol, Animal death, and Confinement

saintyeehaw's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

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

3.75

I kept rooting for this book and it kind of kept letting me down, sadly. I fell in love with the magic system, the visualizations of spell casting, the descriptions of reading the Summoning, and the dark horror of the Wood. Unfortunately, Sarkan's never ending verbal abuse toward Nieshka, her being 17 to his 150, the weird sympathetic framing of a rapist, and the inclusion of only one explicitly black character just to have her be the daughter of a slave really soured me on the whole thing. 

I'll just rant here. The fact that Sarkan chooses specifically girls (never explained why boys aren't chosen if everyone with the gift must be trained) and expects them to cook all his meals for him for ten years was already irredeemable in my eyes. His constant berating of Nieshka literally left her EXPECTING abuse multiple times throughout the book which left me feeling sick at its romanticization. Truly, Sarkan's only traits were that he liked cleanliness and that he was mean. Their hideous age gap (of literally a child and a very old man) being framed as his excuse to momentarily hesitate from sex with her? yikes. Why did she need to be 17? I would have much preferred reading about an adult woman and her ages old immortal boyfriend. Lastly, the rape scene was handled unbelievably poorly and just made Sarkan even more monstrous to me.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Body horror, Classism, Confinement, Death, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Violence, and War

Minor: Alcohol, Animal cruelty, Child death, Infidelity, Kidnapping, Murder, and Vomit

snowkestrel's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense fast-paced

• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

Interesting worldbuilding, I like the writing style.
Intriquing magic system rooted in real historical myths and superstition.
If only it wasn't YA.

The main character is an average Young Adult protagonist, in pretty much every way. Clumsy yet likeable, doesn't succeed in things by going the normal way so goes her own way, which just so happens to also be much better...

Protagonist has stockholm syndrome. That doesn't make for a nice romantic plot. Not that I like to read romance at all in the first place (why do books not have warnings on the cover?).

The wood was a really interesting concept, a looming threat which I found really immersive. The conclusion to its story, however, was a bit.. meek? It felt a bit hurried, and like there ought to have been more depth to it than there was (or did I just not see it?). It felt almost like a different book tacked on at the end to offer some sort of conclusion. A conclusion not hinted at in any way for the rest of the book.

Disappointed the dragon wasn't a real dragon. I mean, that was pretty much the reason I picked up the book in the first place. False marketing.

Definitively would have benefited from being a trilogy or something rather than a single book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content, Toxic relationship, and Body horror

Moderate: Violence

naomi_k's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Violence, Injury/Injury detail, Torture, Death, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Confinement, Toxic relationship, and Sexual content

Minor: Kidnapping, War, and Sexual assault

rivercat0338's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense medium-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? It's complicated

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Blood, Bullying, Death, Violence, Injury/Injury detail, Toxic relationship, and War