Reviews tagging 'Toxic relationship'

Rache im Herzen by Xiran Jay Zhao

56 reviews

miggyfool's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny informative mysterious reflective sad tense medium-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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Alcoholism, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexual violence, Slavery, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Xenophobia, Blood, Police brutality, Medical content, Trafficking, Grief, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Colonisation, Dysphoria, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

maximumhonesty's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense 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

Não sei nem por onde começar MUITO BOM. Finalmente um triângulo amoroso que é de fato um triângulo. Personagens complexos, humanos que cativam. Eu terminei o livro completamente apaixonado pelos personagens, e o final quebrou meu coração. Como alguém trans tenho a sensação que o descontentamento da protagonista com sua posição como mulher é mais que apenas insatisfação com o machismo, muitas menções indiretas que podem ser lidas como não binariedade. Também amei o relacionamento bicentrado, mal posso esperar pela continuação.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Body shaming, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Genocide, Gore, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexism, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Kidnapping, Murder, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

smg's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Toxic relationship, Suicide attempt, Murder, and War

ging090803's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense fast-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? It's complicated

4.0

I love a “everyone has to die” type of book and this one didn’t disappoint. 
Even though, the middle was kinda long with all the blabla politic and all, I really loved it anyway. 
The end was amazing. The mains are badass and I really liked how the throuple didn’t feel forced. Everything was “too” natural, it just happened. 
I loved the end

I love the god complex and her being unbothered by her mass murdering.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Body shaming, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Misogyny, Sexism, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Murder, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Trafficking, and Sexual harassment

shelvesofivy's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny tense 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Death, Misogyny, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Grief, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, Alcohol, and War

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

Minor: Domestic abuse, Homophobia, Pedophilia, Rape, and Toxic relationship

alicelalicon's review against another edition

Likely will start over another time with the ebook.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexism, Toxic relationship, and Violence

daenarvelaryon1's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional tense fast-paced

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

2.5

I loved the idea of the story and Xiran Jay Zhao's smart marketing certainly sold me on the book. Unfortunately, I feel like the book did not live up to the hype on social media.  

The writing style is a bit sloppy, unrefined and needs to be worked on. The dialogue was occassionally incredibly cringy. The message of the story could have been handled and presented in a better, subtler way. And don't even get me started on the ending (felt like the publisher basically forced the author into writing a sequel). Xiran also needs to start showing things instead of telling. 

If I had to compare the story to an already existing work, it really felt like an average fanfiction from AO3 or Wattpad (I have no doubt that Xiran has experience with writing fanfiction and it shows in the book too). If that works for you, then you will very likely enjoy the story.

I really wanted to like this book because I love Xiran's content. Ultimately, it was a fun ride, but I would not recommend this book for someone looking for a high quality story.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Body shaming, Bullying, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexism, Slavery, Torture, Toxic relationship, Blood, Murder, Alcohol, War, and Classism

Moderate: Racism, Rape, Xenophobia, and Sexual harassment

intothestarrysea's review against another edition

I really wanted to like this book. Conceptually, it had a lot of great things, and the MC was unhinged in an amazing way. 

But man, the misogyny. And I don’t just mean the evil patriarchy in the book. I mean in the way her sister is fridged and then almost never brought up again, as if she didn’t exist except as plot motivation. I mean in the way the MC has 0 female friends and there is not a single female character she has a positive relationship with. I mean in the way the MC wants to end the killing of girls but is 100% okay with slaughtering boys. I mean in the way this book doesn’t pass the Bechdel test. I mean in the way

some guy makes her strip naked and read a contract on camera, and she says whatever, humiliation is just a state of mind,

effectively invalidating all the women (and people) who have felt shame and humiliation from that same thing. It kind of blames them for feeling shamed. 

It was a good idea, and in many ways, it actually felt like the hunger games. It just didn’t hit the mark for me. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Gore, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Murder, and Alcohol

Foot binding

alexisgarcia's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense slow-paced

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

3.5

this was a good and somewhat educational read. however, i struggled with the worldbuilding and the "magic" system. i found myself lost at some points. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Gore, Infertility, Infidelity, Misogyny, Rape, Sexism, Sexual content, Suicide, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Grief, Abandonment, Alcohol, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

dragonbornsandwaffles's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious tense 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? Yes

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Hate crime, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexism, Sexual violence, Slavery, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Murder, Gaslighting, Alcohol, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Child death