Reviews tagging 'Animal cruelty'

De Boekbinder by Bridget Collins

103 reviews

mmikadze's review against another edition

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Rape, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Homophobia, Child death, and Suicide

frogspawned's review against another edition

emotional sad slow-paced

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

3.25

pros: the best part is the back third or so, when the plot gets rolling. 

a sweet but sad

romance

did a few interesting bits of world-building around

memory loss

 

cons: but it dropped those threads in favor of

the protagonist's personal dramas. it isn't bad by any means, it just felt more like the plot/follow up got dropped off a cliff in favor of romance halfway through.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Homophobia

Minor: Animal cruelty and Animal death

zbzzzz's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious 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? Yes

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Animal cruelty, and Suicide

Moderate: Child death, Murder, Rape, and Alcoholism

Minor: Incest

lisa00's review

adventurous dark emotional mysterious fast-paced

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

1.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Rape, Alcohol, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Homophobia, Infidelity, Toxic relationship, Animal death, Blood, Bullying, Child death, Violence, Vomit, Animal cruelty, Incest, Injury/Injury detail, Self harm, Sexual violence, Adult/minor relationship, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Sexual assault, Suicide, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Forced institutionalization and Gaslighting

aga294's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious sad tense slow-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? No

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Sexual violence, Alcohol, Homophobia, Murder, and Sexual assault

Moderate: Rape, Outing, Death, and Suicide

Minor: Animal death, Animal cruelty, and Vomit

anapthine's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious relaxing 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Biphobia, Bullying, Vomit, Alcohol, Emotional abuse, Grief, Sexual harassment, Death, Sexism, Misogyny, Suicide attempt, Homophobia, Outing, Toxic friendship, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, and Suicide

Moderate: Physical abuse and Sexual content

Minor: Addiction, Blood, Classism, Deadnaming, Death, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, and Animal death

robin_reads's review against another edition

emotional tense slow-paced

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

4.0

I don’t know what I expected but it wasn’t this. (In the best way possible)
One star less because the first part is incredibly slow, almost excruciatingly so but the next two are so much faster and it’s followed by an abrupt end. That kinda killed the mood for me.
Heart wrenchingly beautiful. I wished there had been one more chapter at least.

2nd read; audiobook:

The audiobook narration is very well done and extremely immersive. 
I forgot how much I hate the sister. She’s extremely manipulative and self-centered. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Vomit, Fire/Fire injury, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Alcohol, Alcoholism, Animal death, Homophobia, Animal cruelty, Rape, Sexual violence, and Emotional abuse

lalunablue's review against another edition

dark slow-paced

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

1.5

I made myself finish this book. I had such high hopes, but I did not like a single character. Scratch that, the one character I liked had minimal time.

I feel when you write about horrible situations and horrible people, the main characters should make you root for them, not shake your head in frustration. 

I am disappointed in the lack of world building and what Binders actually do, it was such a neat concept that fell to the wayside. 

The queer rep was ... Questionable. I am all for good representation and stories we are so sorely lacking, but this just wasn't it. As much praise as this book has received, I didn't see the appeal.

The writing was beautiful and the only reason it got an additional half star , but that doesn't make up for characters I can't even force myself to care about.  There was little to no growth, either. 

Overall, it was a profound idea that fell flat and relied far too much on shock and triggering subject matter that shouldn't be the sole purpose of a book. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Emotional abuse, Animal cruelty, Blood, Animal death, Child abuse, and Suicide

Moderate: Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Homophobia, and Vomit

Do not read if animal death upsets you, a dog is flat out murdered in a bag. It's brief, but horrible. Rape and child abuse are a running theme, and while not outright described it is enough to be jarring. There is also a graphic suicide scene of a rape victim. All of these are horribly triggering. There are instances of homophobia throughout.

cursedepub's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective medium-paced

• 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

3.5

excellent pacing, immersive and lush prose, and a very interesting premise. i enjoyed the complex bonds woven between characters and the incisive commentary on abuse of power and cycles of harm. the POV shift was very expertly done, it came at the perfect moment. it was a nice touch how

both Emmett and Lucian came off better and were portrayed more flatteringly in the other's POV than in their own - a beautiful and subtle way to show their feelings for each other.

 

that being said, the book was 4 stars for me until its extremely abrupt and unsatisfying ending, and Lucian spent too much of his half behaving in a way that made it hard to really root for him. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Blood, Sexual violence, Child abuse, Homophobia, and Rape

Moderate: Alcoholism, Classism, Death, and Suicide

a_alves00's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-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? No

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Rape, Sexual content, Suicide, Animal death, Sexual assault, Animal cruelty, and Death