Reviews tagging 'Sexual violence'

Hera by Jennifer Saint

37 reviews

kelsey_mary's review against another edition

3.5

adventurous dark emotional informative sad medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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Retelling of major timelines in Greek Mythology, through the viewpoint of Hera, who does not identify as Zeus's wife, but as someone who should be seen as an equal and was striped of her own rights and power because she is a women. The book follows Hera's actions and what drove her to her decisions, which are all to fight back against Zeus for marrying her against her will. There are some triggering things in here but I overall enjoyed it. As someone who doesn't know a whole lot about Greek mythology this was informative and engaging. At some points it got a little slow or felt repetitive. But overall enjoyed the book and could see myself recommending it to others. The 3.5 indicates that it was not as memorable as other books I've read this year 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Rape, Sexual violence

lelareads's review against another edition

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After listening to 38% of the book, there wasn’t enough of a plot to keep my interest in the remaining 8+ hours of audio. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Incest, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Violence

eharrison78's review against another edition

3.5

adventurous slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Sexual assault, Sexual violence

norabee's review against another edition

4.0

emotional reflective fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: No

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...reinvented a thousand times, remade for a thousand narratives...

a play on nothing and everything changing and how you shape power / your destiny 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Misogyny, Sexual assault, Sexual violence

bookish_hollyx's review against another edition

4.25

adventurous challenging dark slow-paced

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Misogyny, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Murder, War

rheagoveas's review against another edition

3.75

emotional reflective sad slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, War

smarli's review against another edition

3.5

dark reflective sad slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: N/A

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Murder

Moderate: Violence, War

rooislost's review against another edition

4.0

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

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Incest, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Violence, Xenophobia, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, War, Injury/Injury detail, Classism

crazybooklady89's review against another edition

2.0

reflective slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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What the hell did I just read?! Honestly, this book was all over the place. I did like the ending, and I think there were some decent lessons, BUT (and this is a really big but) the author tried way too hard to fit everything in. How can a book have SO MANY stories and still be so slow? 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Body shaming, Child death, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Incest, Misogyny, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Alcohol, War

moonlightjuju's review against another edition

2.0

slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: N/A

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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This book was a disappointment compared to Saint’s others, and I am happy that I chose to read it through libby rather than buy it when it first came out.

I think Saint should have focused on one story instead of trying to cover all of Hera’s history. Since I’m already VERY familiar with Greek mythology, reading this felt more like a crash course. She spent pages just describing events, which anyone could gather from watching a documentary or reading a summary. I was expecting some major action scenes, but they never came. Honestly, it felt like a waste of time.

The only thing I’d give her credit for is giving Hera a clear motivation for going after Zeus’s children—it stemmed from her desire to protect her grandchildren. That’s the only reason I gave it two stars. Otherwise, I was left wanting more, and this book didn’t deliver. Saint shouldn’t have written about such a major goddess unless she planned to focus on one or two key stories.

Overall, the plot was weak (if you can even call it a plot), and the character development was poor.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Sexual violence, Slavery, Toxic relationship, Violence, Sexual harassment