Reviews tagging 'Alcohol'

Ariadne by Jennifer Saint

108 reviews

kaitlinlovesbooks's review against another edition

adventurous emotional reflective sad 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death and Death

Moderate: Mental illness, Suicide, Violence, Pregnancy, Abandonment, and Alcohol

Minor: Sexual content, Grief, and War

sas_ram's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-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

4.0

I think it would be wrong to compare it to Madeline Miller's books just because it's also a greek myth retelling. 
I did enjoy this book. The first half to 2/3 are really good and interesting but the ending seems rushed and is unsatisfactory. I'm unsure if I should give the book 3,75 or 4 stars. So I think I will give it 4 stars with the possibility of correction. 
I do think the characters lack a certain depth especially as the plot carries on. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Death, Misogyny, Rape, Sexual assault, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Grief, Murder, Pregnancy, Abandonment, Alcohol, and War

nialiversuch's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional 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? Yes

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Infidelity, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Grief, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Abandonment, Alcohol, War, and Injury/Injury detail

alexmill's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious sad medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Rape, and Alcohol

Moderate: Gore, Sexual assault, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Pregnancy, and Abandonment

Minor: Child death

aformeracceleratedreader's review against another edition

adventurous emotional sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No

3.0

I've read a couple feminist/women focused retellings (Circe, The Witch's Heart) and Ariadne is the weakest of them. I liked it overall, but it felt like the interesting aspects were not as detailed as other aspects. I was hoping for a story about the sisters being the focus, but the romantic love was more heavily the focus. I understand that we need to see these terrible dudes/gods for what they are and how they force the hands of the women in these tales (how women are used/abused in these myths and legends), but I really wish the sisters were given more of a personality than what we got. It seemed like even though this was supposed to be female focused, the dudes in here were still given more depth, character, and story significance than our actual main women. I'm sure it's difficult to build on characters that we didn't get much from before like the male characters of these stories who we all have baseline knowledge of if we know any Greek mythology, but I feel the women were just given very generic and flat personalities. Ariadne's character and Phaedra's character had so much potential in the beginning but by the end, they were letdowns. This could've been great, but it fell short on a lot of parts for me. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Death, Infidelity, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Blood, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, Abandonment, and Alcohol

Moderate: Confinement, Sexism, and Grief

Minor: Rape

kenzieniichole's review against another edition

emotional hopeful relaxing slow-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Grief

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, and Alcohol

Minor: Rape, Suicide, Vomit, and War

maistfu's review against another edition

adventurous emotional medium-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

this is an absolute must read if you're as obsessed with green mythology as I am. first of all, i think the writing style is great. it's not difficult but still beautiful and it makes it easy to read. 

the story is not just about ariadne. it tells the struggles of the women in ancient greece and their battles with men but also the gods. throughout the book, you get the stories of different myths and also other women, which makes it great for people who don't know that much about greek mythology in general.

but well, I loved it and I definitely recommend it to everyone :)

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Incest

Minor: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child death, Rape, Blood, and Alcohol

readingtothesea's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional inspiring 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? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

Very thought provoking. The book deals with the pov of women in Greek mythology. Especially them having to suffer under men‘s actions. It tells Ariadnes myth, but from her perspective since usually she is only mentioned briefly for helping Theseus.

But tbh, you probably have to like and know something about Greek mythology to enjoy the book, since there are some „side quests“ of different myths, that are mentioned. For example, Ariadne mentions Medusa‘s tale, but to understand the impact that it has (especially for the feminist tone), you should have heard of her story before. 
The feminist tone is rather subtle, not as prominent as it could be, if you ask me. It either works via the stories of women in Greek mythology that she mentions, as prior mentioned, or via thoughts that Ariadne has or unfair things that happen to her or other women in the story.

Although, I found both Ariadne’s and Phaedra‘s deaths rather random. They should have been more impactful. The strong and stubborn Phaedra suddenly taking her life, just because she had been rejected? She has gotten over more in her life. I do understand, that it wasn’t only the one sided love but more things that add up to that, but still, it doesn’t match her character, if you ask me.  Ariadne‘a death had the potential to have an impact, if it would have been described and interpreted more. For example it being an image: Her dying, to safe the other women (Maenaden), to prevent the consequences of men’s emotional and egoistic actions. Especially since she had criticized prior, that women are the ones that have to suffer. But this chance wasn’t used, instead the ending was rather abrupt. Also, the way of her death, wasn’t logical, rather dumb. She knew about Medusa‘s head on the shield, she spoke about it multiple times, but still, she looked at it? Instead of just looking away or closing her eyes? I‘m just saying, it could have been a chance to give her death an impact, if the reader would have been given time to think about it, but the book ended immediately.
The ending just doesn’t match the rest of the story.

I still enjoyed reading it, since I‘m a sucker for feminist greek mythology retellings. It is a good read, but there are a few things that could be better.
Also, I loved the writing style.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide

Moderate: Child death and Suicidal thoughts

Minor: Rape, Violence, and Alcohol

sophiawithdiarrhea's review against another edition

challenging emotional reflective sad tense fast-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death and Alcohol

Moderate: Rape and Pregnancy

Minor: Murder

ghostlyprince's review against another edition

slow-paced

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

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Body shaming, Incest, Infidelity, Misogyny, Sexism, Suicide, Gaslighting, and Abandonment

Moderate: Murder and Alcohol

Minor: Rape