Reviews tagging 'Panic attacks/disorders'

Lies We Sing to the Sea by Sarah Underwood

5 reviews

nikenacs'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? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

[book club - July 2024]

okax, but didn't wow me. some parts worked really well, others were a little clumsily paced or character motivations didn't make sense to me. also felt very modern and only with a basic understanding of Greek mythology to me. a little too much "tell", not enough "show" for my taste, and I saw plot reveals coming a mile away. also could have been shorter. but strong ending, and the love triangle could have been worse (although

I was hoping for a throuple).

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Rape

Moderate: Panic attacks/disorders

Minor: Animal cruelty and Animal death

summerrydell's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional sad slow-paced

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

3.0

I’m wrapped up in the post-reading-endorphin-rush, so I want to give it a higher rating, but I can’t. I think I’m already being generous. There’s just something about Greek myths… However, this is so loosely related (read: under-researched and oversold as something it isn’t).  According to the author, this is a feminist retelling of “The Odyssey”, except she didn’t read it/do additional research or include the other 99% of the original story. She admitted she gathered info from “Percy Jackson” and other stories. To me, there needs to be more than 1% to be considered a retelling. The historical details are also very inaccurate for 4th century BCE. 

Even with all of that, there are so many plot holes and straight up UNCLEAR details that really do make a difference to the story. The reader is just supposed to accept that things are the way they are because the internal monologue of the MC says so. 

So, why give it 3 stars then? Idk, I still kind of liked it 🤷🏻‍♀️😂. There really is a story there, and I do think that some of the writing is very beautiful, even if it was full of holes and inaccuracies.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Violence, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, and Classism

Minor: Panic attacks/disorders, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Suicide, Violence, Blood, and Injury/Injury detail

kassidyreads's review against another edition

dark sad slow-paced

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

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Suicide

Moderate: Rape, Sexual assault, and Death of parent

Minor: Panic attacks/disorders, Slavery, and Abandonment

gondorgirl's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief

Minor: Body horror, Death, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Blood, Death of parent, Murder, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

hanne_'s review against another edition

dark emotional sad medium-paced

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

2.0

Gods, what a slog. Had one early moment with properly horrific use of familiar imagery (the feet, what else?), and then… kinda fell apart. This could’ve been sweet and lush, but tried to do too much with too little and was narratively all over the place. It’s a reimagining of how the Odys— okay, it’s not really doing that rigorously but it’s an intensely personal exploration of— nope, it’s one of those “monarchic inheritance acts like a reality show competition” books— but don’t worry, this YA love triangle’s *bisexual* and even drifting toward polyam— oh wait, now we’re doing the senselessly tragic nature of capital-F Fate— whoops, have two sudden twists… and it’s over. Exhausting. 

I think the author needed to pick one or two things to really commit to: the worldbuilding as an extension of The Odyssey, the consistency of the magic and plot elements she wanted to include, Leto and Melantho’s first-person voices (which started out refreshing and distinct but soon blended together), the three protagonists’ relationships, or the political/governing elements. Instead, the story rushes past each in turn in service of the others, and the only reliably well-developed element is actually… the violence? If you for some reason want to read a lot of detail about people, mostly children, being disturbingly murdered and assaulted, this is the book for you. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Child death, Death, Gore, Sexual assault, Violence, and Grief

Moderate: Child abuse, Confinement, Infidelity, Misogyny, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Blood, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Animal death, Bullying, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Rape, Suicide, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Pregnancy, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Alcohol, and Classism

It’s not creepy if the centuries-old entity having sex with a young woman also looks and acts like a young woman, right? No, nope, wrong, absolutely creepy, and some memory loss to reduce the weight of her years of experience does not fix it.