Reviews tagging 'Domestic abuse'

Damsel by Elana K. Arnold

16 reviews

ariamelia's review against another edition

dark emotional sad

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

5.0

Devastating in the best way. I sobbed through most of the book.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Self harm, Animal cruelty, Blood, Domestic abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Suicide, and Violence

yulecogs's review against another edition

slow-paced

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

0.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Sexism, Suicide, Ableism, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, Sexual violence, Emotional abuse, Animal cruelty, Injury/Injury detail, Rape, Self harm, Violence, Infidelity, Gaslighting, Cursing, Sexual harassment, Animal death, Body horror, Sexual assault, Sexual content, and Body shaming

hannahsvessel's review against another edition

dark slow-paced

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

1.75

Genuinely a terrible read. It’s feminism and criticism of patriarchy were about as deep as a shallow puddle, and though the author fancies herself to have Brechtian qualities of making people uncomfortable to make them consider, she really only made me uncomfortable in her extra and unnecessarily crude language.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Physical abuse, Sexual assault, and Domestic abuse

Just… so bad.

lisashelves's review against another edition

dark slow-paced

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

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Violence, Sexual assault, Animal death, Death, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, Animal cruelty, Blood, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Sexual violence, and Sexual harassment

Minor: Suicide

mattiedancer's review

challenging emotional sad 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? Yes

5.0

Writing: 5⭐️/5 

The writing is strong throughout the book. A few moments that lacked ease and clarity were outshone by the brilliance expertly demonstrated throughout the rest of the novel. The poetic nature of the work fit nicely within its prose format. Arnold also demonstrates great control over the voice throughout the story. Tremendously done. 

Characters: 5⭐️/5

The characters were both hyperbolic and realistic in the best balance between the two. Arnold does a tremendous job creating motivated characters whose stories and origins. This is most fantastically demonstrated with the Prince/King, whose perspective we begin with, whose story we understand, whose side we are almost on until the story slowly unfolds in front of us.

Plot: 5⭐️/5 

The plot is fantastically paced and thoroughly enjoyable to read. I personally love the focus on a deep and unforgiving feminine rage that is both necessary and welcomed. So much of this story is exactly what I wanted to read, while also being precisely what I needed to read. 

Post-Reading Rating:  5⭐️/5

I will be recommending this to so many people.

Who Should Read This? 

• Women looking for a feminist fairy tale
• Those who love fairy tale reconstructions
• Those who want all that plus dragons and castles

 

Final Rating: 5⭐️/5

CW: Blood, injury, suicide, sexual assault, sexual content, rape, toxic relationships, misogyny, sexism, emotional abuse, violence, domestic abuse, physical abuse, gaslighting, animal cruelty, animal death, death, death of parent, eating disorder, classism, pregnancy, kidnapping

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Fire/Fire injury, Toxic relationship, Violence, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Sexism, Misogyny, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Death, Death of parent, Eating disorder, Classism, Rape, Domestic abuse, and Physical abuse

Moderate: Self harm, Pregnancy, Suicide, and Kidnapping

kblevs's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Self harm, Murder, Blood, Violence, Death, Animal death, Gore, Rape, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Domestic abuse, Torture, Sexual assault, Sexism, Sexual harassment, Kidnapping, and Animal cruelty

jonie_rich's review

adventurous challenging dark mysterious tense medium-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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death of parent, Misogyny, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Animal cruelty, Gore, Grief, Pregnancy, Blood, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Panic attacks/disorders, Toxic relationship, Cannibalism, Domestic abuse, Rape, Sexual harassment, Confinement, Death, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide attempt

destiel74's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional fast-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? Yes

4.5

I read this book for one or two years and didn't know what to make of it. I don't love it but I don't hate it either and I do think it's an important story. The book is a unique, fresher take on the feminist reimagining of fairytales other than other books within that category. It inspired quite a few ideas of mine. The story is far from a love story than what the summary would have you believe. Men surrounding the protagonist Ama especially Prince Emory subject her to many horrors that can be found in our world. The ending is satisfying. However if one is uncomfortable reading about topics about sexual assault and domestic abuse you probably should sit this one out.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Domestic abuse, Gaslighting, Misogyny, Rape, and Sexual assault

camilla_p's review against another edition

adventurous dark sad tense slow-paced

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

3.25

This story is much darker than I had originally expected it to be, and because of that it was pretty hard to read. I found myself having to put the book down multiple times because I could not process what was happening in it. Putting aside the thematic weight of the story, the story telling was very slow and I couldn’t help but feel like there was more that could’ve been added to the story to make Ama’s ending better. even though we know that she finds freedom in the end, it feels incomplete because of everything she had to suffer through for the rest of the book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Sexism, Misogyny, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, and Domestic abuse

Minor: Gore

plutotoujors's review against another edition

dark emotional slow-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

1.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Rape, Toxic relationship, Suicide, Animal cruelty, Emotional abuse, Domestic abuse, and Animal death