Reviews tagging 'Mental illness'

Cinder by Marissa Meyer

5 reviews

noellegrace8's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

4.75

This is such a cool modern (future, actually??) retelling of Cinderella. She is NOTHING like any Cinderella we've read or watched before. She is a mechnic with a good portion of her body being mechanical in and of itself. Meyer does a fantastic job creating interesting plot points that surprise the reader yet also point them to the original source material of Cinderella. Overall a quick pased, clever book. I can't wait to read the next installments! The few issues I had with the book were just that it was a bit hard to get into at first, especially because some of the characters weren't as interesting as they could have been, and sometimes the word usage was odd, almost like she used the word adjacent to what she actually meant.

I don't include the audio performer in my overall star review, but I'd give Rebecca Soler 3.75/5.0. There isn't much to say outside of her performance falling flat. It wasn't actively bad, but there wasn't enough excitement and variance in her narration to intrigue me; my inner reading dialogue is much more enthusiastic than her performance itself is.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Terminal illness, Pandemic/Epidemic, and Ableism

Moderate: Blood, Body shaming, Child abuse, Grief, Classism, Bullying, Death, Child death, Emotional abuse, Medical content, and Medical trauma

Minor: Xenophobia, Deportation, Self harm, Car accident, Colonisation, War, Vomit, Misogyny, Mental illness, Injury/Injury detail, Sexism, Panic attacks/disorders, Murder, Gun violence, Death of parent, Torture, Confinement, and Violence

Those listed in "graphic" are central themes, although the ableism is more of metaphor (Cinder is a cyborg and treated poorly because of it) than a direct commentary. Moderate categories listed are related to the death of a loved one in the plot, a medical research focus due to the epidemic theme, and the aforementioned ordeal of Cinder being cyborg. "Minor" category items are straightforward and not too present in the book.

_ren's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic relationship, Mental illness, Gaslighting, Suicide attempt, Injury/Injury detail, Suicide, Panic attacks/disorders, Murder, Violence, Emotional abuse, Death of parent, Child death, and Child abuse

Moderate: Blood, Gun violence, and Bullying

Minor: Abandonment and Vomit

smileypers0n's review against another edition

adventurous funny medium-paced

• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Genocide, Ableism, Child death, Child abuse, Medical content, Pandemic/Epidemic, and Xenophobia

Moderate: Blood, Car accident, Medical trauma, Slavery, Fire/Fire injury, and Forced institutionalization

Minor: Self harm, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Mental illness, and Gun violence

reddeddy's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted fast-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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Bullying, Death, Ableism, Dysphoria, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Xenophobia, Body shaming, Medical content, Child abuse, Classism, Emotional abuse, and Terminal illness

Moderate: Car accident, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Self harm, Toxic relationship, Mental illness, Blood, Child death, Gore, Violence, Body horror, Confinement, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, and Gun violence

Minor: Gore, Misogyny, Colonisation, Medical trauma, Murder, Drug use, Slavery, Torture, Chronic illness, Forced institutionalization, Genocide, Infidelity, Racism, Trafficking, and War

empathephant's review against another edition

mysterious slow-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

I think I really do just have a problem getting my brain to adjust the the new conditions of an SFF universe, because on this second read through I enjoyed the book so much more, no longer being unfamiliar with the setting and vocabulary. I need to remember this and just push through in the future. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Terminal illness, Medical trauma, Medical content, and Blood

Moderate: Child death, Death of parent, Xenophobia, Self harm, Panic attacks/disorders, and Murder

Minor: Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Confinement, Gun violence, Mental illness, Excrement, Dementia, Violence, Slavery, Vomit, and Car accident

A pandemic that causes nearly death threatens the world. The plot takes place under the looming threat of war, centering on trying to prevent the war. Main character is an orphan, living in an abusive adoptive family.

At various points in the book, main character and other character are imprisoned, subjected to mind control, and manipulated into harming themselves. Two characters die from the pandemic, one in squalid conditions.

Book maintains a relatively lighthearted tone throughout, with moments of darkness and grotesqueness.