Reviews with content warning for Physical abuse - Weyward

Reviews tagging 'Physical abuse'

lexmarconi's review

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dark 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

3.5

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booksbysunni's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced

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

3.0

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pandoraschaos's review

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dark emotional mysterious sad medium-paced

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? It's complicated

2.0

Audiobook listen time 10:51 at 1.65 speed with 1.7 for last hour.

Trigger warnings
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SA including drugging/intentionally getting someone drunk & R*pe, & vividly described domestic violence. Suicidal ideations, miscarriage & infertility, pregnancy including unwanted, medical provider induced trauma (checking for hymen). And as someone that has Tokophobia, descriptions of child movement in the womb.

Spoilers below
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Giving it 3 stars for women empowerment. But MAN it started slow. Maybe I’ve just been reading too many series where context building doesn’t have to happen for the first half of the book… but boy howdy I almost
didn’t finish this. Within the first 5 minutes of the book, one of the characters is getting slapped by her partner. It was definitely something i had to pause for a second, which was something that happened multiple times while reading this book. And then the author added the age old toxic positivity line about DV and “not being a victim, but being a survivor” just didn’t sit right with me.

I’m guess I’m glad I finished it. But I’m gonna need a palette cleanser after this one.

Took me almost 75% of the book before I realized the connection between Altha’s best friend “whatever(maybe grace?)” metclaf and Violet’s nanny Metclaf. But if the metclaf’s knew about the Weyward’s gifts…. Why would the nanny not have told Violet about her mother?!

And to whoever edited the audiobook after the person read it… you suck. Why did I have to keep hearing the narrators breaths? 😅

Actually the more I write this review. The more I realize that I hated this book. 😂 changing it to 2 stars.

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kraley's review against another edition

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emotional inspiring reflective 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? No

4.0

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marosq's review

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challenging dark hopeful informative inspiring reflective 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

4.25

Fairly good job interweaving three protagonist POVs. I found the voices of each protag distinct, though having one POV in first person annoyed me until much later on the book when I realized why the author chose to do that. The book says a lot about the power and wildness of women, but the short segments that protested the term "witch" didn't really do a lot to separate the idea of women's wild power from witchcraft. Especially since one of the POVs endures a trial accusing her of murdering a man with witchcraft. Also felt that the majority of men in the novel were extremely underdeveloped, almost one-dimensional, in the service of displaying how women have suffered at men's hands. As such, the commentary on abuse, especially domestic violence and the lack of structure in place to amplify the voices of survivors, doesn't feel very original or sage; more direct confrontation would have needed to take place between the sufferers and the system for that to be the case. I realize that Violet and Altha were speaking with the mindset of their social upbringings, but I wished that I could have seen Kate engage more deeply and introspectively with the "Why did I allow it? How did this happen? How can I make sure it never happens again?" line of thought. (Kate's mother particularly enraged me with the "I'm your mother, I sensed it, I should have done XYZ" hand flailing) There was an opportunity to bring the story full circle from Altha's "How could I not have seen this happening?" to Violet's "Was it my fault somehow?" to what could have been a powerful, contemporary statement from Kate: "This doesn't happen in a vacuum, survivors aren't weak, and healing isn't linear."

Would also have loved to feel a stronger, more believable sibling relationship between Violet and Graham, and to have seen Kate have any other positive male presence in her life but her father's. Altha concerned me a little, being written as covertly queer; the lack of strong secondary characters in her story made her strained relationship with Grace feel sort of unmoored and surface-level, which then gave the whole situation around Grace and her husband's death an oddly hollow resolution.

Altogether I liked Kate's story best, and having Violet's story framed inside it was a good narrative device. I'm still not sure I agree with how Altha's story is set up, but she had some of the better one-liners and revelations in the entire book. Particularly loved "A great many things look different from a distance. Truth is like ugliness: you need to be close to see it." The thread of generational trauma woven with the thread of legacy and power was interesting, and I had a fantastic time with the depictions of the wild coming alive for each woman. Would recommend.

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cozygirlreads's review

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dark 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? It's complicated

5.0

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muhm's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

A though read. I do like the storyline, but it is painful to read the women in this book struggeling again and again against male violence in different shapes. It inlcudes descriptions of sexual violence that are hard to bear, and I really had to push myself through it. The middle part was quite lengthly because of this, but the ending was very strong. It is definitly not a read for moments where you do not feel settled within yourself.

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freesouthjersey's review

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challenging emotional hopeful inspiring reflective medium-paced

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? No

5.0

Fully five stars for this one. Great story, well written, tight plot, satisfying ending(s). Lots to marinate on now that I’ve finished it and will certainly be reading whatever Hart writes next.

I’d recommend this book widely. For those who don’t love it, it’ll be because it’s philosophically or thematically challenging, rather than because of the quality of the writing.

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