Reviews tagging 'Torture'

Weyward by Emilia Hart

11 reviews

norahhm's review

dark emotional inspiring mysterious sad tense 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

3.5

The prose was very beautiful and raw at points, particularly in the perspective of Kate, describing her experience with domestic abuse. But much of Violet and Altha’s stories are told in a way that feels very young adult, which felt discordant with the very violent and emotional content…like the quote on the front “they call us witches…we call ourselves weyward” was so Wattpad lmao.

I didn’t think the witch theme was explored enough for the amount of suspense built up throughout the book about what that entailed…I think delving more into the ways the women used their powers aside from just punishing the men would have better served the message the author seemed to be sending about finding empowerment from within—rather than from a man. Because the culmination of each woman’s journey was finding their power through hurting abusers, it decentered their personal journeys to emancipation and refocused the way they found freedom on the involvement of men.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Incest, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Grief, Medical trauma, Abortion, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Child death, Miscarriage, Medical trauma, and Car accident

Minor: Cursing and Forced institutionalization

nehaanna's review

adventurous dark emotional tense fast-paced

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

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body shaming, Child death, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Infertility, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Vomit, Grief, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Stalking, Car accident, Abortion, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Vomit, Abandonment, and War

ladyasteria's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful inspiring reflective 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? It's complicated

5.0

It was beautiful

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexism, Sexual assault, Torture, Blood, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Abortion, and Pregnancy

brashknuckles's review

challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense 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

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Body shaming, Child abuse, Confinement, Emotional abuse, Incest, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Medical trauma, Stalking, Car accident, Abortion, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, and Gaslighting

readdanoread's review

challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad tense 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

3.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Incest, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Rape, Blood, Grief, Car accident, Abortion, Death of parent, Murder, and Pregnancy

Moderate: Confinement, Misogyny, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Excrement, Vomit, Suicide attempt, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail

laura_berger's review

dark emotional hopeful reflective 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? It's complicated

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse and Abortion

Moderate: Rape, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Death of parent, Murder, and Pregnancy

Minor: Terminal illness, Vomit, Car accident, and War

kyrstin_p1989's review

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

Beautiful & magical. A story about the power of women and the bond between them, even when they’ve been kept away from one another for far too long. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body shaming, Cancer, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Infertility, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Dementia, Grief, Religious bigotry, Car accident, Abortion, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Toxic friendship, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

opie_azvuc's review

dark emotional sad slow-paced

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

0.25

3 Girls 1 Spine

I'm really concerned for the author of this book. I don't know if men did something to her, or she's just chronically online or something, but she HATES men so MUCH. Every single male character in this book is an absolute monster save exactly one who's only kind of okay until the very end where he's a hero. To be fair, two of the three "protagonists" are incredibly bad at it.

Misandry aside, this book is not that well written. Each chapter takes around 5-10 minutes to read and less than that in the first third or so of the book. Each chapter follows around one of three women in three completely different time periods and ends on a cliffhanger. The first few chapters are only around 6 pages each, so it's very jarring and disconnected and feels like the author may have written it while guzzling espresso and shooting cocaine.

The first person we follow is Altha, a woman accused of witchcraft in the 1600's and literally the only protagonist to have any sort of backbone or agency despite the face her situation is the most dire. She avoids prosecution and immolation and goes on to rescue the wife of an abusive husband by causing said abusive husband to be attacked by woodland creatures Loony Tunes style.

The second protagonist, Violet, is a sixteen year old girl with an abusive father and a brother off at boarding school during World War 2. Her cousin, a soldier, comes to stay with the family on leave, date rapes Violet, and the father finds out and sequesters her in this cabin in the woods where it turns out he had her mother interred there where all sorts of horrible things happened to her by men. She learns how to give herself an abortion using noxious weeds and realizes she has the power to chase her father away with woodland creatures Loony Tunes style.

The third protagonist is Kate in 2019 who is running from an abusive boyfriend she has been with for 5 years and has had multiple chances to get away from but chose not to until she decided to flee to the countryside, at no point contacting the police, battered women's shelter, lawyer, or anything that makes sense. She doesn't even bother to get a gun or ask any of her new acquiaintances to look out for her. When the boyfriend tracks her down because of the script, she realizes she also has the power to chase her boyfriend away with woodland creatures Loony Tunes style.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Gore, Incest, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Dementia, Grief, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Stalking, Car accident, Abortion, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

luisaroesch's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective tense fast-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? No

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Blood, Abortion, Pregnancy, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Confinement, Infertility, Misogyny, Forced institutionalization, Vomit, Medical content, and Medical trauma

Minor: Cancer, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Dementia, Car accident, and War

readwithev's review against another edition

emotional hopeful inspiring sad medium-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? No

4.25

I loved the growth of all the Weyward women through three different generations. Each of them learn about their abilities, overcome great adversity and pain, and learn to be proud of who they are despite the world’s judgement toward them and their difficult situations. My only criticism is that I would have liked a mored details about their magic and the lore.

What is the Magic’s origin? How does it affect their  bodies? It’s first mentioned around the 80% point of the book. Hart does my delve into whether magic is only in women. Perhaps because the magic was kept l secret for so many generations? The lack of in-depth magic lore is the only thing I felt was missing. I also thought it was interesting the Hart chose not to focus  on Simon after Kate escaped. We feel her anxiety and know that he is probably searching for her, but we do not see him again until the end of the book. I actually think that was a great choice on Hart’s part. It is never about why an abuser is the way they are, so by not providing a backstory for Simon or writing his POV, Hart avoids convey any “excuse” for Simon’s abuse. I liked that we focus on Kate’s growth. I also liked Violet’s discoveries and learning to shed the excuses for the abuses she suffered. She learned to relinquish the guilt, and I think Hart wrote it with compassion and grace.

This is an emotionally heavy book with lots of trigger warnings⚠️, however Hart does not add gruesome details or scenes unnecessarily. All the details and difficult themes are important; they add to each woman’s journey and eventually their growth.
Hart’s description of nature, tenderness for each Weyward woman’s storyline, her compassion for their struggle, and the epilogue that ties everything together was *chef’s kiss.* loved the story and would recommend!

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, and Abortion

Moderate: Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Blood, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, and Pregnancy

Minor: Infertility, Torture, Vomit, Murder, and Gaslighting