Reviews tagging 'Sexism'

The Society for Soulless Girls by Laura Steven

26 reviews

haddy's review

adventurous dark emotional mysterious reflective tense medium-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

4.25

Overall, I really enjoyed this book. 
I think it explored sapphic attraction well, the mystery was revealed at a good pace and it explored female rage and empowerment in a way I hadn’t read before.
I think sometimes, some of the themes were a little over-explained or nuanced. Additionally, given some of the violent descriptions, and the fact it takes place at a university, I would suggest this is new adult, rather than young adult.
I also think one of the characters wasn’t necessary really at all, I’m not sure what she added to the story. There was nothing her experience changed or provided.

I think in some ways, the story would have made more sense if the dean would have been the murderer.. it was art tied up slightly too easily for me?? Also I might have missed it, but what happened to the beads in lottie’s neck? Did they go away? And the answer to everything at the end is just exercise was a bit disappointing I guess??

 

I think usually I would give this a lower rating, and I can’t put my finger on why but I mostly loved it:)

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexism and Violence

bookishmillennial's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny mysterious reflective sad tense slow-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

disclaimer if you’ve read other reviews by me and are noticing a pattern: You’re correct that I don’t really give starred reviews, I feel like a peasant and don’t like leaving them and most often, I will only leave them if I vehemently despised a book. I enjoy most books for what they are, & I extract lessons from them all. Everyone’s reading experiences are subjective, so I hope my reviews provide enough information to let you know if a book is for you or not, regardless if I add stars or not. Find me on Instagram: @bookish.millennial or tiktok: @bookishmillennial

Premise (from the author’s own description!!!):
🥀 f/f enemies to lovers
🌲 Northumberland in the 90s
🔮 sinister rituals
🖤 slow burn romance
🩸 all-girl fight club
🌞 grump/sunshine
🛏 there’s only one bed
🔪 hurt/comfort

Thoughts:
Hmmmm, what to say, what to say…. I love a sapphic reimagining with ace representation of Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde but I especially support young angry femmes. 

It was giving Wednesday x Enid & I didn’t hate that! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Violence, Animal death, Sexism, Misogyny, Sexual harassment, and Gaslighting

reina_shouko's review against another edition

dark emotional funny mysterious sad tense medium-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: Gore, Alcohol, Animal death, Blood, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Sexism, Self harm, Death, Sexual assault, Suicide, Violence, and Physical abuse

zombiezami's review

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Animal cruelty, Religious bigotry, Animal death, Child death, Body horror, Physical abuse, Sexism, Violence, Blood, Misogyny, Suicide, and Suicidal thoughts

Moderate: Vomit, Sexual assault, Forced institutionalization, Sexual harassment, Medical content, Torture, Gore, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, Cursing, Stalking, Alcohol, Grief, and Rape

Minor: Infidelity

studiouspoppy's review against another edition

dark funny 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

3.25

the idea was great, and some of the reflections were interesting, but it was poorly executed. the exploration of evilness & religion as a tool to oppress rightfully oppressed women was really interesting, and the book wasn’t bad so i was invested & didn’t contemplate not finish it. still the characters felt one dimensional, the racial ambiguity of some of the characters went too far, which i didn’t like, and the ending felt really rushed.
also

what sapphic wants to read about a cat being murdered? that was so awful

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, and Religious bigotry

Moderate: Sexual assault

hayleythegoose's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense medium-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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Murder, Sexism, Animal cruelty, Violence, Animal death, Death, Misogyny, Body horror, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, and Suicide

Minor: Toxic relationship and Toxic friendship

itsnotalakeitsanocean's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious fast-paced

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

3.0

Overall I think this book is okay, but I don't think the blurb on the back of the book does a good job of explaining the basic premise of this story. I picked this book up for cheap in a final clearance sale at my local Forbidden Planet, so I'm not too annoyed.

Things I liked about it:

• It filled that Dark Academia niche that scratches at my brain on occasion.
• It was nice seeing a POC who is heavily implied to be autistic and have a sex life.
• It was nice seeing a slow burn, non-sexual sapphic relationship

Some minor nitpicks:

• I don't think the author realises you can be sapphic and asexual at the same time in the case of Lottie. Seeing how rare asexuality is portrayed in media (let alone respectfully) I can understand where this misunderstanding comes from, but maybe some further research/sensitivity readings would be warranted next time.
• Some of the descriptions can be a bit repetitive and sometimes got repeated pages apart from each other.
• The antagonists gave up far too easily. The girls' victory felt too easy when all they did was essentially walk up to a secret society meeting (in the back of some bar no less), barge in, speak up and threaten one of the family members and that was it. The clues were there for Dacre's true motivations but the "mystery" felt a bit half baked
• There were a bunch of loose ends that just ended up being dismissed at the end, almost in a very out of place fourth wall break as if the characters knew we'd be questioning these loose ends too.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Violence, Murder, and Blood

Moderate: Suicide, Misogyny, and Sexism

Minor: Sexual assault and Sexual harassment

babsi_222's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark informative mysterious tense medium-paced

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

5.0

goth-dark academia-fall-queer-1990‘s-angry women-blood ritual

This book was amazing and great for me! If you like some mystery a bit psychology and witchy stuff you will love this book! I’m usuall not into this genre but this book is an exception. 
Also if you like the Netflix show ‚Wednesday‘ this is a great book to read because the characters and vibes are similar.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Chronic illness, Death, Gore, Grief, Physical abuse, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Self harm, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Mental illness, Misogyny, Stalking, Torture, Animal death, Cursing, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Animal cruelty, Sexual harassment, Suicide, and Vomit

deadgirlwalking23's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny lighthearted mysterious medium-paced

• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Murder, and Violence

Moderate: Self harm, Death, and Suicide

Minor: Sexual assault, Sexism, and Sexual harassment

spookieweston's review against another edition

dark mysterious 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

4.0

I support women’s wrongs. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexism, Animal death, and Murder

Moderate: Violence, Suicide, and Domestic abuse