Reviews tagging 'Pedophilia'

Rainbow Black by Maggie Thrash

8 reviews

amaranth_wytch's review

adventurous dark emotional tense medium-paced

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Blood, Homophobia, Violence, Bullying, Drug abuse, Abandonment, Addiction, Child death, Death, Drug use, Gore, Gun violence, Grief, and Murder

Moderate: Misogyny, Outing, Pedophilia, Terminal illness, Transphobia, Religious bigotry, Classism, Cursing, Infidelity, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Death of parent, Gaslighting, Pregnancy, Sexual harassment, Self harm, Suicide, Deadnaming, Rape, and Stalking

brinnavirginia's review

emotional tense 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

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Adult/minor relationship, Drug abuse, Gun violence, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Stalking, Animal death, Mental illness, Alcohol, Grief, Rape, Self harm, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Blood, Death, Dementia, Dysphoria, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Pedophilia, Violence, Outing, Child abuse, Death of parent, Drug use, Murder, and Transphobia

nikenacs's review

dark emotional mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Homophobia, Transphobia, Pedophilia, Deadnaming, Death, and Child death

Moderate: Alcohol, Vomit, and Alcoholism

readingwithgoose's review against another edition

dark emotional sad medium-paced

2.5

The writing is really good and I think the story was told well. I just felt no joy while reading it. Not quite "trauma-porn", but everything just kept getting worse and darker and idk. Don't recommend if you want a fun read.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Sexual harassment, Violence, Grief, Gore, Pedophilia, Self harm, Murder, Suicide attempt, Death, Lesbophobia, and Outing

Moderate: Drug use, Drug abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Religious bigotry, Transphobia, Addiction, Bullying, and Blood

bookedbymadeline's review against another edition

Thank you to Netgalley and Harper Perennial for the eARC! The book is set in New Hampshire during the 90s satanic panic, which is what had me intrigued especially as it’s marketed as a murder mystery/thriller. The MC/narrator’s parents are beloved in their community until hysteria of the Satanic panic cause accusations to be thrown against them.

The book had a very slow start and didn’t ever grab my interest. 

Writing feels disjointed with more telling than showing. I didn’t feel any connection to the characters, they’re all morally grey and the disjointed writing makes them a bit disconnected from us as readers. You never really know what to believe because the narrator is a child for the first part, which I did enjoy the unreliable aspect.

So many slurs especially in terms of homophobic slurs and ableist slurs-I get that it was the time period but it felt overwhelmingly icky and unnecessary at times.

More lit fic coming of age than the thriller/mystery/horror like it’s listed as on goodreads and what I was hoping for 😭 I sooo badly wanted to love this!! If it was marked correctly as being lit fic and didn’t say it’s a murder mystery in the synopsis, then maybe I would’ve gone in with different expectations but I’m not in the mood for lit fic coming of age right now, I wanted horror/thriller vibes. 

If you also want a satanic panic horror or thriller book, check out dark places by Gillian Flynn instead (also saw my best friends exorcism recommended but haven’t read it yet).

TW/CW: ableism, homophobia, slurs, bullying, child sexual assault

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Bullying, Sexual assault, Pedophilia, and Ableism

nickel_books's review

challenging dark emotional funny reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.75

This novel is not for the faint of heart. Thrash's adult debut chronicles the life of a New Hampshire teen whose whole family is caught up in the Satanic Panic, experiencing tragedy and trauma for the 20 years that follow the fateful night of her parents' arrest. Rainbow Black is a challenging read that produces a wide range of emotions - anger, frustration, horror, dismay, compassion, and a smidgen of hope. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Outing, Pedophilia, Rape, Transphobia, Animal death, Deadnaming, Gore, Animal cruelty, Infidelity, Lesbophobia, Child abuse, Gun violence, Homophobia, Addiction, Bullying, Child death, Drug use, Grief, Murder, Death, Sexual content, Adult/minor relationship, Blood, and Violence

lauravm's review

dark emotional tense medium-paced

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

4.0

Life has dealt young Lacey Bond a bleak hand. Bleak is not strong enough, let's call it torturous. Accused, abused, and utterly alone, Lacey faces a journey through unfathomable twists, and she can rely only on her own intelligence and an icy will to survive. 

“Rainbow Black”  touches every dark corner: pedophilia, bullying, addiction, murder, pack mentality, deceit, suicide, exploitation of the most vulnerable, homophobia, and crimes of every degree. I probably left something out. Somehow, Thrash finds beauty in the morass, bringing it all together in a strangely satisfying way without relying on neatly tied ends or miraculous resolutions. 

The “couldn't put it down” factor in this one is strong.

Thrash’s character development in “Rainbow Black” is fascinating; none of these people are going to be who readers want them to be, protagonist and villains alike (and hardly anyone in fits neatly into either category). While the story involves much evil and harm, love also exists in all its complicated glory. Without revealing any spoilers, it's both ironic and triumphant to say that Lacey stays true to her identity as an independent, queer, headstrong survivor.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Pedophilia, Adult/minor relationship, and Suicide attempt

hannabee's review

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad 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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual violence, Murder, Violence, Child abuse, Pedophilia, Rape, and Sexual assault

Moderate: Outing, Homophobia, Gun violence, Lesbophobia, Suicide, and Deadnaming

Minor: Addiction, Drug use, and Drug abuse