Reviews tagging 'Sexual violence'

The Shadow Cabinet by Juno Dawson

4 reviews

imds's review against another edition

• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Grief, Racism, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual violence, Physical abuse, War, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Violence, Xenophobia, Misogyny, Abandonment, Death, Blood, Body horror, Child abuse, Gore, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Murder, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Transphobia, and Death of parent

rabelais's review against another edition

3.0

the underlying premise of magic continues to be transmisogynistic. why? why is it necessary to require the entire existence of the world to be based on transmisogyny??? 🤬

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Hate crime, Abandonment, Cultural appropriation, Grief, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Ableism, Child abuse, Classism, Colonisation, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Gaslighting, Gore, Misogyny, Racism, Homophobia, Panic attacks/disorders, Kidnapping, Outing, Suicidal thoughts, Transphobia, and Violence

foxwish's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious medium-paced

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

2.0

This was definitely a step down from book 1 for me, I was disappointed. I hoped Ciara would make for a compelling POV read, but I preferred Niamh and missed the found family vibes of Elle, Holly, Niamh, Theo and Luke from the first book.

We get Theo, Chinara and Luke POVs here. I liked Theo's a lot, but found Luke's so boring that I started skipping his POVs when they came up (except for the very last one).

You can really feel the loss of the characters who died in the last book. I found it difficult to care about the characters or the plotlines, Ciara's one was okay, but Leonie's was boring, Theo's was just to set up the cliffhanger and Elle's was for shock value.

Hale took a dive from a potentially interesting villain in book 1 to a generic evil-doer that is hard to take seriously in this book.

I do think my main issue is Ciara. I don't know what to make of her. She has a lot going on mentally, yet I feel like she lacks depth and she isn't compelling to read. Also she

rapes Luke multiple times (he thinks she is Niamh) and that is treated as okay within the narrative.

I disliked her immensely and hated how Dawson seemingly wants the reader to root for her despite all the reprehensible things she does. 

I felt like I had a good grasp on how the magic works in book 1, but there were points where I was incredibly confused by it in this book.

I've completely lost interest in this series and will not be reading the third book when it comes out.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Murder, Infidelity, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual violence, and Sexual assault

Moderate: Kidnapping, Cursing, and Sexual content

Minor: Transphobia

meliemelo's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny mysterious 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

An excellent sequel! The new points of views (especially

Ciara's, but also Luke's

) really open up the story in sometimes hilarious, although dark, ways. The storyline works really well on its own and brings up very, very interesting developments to the overall arc. Will the references read as dated in a few decades (and perhaps much sooner)? Yes, probably, but that's ok.

I don't know when the (I assume) final book will be out, but I really can't wait for it!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Death, Animal death, Addiction, Sexism, Kidnapping, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Racism, Misogyny, Sexual content, Infidelity, Gore, and Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Dysphoria, Child abuse, Transphobia, and Alcohol

Minor: Torture