Reviews tagging 'Gaslighting'

Caraval by Stephanie Garber

74 reviews

booknerdcoco's review against another edition

adventurous hopeful lighthearted mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

Overall, I really enjoyed this boom. I loved the Carnival/magic theme. And found it refreshing.

I found the mysterious element intriguing, and it made me want to continue reading whenever I had a free moment.

Though it is far from a typical fairytale due to the themes, I was drawn to the innocence of the FMC.

My only downside: I felt like the ending dragged out a little. But this certainly won't deter me from reading the rest of the trilogy.

Plot: 5/5
Spice: 0/5
Book boyfriend: 3/5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Gaslighting

Moderate: Child abuse, Death, Kidnapping, and Violence

naluminum's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious tense fast-paced

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

3.25

Garber uses rich descriptions and imagery in this novel. I was always on the edge of my seat because the MC was thrown into an unexpected quest in Caraval that was mentally challenging and tested her wits, bravery, trust, and love for her sister (who was the one who dragged her out to compete in Caravel in the first place). TBH, the female MC was annoyingly stubborn in her thinking and refused to accept guidance from those who tried to help her, but she came through stronger than expected.  The plot twists were unexpected which I liked, but I didn’t love any of the characters though I enjoyed the mystery aspect. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Suicide attempt, Child abuse, and Suicide

Moderate: Blood, Adult/minor relationship, and Gaslighting

Minor: Emotional abuse and Sexual harassment

amelia_horseman's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious 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

4.75

---

Content Warnings

Minor: Death, Physical abuse, Gaslighting, Violence, Grief, Blood, Suicide, and Injury/Injury detail

imaggienary's review against another edition

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

3.0

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Death, Gaslighting, and Child abuse

sweetchocolatez's review against another edition

adventurous emotional 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? It's complicated

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Murder, Physical abuse, Death, Grief, Emotional abuse, Injury/Injury detail, and Blood

Moderate: Gore, Gaslighting, Kidnapping, and Suicide

Minor: Pregnancy, Alcohol, and Panic attacks/disorders

lindsayflor_95's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious 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

3.5

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Physical abuse, Domestic abuse, Gaslighting, and Murder

Minor: Suicide

shadikb's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

It was good but Scarlett annoyed me, and her seeing emotions in colour, was very confusing as well as annoying too... but a very enjoyable story overall.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Emotional abuse, Stalking, Murder, Kidnapping, Suicide, Death, Self harm, Grief, Violence, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Gaslighting and Abandonment

cas_reads_anything's review against another edition

mysterious 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

2.75

This felt like if a CW teen show had one fever dream of a season and then ended with a happy ended & minimal character growth.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence and Suicide

Moderate: Blood

Minor: Abandonment, Torture, Gaslighting, Kidnapping, and Sexual violence

mysterybindsme's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

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

2.0

- Definitely intended for a younger reader (probably about 13-15)
- Main character is incredibly naive and has like two personality traits: protecting her sister, and having trust issues. Oh and the third trait of being incredibly quick to trust things she hears despite trust issues
- Becomes way more interesting about 2/3s in (which at that point is a bit late really)
- Far too many plot twists. Like I'm not kidding, past the half way mark the entire situation changes context about five times
- The ending ruined the entire thing. All the stakes were gone and it made me absolutely hate most of the characters (aside from Aiko who was genuinely helpful but there for like five seconds and Scarlett who was just a normal girl in an awful situation)
- Yes I'm planning on reading the next two books (unless the second one's worse). No I would not recommend
- The prose is beautiful tho

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Child abuse, Physical abuse, Domestic abuse, and Gaslighting

Minor: Murder, Kidnapping, Sexual assault, and Suicide

halierivers's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.0

I was so excited for this! And I did enjoy it but also what the actual f*** was that ending? It almost makes me not want to read the next two. 

It had so many cool elements but the freaking colors as emotions got repetitive SO fast. I also think this would be better a horror fantasy novel. Not a romantasy. Felt like A LOT was left unaddressed by the author. 

I would be TRAUMATIZED if I was fully convinced my sister and crush died bc of me and we’re just skipping over how much that would fuck someone up???

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Murder, Physical abuse, and Domestic abuse