Reviews tagging 'Toxic relationship'

Captive in the Underworld by Lianyu Tan

8 reviews

ezrazoe4's review against another edition

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

3.0

Maybe I'm just not cut out for romance. 

My main gripe with romance is how slow the pacing is, sometimes. This book dragged a lot until the middle, which almost made me stop reading. There is no substantial plot, but that is expected from a romance novel. I feel like the characters are underdeveloped- maybe because it's a retelling, but it feels like the character's personalities were barely explored. There could have been so much more to Hades' character. How misogyny affected her role and power was touched on, but not enough in my opinion. Misogyny is a big theme in this book, and we never get a reason why Hades is perfectly alright with contributing to the misogyny by literally kidnapping Persephone, despite her being, you know, a woman. We do get a single vulnerable moment of her, but at that point it was too little, too late. 

Again, maybe I'm just expecting the wrong things from dark romance. I've been going into these with the expectations of romance and emotional closeness and connection- except here these things are only physical. Maybe I need to keep looking. 

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thesapphiccelticbookworm's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark 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? It's complicated

3.75


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binevolentbookworm's review against another edition

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dn'd at 35%. the marriage bed scene made me incredibly uncomfortable and i had to check to see again if this book was in fact written by a man, because it felt so violently far fetched from any sapphic dark romance i've read before.

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ichijiku's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional 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? Yes

5.0

The best sapphic dark romance I’ve ever read!

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kenziebeck's review against another edition

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dark tense 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

one of the best, if not the best, retellings of the abduction and rape of persephone. well done, miss tan.

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martymjj's review against another edition

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It was disturbing. The writing was terrible but that is the least of this book's problems. There is a romaticization of rape, torure both physical and emotional. How can someone write this and get published is beyond me. I quit this book on the scene of the wedding night... It was a rape, plain and simple.
It was a bad read from the start but the more you read the worse it gets. The main character is abused by everyone in the book, her mother first and when she meets her captor/love intrest it only gets worse. It's a neverending spiral of violence.


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booksdogsandcoffee's review against another edition

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dark emotional 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

This is a dark lesbian retelling of hades and Persephone. The writing is fantastic, there is a content warning on the first page. Please read it before  reading the book. 

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zefrien's review against another edition

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

4.75


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