Reviews tagging 'Domestic abuse'

Fairest by Marissa Meyer

8 reviews

bean_7088's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense slow-paced

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

4.0

Whoops what a doozy! Murderous queen backstory makes her worse!

Like, part of it is sad, like spoiled kids growing up sheltered in the nasty circles they do makes for horrible people and children.. but she had chances to be a better person. 

I still loved the writing 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Adult/minor relationship, Child death, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Murder, Rape, Death, Gaslighting, and Toxic relationship

Basically the evil queen has been abused and then she abuses, manipulates, forces her husband into sleeping with her.

daniellecheri's review against another edition

sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

I give this book five stars because of the writing. I didn't feel any sympathy for Levana. It made my skin crawl. And I call that excellent writing.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Toxic relationship, Child abuse, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Murder, Bullying, and Child death

marenm's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective tense 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

2.25

it was interesting to see more about levanas background, but this book was very disturbing. while her actions fit her character and the evilness, it’s very reflective of right and wrong and the messiness of politics into a novella. the only reason it’s rated so low for me is that i couldn’t stand listening to levanas monologue and how terrible of a person she was. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Body horror, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Grief, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, Bullying, Child death, Torture, Dysphoria, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Child abuse, Classism, Gun violence, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Abandonment, Death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Infertility, Murder, Pregnancy, Stalking, and Violence

janaya's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional informative mysterious reflective tense fast-paced

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

4.0

I’m giving it 4 stars because, for the sake the series, I thought it was a well-done book. It gave us information we needed and we could really see the development of Levana from who she was to who she became. But I didn’t actually like it… it was kind of hard to read. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Toxic relationship, Emotional abuse, Grief, and Violence

Moderate: Infertility, Child abuse, Blood, Death, Death of parent, and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Gun violence and Murder

cammiem8's review against another edition

dark sad fast-paced

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

4.25

Meyer is finally leaning into some of the darker aspects of the universe she created with this prequel novella. I wish she had added to the world building here and actually explained what Lunars are, but as a horror story, it works. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fire/Fire injury, Adult/minor relationship, Emotional abuse, Child abuse, and Domestic abuse

Moderate: Rape and Sexual assault

Minor: Infertility

maria_pell's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Gore, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Rape, Stalking, Torture, Toxic relationship, and Violence

Moderate: Gun violence, Body shaming, Bullying, Sexual assault, and Sexual harassment

Minor: Confinement, Infertility, Infidelity, and Terminal illness

aidamaria_reads's review against another edition

dark sad tense medium-paced

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

3.0

Fairest (part of the Lunar Chronicles by Marissa Meyer) tells the story of lunar queen Levana. Honestly, if it had not been part of this series, I would not have wanted to pick up a book centred around such an appalling main character. Levana is severely damaged and grew up to become a madwoman, despite her trying to justify her actions with flawed logic. But anyone who has read any book of the series already knows that. It was nice catching a glimpse of Winter and Jacin’s backstory though, but overall this part doesn’t make it past three out of five stars for me.

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Content Warnings

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Body horror, Bullying, Body shaming, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Dysphoria, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Grief, Gun violence, Infertility, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Murder, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Stalking, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, and War

pageturning578's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad tense fast-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

Levana is seriously one twisted bitch.... 

This novella is the backstory of Queen Levana from the Lunar Chronicles series. She did not have an easy childhood as she was constantly bullied by her older sister and was ignored by her parents. She used a glamor (false identity) to manipulate a man who didn't love her into marrying her. 

She is abusive, condescending, manipulative, controlling and yet she cannot understand why people don't love her. Especially her staff and the people of Lunar. She takes everything she wants by force.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Toxic relationship, Murder, Emotional abuse, Death of parent, Bullying, and Abandonment