Reviews tagging 'Animal cruelty'

Juniper & Thorn by Ava Reid

101 reviews

poetsofsweetpea's review against another edition

dark medium-paced

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

3.0

Juniper and Thorn reminded me of a beautiful sweater I have.  It's gorgeous, warm, and looks good on me. But it's also itchy and uncomfortable and I'm always aware I'm wearing it. This story was beautifully told, but it was coarse and unpleasant.  I never lost myself in it.  The hypersexualization of every scenario was distracting and distasteful.   It's clear the sex scenes were not meant to be titillating so I question why the author didn't use a more closed-door approach.  The abuse and eating disorder plot points were too rampant and unnecessarily triggering.   The story was as grim as those of old.  The language and descriptions were precise. The characters were well-developed, even if some of their actions and motivations were questionable.  I didn't enjoy it, but others might.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Murder, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Vomit, Animal cruelty, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Animal death, Blood, Body shaming, Sexual assault, Body horror, Confinement, Child abuse, Sexism, Sexual content, Gaslighting, Self harm, Death of parent, and Toxic relationship

kangaroo1990's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious reflective medium-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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Cannibalism, Child abuse, Animal cruelty, Sexual violence, and Xenophobia

mad_is_rad's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Loveable characters? It's complicated

4.25

I went into this without knowing much about the book - just that there was a bad wizard with three rebellious witch daughters - and also no knowledge about the story of The Juniper Tree. I’m really glad for this, because I could not have predicted the direction of this book in a million years! It was creepy, dark, atmospheric, and truly like nothing I’ve read before. It reads like a very immersive, long-form Grimm’s fairytale. Perfect for October!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Death, Animal death, Emotional abuse, Murder, Body horror, Sexual assault, Animal cruelty, Death of parent, Eating disorder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Cannibalism

readravereview's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual harassment, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, Body horror, Gore, Sexual content, Child abuse, Death, Eating disorder, Sexual assault, and Vomit

ann99's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional tense fast-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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pedophilia, Eating disorder, Animal cruelty, Cannibalism, Child abuse, Sexual assault, Gore, Domestic abuse, Body horror, Antisemitism, and Toxic relationship

meat_muffin's review

challenging dark tense medium-paced

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

2.75

Listen, this book was… weird. And not my usual style at all! I’m glad I read it, enjoyed the writing style, but it wrapped up leaving me more confused than anything else and not filling in all of the plot holes. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic relationship, Xenophobia, Body horror, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Fatphobia, Blood, Bullying, Confinement, Death, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, Sexual violence, Murder, and Sexual assault

Moderate: Cannibalism, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Classism, Death of parent, Adult/minor relationship, Colonisation, Suicidal thoughts, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, and Vomit

Minor: Abortion, Addiction, and Alcohol

anntharai's review against another edition

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? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gaslighting, Self harm, Antisemitism, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Murder, Xenophobia, Vomit, Violence, Sexual content, Sexual assault, Blood, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Death, Sexism, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Cannibalism, Classism, Confinement, Eating disorder, and Medical trauma

coffeepotoo's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective 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

i've never fucking felt so goddamn seen by a characters (very mentally ill) thought process before. also wonderful usage of theming and prose and i read it all in one sitting and it was very excellent.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cannibalism, Incest, Sexual assault, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Pedophilia, Xenophobia, Violence, Vomit, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Sexism, Death, Body shaming, Animal death, Animal cruelty, Blood, and Body horror

Moderate: Antisemitism, Classism, Adult/minor relationship, and Torture

dixiecarroll's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-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? It's complicated

4.0

This is a highly disturbing classic fairytale retelling and you should not read it if you are easily triggered or grossed out. I loved it - it made me incredibly uncomfortable, but I like it when fairytales are a little awful. It lost a star because I felt like it was missing something - I can’t quite tell what that was yet, but it could be the intentional feeling of blackouts that our narrator felt as well - unsure. Anyway this is great!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Gun violence, Incest, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Medical trauma, Murder, Pedophilia, Sexual violence, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, Body horror, Cannibalism, Child abuse, Death, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Grief, Medical content, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Violence, and Vomit

ferngreen's review against another edition

adventurous dark hopeful sad tense medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Vomit, Animal death, Body horror, Pedophilia, Animal cruelty, Child abuse, and Death of parent

Moderate: Incest