Reviews tagging 'Sexual violence'

Girls of Storm and Shadow by Natasha Ngan

28 reviews

lqvekanej's review against another edition

dark emotional tense 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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Sexual violence, War, Violence, and Murder

vampire_burrito's review against another edition

slow-paced

2.5

edit: gonna re-read this, because I think I was too harsh on the first time round. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Violence, and Alcoholism

Moderate: Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, and Sexual violence

Minor: Sexual content

hazychapters's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious reflective 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

5.0

this sequel was even better than the first book! too many plot twists though, i’m not feeling well right now 🥲


Representation:
Asian inspired cast and setting; sapphic romance; lesbian main and side characters; gay side characters

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Alcoholism, Death, Gore, Torture, Violence, Murder, Self harm, Sexual violence, and War

Minor: Animal death

raaafael's review against another edition

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence

Moderate: Sexual assault, Sexual violence, and Alcoholism

Minor: Self harm

ryann_400's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional 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? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Kidnapping, Misogyny, Murder, Police brutality, Racism, Rape, Sexual content, Medical trauma, Outing, Physical abuse, Pedophilia, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Blood, Gore, Hate crime, Lesbophobia, Mental illness, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Genocide, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Emotional abuse, and Sexual harassment

foreverinastory's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional slow-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? Yes

3.0

Something about this story just has me at meh. I think I need to take a break from marathoning audios. I definitely feel tired. I will reread this book at some point because it's definitely good, right now I am not in the mood for it and it reflects in the 3 stars. I wanted to enjoy this more than book one, but it's about the same for me.

Rep: Asian coded cast, sapphic female MC with PTSD, lesbian coded female love interest with PTSD, lesbian coded female side character, side MLM couple.

CWs: Death, violence, blood, self harm, sexual assault, sexual violence, grief, war, gore, alcohol consumption, alcoholism, panic attacks, mental illness (PTSD), rape, suicide, murder, body horror, slavery, injury/injury detail, addiction. Moderate: Child abuse, child death, genocide, physical abuse, racism, consensual sexual content, suicidal thoughts, toxic relationship, vomit, trafficking, kidnapping, fire/fire injury, adult/minor relationship, misogyny, gaslighting. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Death, Violence, Blood, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Grief, War, Gore, Alcohol, Panic attacks/disorders, Mental illness, Rape, Suicide, Murder, Body horror, Slavery, Injury/Injury detail, and Addiction

Moderate: Vomit, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Child abuse, Child death, Genocide, Physical abuse, Racism, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Fire/Fire injury, Adult/minor relationship, Misogyny, and Gaslighting

angstifies's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense

• 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

my favorite book in the trilogy <3
the new introduced characters were fantastic and i was so glad this book was more “adventurous” than the previous one and after that ending i’m so exited to read the sequel!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Death, and Violence

Moderate: Alcoholism and Sexual assault

Minor: Rape, Sexual violence, War, and Sexual content

prettynerdy3's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad 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? It's complicated

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Death, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Violence, War, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Physical abuse, Self harm, and Suicidal thoughts

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Genocide, Gore, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, and Vomit

queer_bookwyrm's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful mysterious tense slow-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? No

5.0

 5 ⭐ CW (provided by author): violence, self-harm, references to sexual abuse and trauma recovery; CW (by me): descriptions of blood and gore, descriptions of corpses

"Fear is good. It means you care. And caring is its own kind of magic."

Girls of Storm and Shadow by Natasha Ngan is the second book in the Girls of Paper and Fire trilogy. I loved this book just as much as the first one if not more! This book made me laugh and also destroyed my heart. It has been a while since a book made me cry, so it was time.

We pick up with Lei, Wren, and the gang after their escape from the Moon Ball. They are on a mission for the Hannos to get each of the Moon clans to ally with them against the King to take down the court. Shenanigans, adventure, and heartache ensue.

I loved the characters so much in this novel! They were fully realized people/demons with hopes, dreams, fears, and flaws. Bo and Nitta we're hilarious and had me laughing out loud, which was much needed for the seriousness of the material. Bo has my whole heart. He is my sweet boy kitty and no one can change my mind.

We see Lei struggling through her trauma recovery and Wren trying to pretend hers doesn't exist. We get some conflict between Wren and Lei this time, and it has definitely changed the way I see them (and not for the better). Wren has a "by any means necessary" attitude that is problematic.

This book broke me. I seriously cried for a good five minutes. As always Ngan does a great job of depicted trauma and trauma recovery. She's great at writing complex characters, so there isn't really solid 'bad' or 'good', except for the king. He all bad. I'm just glad the next book comes out next month, so I can't wait to see how Ngan rips my heart out in that one! 😂 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Self harm, and Sexual violence

Moderate: Blood

greeneggsandsam's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

5.0

"Take that fire of yours and don't let anyone put it out." 
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Girls of Storm and Shadow is the sequel to Girls of Paper and Fire. The series follows a human girl, Lei, who is taken from her home to become a Paper Girl to serve the Demon King. At Paper Court, Lei learns of a plot to take on the King's rule and end his destructive reign, especially against the Paper caste.
This was a reread for me, in preparation to finally read the third and final book in the series. The character development isn't the norm, but that makes this all the more unique and worth investing in. The characters make awful choices sometimes, and we watch them go through this war accumulating even more rage and grief and guilt than they started with. The tension in the story is almost palpable, it kept me hooked.
Definitely check the trigger warnings for this series before going in (some to mention: sexual assault, violence/blood/battle scenes, self harm, mentions of sexual activity though not super descriptive).

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Blood, and Sexual violence

Moderate: Self harm