Reviews tagging 'Kidnapping'

Carry On by Rainbow Rowell

64 reviews

mirandyli's review against another edition

adventurous funny lighthearted medium-paced

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

4.0

A cute, lighthearted, quick read that is very similar to Harry Potter, if Harry Potter was a chaotic bisexual who gets with a Draco Malfoy-esque vampire. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fire/Fire injury, Suicidal thoughts, Grief, Abandonment, Blood, Animal death, Death, Murder, Pregnancy, Death of parent, Toxic friendship, Kidnapping, and Suicide attempt

eenicem's review against another edition

adventurous funny 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? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent

Moderate: Classism, Confinement, Death, Grief, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Blood, Animal death, Fire/Fire injury, Homophobia, and Kidnapping

Minor: Bullying and War

katievallin's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny hopeful mysterious reflective sad 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

4.5

So good! Normally I find multi POVs to be a bit tiring, but I liked the pacing and short sections in this book. I liked the characters and romance and friendships.

It felt a bit like Harry Potter, but like if Harry and Draco got together.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Animal death, Blood, Suicide attempt, Violence, Death, Death of parent, and Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Car accident, Child abuse, Gore, Grief, Kidnapping, and Pregnancy

Minor: Classism, Cursing, and Homophobia

amy_in_the_city's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny 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

5.0

I loved this book so much! And the audiobook had the best narration I've ever heard! The narrator did an amazing job making every character sound completely distinct. I'm glad they kept this narrator for the rest of the series!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Kidnapping, Murder, Suicidal thoughts, Blood, Death, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Bullying, Grief, and Violence

Minor: Injury/Injury detail

rafacolog's review against another edition

challenging emotional funny lighthearted medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Kidnapping, and Violence

abelh's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious tense fast-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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Body shaming, Cursing, and Child abuse

Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Violence, War, Kidnapping, Medical content, and Fire/Fire injury

reinik's review against another edition

adventurous emotional lighthearted 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? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fire/Fire injury, Kidnapping, Death, Blood, and Death of parent

Moderate: Cursing and Animal death

Minor: Homophobia, Bullying, Suicide, Emotional abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Body horror, Mental illness, and Confinement

justinareads's review against another edition

adventurous funny lighthearted 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Grief, Death, and Kidnapping

bree_h_reads's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious slow-paced

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

2.75

The only thing stopping me from really liking this book is that one of the main characters is an unapologetic bigot and this is never addressed or treated with the seriousness it should be. 

SO, on to my more in-depth thoughts on the book. I thought the beginning was fairly strong. I really liked Simon’s POV and while the world-building could be a bit of an info dump, I didn’t fully mind it and thought Simon’s inner monologue made it rather funny. I thought Simon’s break from the traditional chosen one of selflessness and martyrdom was a nice change, I like that he wanted to be selfish and have his own life. I liked the women characters in the book for the most part, but it didn’t feel like the book could quite decide if being fem was a good thing or something to be shamed. The relationships felt realistic and I enjoyed getting into their dynamics. As for our other leading man, Baz, I thought his POV was hilarious. He’s so wildly dramatic is was fun to listen to. He’s funny and sarcastic, but more aware of his feelings and (mostly) how to handle them as opposed to Simon, which was a nice change. I thought the foreshadowing of the book was extremely well done and none of the twist were particularly dissatisfying and I thought every one made sense.

While the world building isn’t really something you can look at too hard, I don’t mind it, especially when it lends to interesting dynamics between characters and (sometimes) nuances in their world views and the conflicts happening. It made me wish the nuance could be carried into more things and when it wasn’t it fell short. A handful of things in the book were presented as shades of grey, but others were stark black and white with no variation in between and that felt like a bit of a let down.

Finally, there were a handful of more problematic things that made me dislike the book and kinda cemented for me that I wouldn’t be continuing the series, which is disappointing because I think the books have a lot of potential. To start with, Baz and his family are horribly bigoted and this is never addressed. It’s mentioned a few times, but this never gives Simon pause in making out with Baz nor does he bring it up as a sort of “hey this is a really shitty way of thinking and I want to see it change because I’m not going to date a bigot.” It’s largely swept under the rug by the end of the book unless Baz wants to angst about being a vampire. Furthermore on the topic of Simon and Baz’s relationship, I hated the way Simon’s sexuality was treated. Every character seems to drive home he HAS to either be straight or gay as if sexuality isn’t a spectrum and there aren’t other sexualities out there that he could be. As someone who themself is queer and is attracted to multiple genders, it was upsetting to read about these characters ignoring that and insisting Simon must be one or the other. Finally, there’s the book’s inconsistent treatment of femininity. It was strange to me the only opening feminine character was often depicted as a mean girl who did very little to help or care for her friends and it was never clear if Penny’s blatantly misogynistic views on felinity and women who want to be feminine were being supported by the author. Perhaps some of these are remedied in the later books, but they just left a sour taste in my mouth for the first one and have deterred me from continuing the series.

Overall, I think the book was just okay, but was held back by a handful of iffy writing decisions and the seeming pushing of some questionable views.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide attempt, Murder, Pregnancy, Injury/Injury detail, Confinement, Racism, Biphobia, Suicidal thoughts, and Death of parent

Moderate: Kidnapping

letiross's review against another edition

adventurous funny lighthearted 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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Kidnapping, and Death of parent

Moderate: Animal death, Blood, and Violence

Minor: Suicidal thoughts and Homophobia