Reviews with content warning for Sexual assault - The Mirror Season

Reviews tagging 'Sexual assault'

The Mirror Season by Anna-Marie McLemore

104 reviews

imds's review

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

2.0

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library_kb's review

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challenging emotional reflective sad 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

4.0

This is a hard book to read because it deals with such a difficult topic--sexual assault. However, the author handles the characters and events with such care and depth that this is an important book for so many to read. The clear portrayal of a male character dealing with the aftermath of SA is so important for so many teens to break away from the stereotype that only girls are SA'd, and the way that the characters struggle with knowing when and what is right to share not only for their own mental health but for each others' as well as their feelings of guilt are so clearly explored. Very powerful book--recommend to high schoolers and up.

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tfarfan's review

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challenging dark emotional funny inspiring reflective sad 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

4.75

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soijanugetti's review against another edition

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4.75

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thewildmageslibrary's review

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4.0

I had to take this one slower. It's my first by the author and won't be my last!

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undisciplinedbeing's review

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challenging emotional 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? Yes

4.75

The moon is in Capricorn; where all things emotional is being stired up. This book have offered me joy of being queer, but at the same time tore me open to the truth of being queer. It's funny for me to pick up this book for Libra season - for those seeking justice and unable to verbalise the help that they needed the most, I hope this book will inspire you find the courage when you can't speak your truth.

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sarithaann's review

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challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes

4.25

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cvt's review

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dark emotional sad medium-paced

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

3.5

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hamstringy's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional medium-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? It's complicated

5.0

I read this at work and had to go hide in the bathroom to cry about it. Ouch.
This was such an amazing story. It hurts so badly-it’s frighteningly true, and no matter how badly I wanted it never to have happened, I couldn’t make that reality possible, but there’s so much good in there as well.
This book is really peak catharsis, with a lot of really good family and culture woven in. I can tell that McLemore made this with so much care.

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princessgonchar's review

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challenging dark sad medium-paced

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

3.0

I think the reason that this didn't resonate with me as soundly as it did with everyone else is because I thought it was going to be a different story than it was. The synopsis suggests, at least to me, a fairly magical landscape. Not *fantasy* per se but just vaguely ~magical~. However, the story reads like a fairly standard (if well-written) YA novel with the teensiest bit of magic that honestly was probably mostly a metaphor and less of, like, real magic.

That's not to say that the book would have benefited from being more magical (whatever that means), but I do think the book would have benefited in my eyes from being marketed or described more accurately.

I think waiting to reveal that our protagonist was the one who sexually assaulted Lock was the wrong choice. Graciela makes it clear that she remembers that night moment by moment from the beginning. Keeping the information from the reader in some sort of "gotcha" dramatic irony moment feels ... weird? I suppose one could argue that it puts you in Lock's shoes and maybe that helps you justify either one of their reactions, but ultimately, I don't think readers should be treated the same as another character in the book, especially as we're experiencing everything with Graciela. I feel like if we knew that she was hiding this incredibly heavy secret from Lock, it would just make the rest of the story make a bit more sense.

Ultimately, I didn't dislike it. I thought it was solid. I just didn't love it.

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