Reviews tagging 'Toxic relationship'

Down Among the Sticks and Bones by Seanan McGuire

27 reviews

ju_harue's review against another edition

dark sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• 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

2.5

Foi interessante ver como ocorreu a história das gêmeas no outro mundo. Porém a escrita mais rebuscada, com requintes sombrios, me fez desfocar um pouco, tornando-a mais longa do que de fato é. No entanto, há ótimas reflexões sobre as imposições que muitas vezes os genitores podem vir a fazer na vida de crianças e como isso impacta e muito, repercutindo para sempre.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Murder, and Abandonment

Moderate: Body shaming and Fatphobia

pacifickat's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious sad fast-paced

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

4.5

*review to follow*

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Death, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Mental illness, Toxic relationship, Blood, Grief, and Murder

Moderate: Misogyny, Sexism, Slavery, Lesbophobia, Abandonment, and Classism

Minor: Bullying and Child death

Child neglect, narcissism

proudtobeabookaholic's review

adventurous dark sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

"Some adventures begin easily. It is not HARD, after all, to be sucked up by a tornado or pushed through a particularly porous mirror; there is no skill involved in being swept away by a great wave or pulled down a rabbit hole. Some adventures require nothing more than a willing heart and the ability to trip over the cracks in the world."

Twin sisters Jack and Jill ended up at Eleanor West's Home for Wayward Children when they were 17 years old, but what happened before that? Their parents shaped them after their own ideals and never saw them as actual people. Jacqueline became her mother's perfect daughter: polite and quiet, always in beautiful dresses she's not allowed to get dirty. Jillian became her father’s perfect daughter: adventurous and brave, always playing with boys. Identical in appearance, total opposites in personality. When the girls were twelve they found a staircase at the bottom of a trunk...

We got to know Jack and Jill in the first book, "Every Heart a Doorway", and here we get their whole story, both their (rather tragic) childhood and their adventure in another world. I now understand them better, but I would have liked to read their parts in the first book again! It also gave me a better understanding about what’s behind those doors everybody seems to want to find again. The girl's upbringing almost made me shiver - and see that there are different forms of child abuse. 

"Like bonsai being trained into shape by an assidious gardener, they were growing into the geometry of the parents' desires, and it was pushing them further and further away from each other. One day, perhaps, one of them would reach across the gulf and find that there was no one there."

It's really sad that the sisters' animosity towards each other follow them through the door to The Moors, even though in a slightly different way than expected. Now I'm curious to see what the next book has to offer!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Emotional abuse, Toxic relationship, Blood, and Abandonment

lipstickitotheman's review against another edition

adventurous dark fast-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Confinement, Death, Mental illness, Toxic relationship, Blood, Grief, and Classism

Moderate: Child death, Fatphobia, Homophobia, and Lesbophobia

maeverose's review against another edition

3.25

I wanted more from the gothic setting and the vampire and mad scientist characters. I wanted more atmosphere and worldbuilding. Ofc it’s a novella but not a lot happens in it. It focuses too much on their childhood before they find their door, and once they get there it felt like it sped through and summarized so much of what happened. There were even parts where the author said ‘This part would be dull/unnecessary to explain so let’s just fast forward’. It felt like she couldn’t really think of where to take the story up until the end we already learned about in the first book. My rating is mostly for the concepts and the pretty writing. We also learned a bit more about how the doors work,

and I’d really like to know how Dr Bleak figured out how to conjure them.

The setting was cool but we didn’t get to see enough of it. I’m hoping we do in the other book from this world.

I read the first book so I knew how it would end, but I didn’t like how they got there. I hate the message of ‘family is family and somewhere deep down you love them no matter what unforgivably horrible things they’ve done to you’, and this kinda had that. It made no sense to me how Jack could have any love for her sister after what she did, especially considering she never got along with her to begin with. The author tried to explain why Jack did it, but I didn’t feel like she really succeeded at that. It seemed like it was only written that way for the plot to go in a certain direction. Also because their abusive parents are never redeemed, it almost felt hypocritical.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Ableism, Child abuse, Misogyny, Toxic relationship, Blood, Kidnapping, Pregnancy, and Classism

Minor: Sexual content, Vomit, and Lesbophobia

Toxic masculinity, depictions of germaphobia ocd, a situation similar to grooming

lola77's review

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

4.0

Whimsical yet dark

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gore, Misogyny, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, and Murder

daffodilcherry's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional 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? Yes

5.0

Absolutely loved this installment of the Wayward Children series! I loved immersing myself into the moors, the tragedy of Jack and Jill. It really further developed my favourite characters from the first book which I definitely enjoyed. 
Wheelhouse items: Gothic setting, vampires, mad scientists, traveling to different worlds, worldbuilding, nature vs nurture, narrative parallels, dysfunctional relationships.
CW explanations:

Jill is a bit homophobic/weirdly jealous of Jack and her girlfriend, which ends in a murder. Jill is also disparaging about the girlfriend's size, but the narrative isn't.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Fatphobia, Homophobia, Toxic relationship, and Blood

cady_sass's review

adventurous challenging 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

5.0

WOW this blew my mind! It’s the second book and it’s so short that I literally can’t say anything without risking spoilers. Jac & Jill were mesmerizing in the first book so I’m so glad that’s the story we followed here. Absolutely captivating, give me more. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Bullying, Death, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Murder, and Abandonment

gayledayle's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective slow-paced

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

4.0

As an identical twin, there are several passages, especially in the first quarter, that made me nearly cry with a sense of recognition. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse

Moderate: Animal death, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Toxic relationship, Blood, Medical content, and Murder

75% of the book is spent in a world that is described as belonging in a classic horror movie, so while none of the 'moderate' warnings are main focuses, they are pervasive throughout the background. The emotional abuse is primarily in the first quarter, and is a main focus.

svjak's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Child death, Confinement, Death, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Cannibalism, Murder, Gaslighting, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail