Reviews tagging 'Confinement'

Within These Wicked Walls by Lauren Blackwood

5 reviews

notapenguin's review

dark emotional mysterious 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? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Emotional abuse, and Confinement

Moderate: Death, Racism, Slavery, and Child abuse

Minor: Body horror, Blood, Death of parent, and Abandonment

toffishay's review

dark funny mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.25

I loved the romance! Love Andromeda and love Magnus! Which is great because their romance is the biggest chunk of the plot, even more than the fantasy so if you don't buy into that then the rest of the book doesn't work. The fantasy elements were fine to me, they kind of fit that zone of generic YA fantasy. I like the haunted house aspect, which is a more interesting kind of story to me than other YA stories that would be more adventure based. It makes the story lean more Gothic, which makes sense because this is a Jane Eyre inspired story. The pacing is annoying and honestly, I didn't really care about the fantasy parts like all the fighting. I predicted some of the end, but that may be a reality of a retelling as well. The relationship between Jember and Andromeda was interesting too and <SPOILER> I liked that there were no easy answers with that one. <END SPOILER> The horror elements are well-done though, like I was really creeped out. Overall, a nice YA story that I could actually revisit again because I loved the romance!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Death of parent, Blood, Gore, Violence, Death, and Emotional abuse

Moderate: Physical abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Child abuse, Confinement, Suicidal thoughts, and Body horror

Minor: Sexism, Racism, Trafficking, Infidelity, Gun violence, Misogyny, Religious bigotry, Murder, Sexual violence, Kidnapping, and Fire/Fire injury

madamenovelist's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad 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? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Body horror, Death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Sexism, Violence, Murder, Mental illness, Fire/Fire injury, Emotional abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Alcoholism, Alcohol, Addiction, Abandonment, Blood, Gore, Grief, and Confinement

Minor: Trafficking

There is a brief mention of a child being rescued from sex trafficking. The emotional/physical abuse, blood, gore, and violence are all very graphic. Not for the sensitive.

emily_mh's review against another edition

dark medium-paced

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

3.5

I started off LOVING this Jane Eyre retelling. I thought that Blackwood did such a good job at creating Rochester’s desperation in Magnus and the dialogue between Andromeda and Magnus felt as dramatic and devoted as it did in the original. The setting was also really intriguing. However, I liked the book less and less as time went on. There was a lack of context historically and geographically which made it difficult for me to place the book. The romance became the sole focus to the detriment of the more interesting cleansing-the-household plotline. And also the drama in that romance was SO contrived; at some points I didn’t even know what they were disagreeing about. Most importantly, I don’t think it worked well as a Jane Eyre retelling. There was a lack of atmosphere, and also none of the themes of coming-of-age/character development that really makes Jane Eyre stand out to me. Also, the romance in the original is an important part, but not the ONLY part, which is kind of how it ends up in this book. Moreover, I don’t think the toxic relationship between Andromeda and her mentor is given the gravity that it deserved. I also thought that the whole concept of disabilities coming from the attraction of the Evil Eye was super problematic. 

I would by no means say this was bad, it just didn’t live up to the expectations it set and instead presented an average, slightly gothic instalove romance. As a side note, I did listen to the audiobook and thought it was okay. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Death, Murder, and Death of parent

Moderate: Violence, Body horror, Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, and Ableism

Minor: Sexual harassment, Abandonment, Confinement, Suicidal thoughts, Colonisation, Gun violence, Racism, Drug use, Mental illness, Slavery, War, Excrement, Rape, Pedophilia, and Suicide

Menstruation, drowning, chronic pain

kayladaila's review

dark mysterious tense slow-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent and Death

Moderate: Abandonment, Animal cruelty, Blood, Child abuse, Gore, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, and Violence

Minor: Body horror, Colonisation, Confinement, Fire/Fire injury, Racism, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, and Trafficking