Reviews tagging 'Kidnapping'

The Mermaid, the Witch, and the Sea by Maggie Tokuda-Hall

41 reviews

salted07's review

adventurous challenging emotional inspiring slow-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

5.0

If I could rate this higher than five, I would. This book was a beautiful experience and I really recommend it. It explores themes such as gender and class differences. Tokuda wove a stunning story that everyone should read.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence

Moderate: Alcoholism, Murder, Misogyny, Dysphoria, Drug use, Trafficking, Torture, Colonisation, Child abuse, Toxic relationship, Confinement, Kidnapping, Injury/Injury detail, Gun violence, Grief, Alcohol, Blood, Classism, Addiction, Racism, Physical abuse, Cursing, Death of parent, and Domestic abuse

Minor: Torture

anjasshelf's review against another edition

adventurous 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Trafficking, Violence, Bullying, Child death, Torture, Vomit, Confinement, Murder, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Slavery, Alcoholism, Blood, Colonisation, Alcohol, Classism, Kidnapping, War, Death, and Grief

Moderate: Rape

embee007's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful medium-paced

• Strong character development? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.5

I picked this up after multiple people recommended it as a cozy fantasy...I would really like to have a word with them. Queer Fantasy =/= Cozy Fantasy. Happy Endings do not mean Cozy Fantasy. This book contains slavery, gore, depictions of torture...It is not a light & fluffy read. It is most similar to a YA version of Season 2 of Our Flag Means Death - dark, but not that dark.

I feel like there was a bit of a lull towards the end? Or the action was weird? Or maybe that was just me. (first full book I read with Covid) But the ending mostly made up for it. I'm definitely interested in reading book 2, at some point this year.

"There’s freedom in stories, you know. We read them and we become something else. We imagine different lives, and while we turn the pages, we get to live them. To escape the lot we’ve been given.”

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug use, Child abuse, Bullying, Colonisation, Alcohol, Slavery, Alcoholism, Classism, Torture, Confinement, Drug abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Gore, Murder, Gun violence, Kidnapping, Rape, Trafficking, Violence, Vomit, and War

scrubsandbooks's review against another edition

adventurous emotional 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

3.5

The romance in this one was captivating, and I enjoyed reading it but I think that was mostly what I enjoyed about this book. I mean, you're giving me queer pirates!!

The world-building left me a bit confused especially when it came to the magic system. I feel like a lot of it was just glossed over and there could have been an extra chapter or two invested in explaining or showing more of it. But I believe there's either a sequel or companion novel to this story in the works and I would definitely recommend this book and will give the next one a read for sure.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Kidnapping, Slavery, Torture, and Violence

Moderate: Confinement and Sexual assault

decembera's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark tense fast-paced

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

2.0

It is... certainly a choice to make your Black lead an enslaver.

Mind the content warnings. This was significantly more graphic than I expected from a YA book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Vomit, Blood, Child abuse, Trafficking, Physical abuse, Torture, Classism, Confinement, Injury/Injury detail, Gun violence, Child death, Colonisation, Death, Emotional abuse, Xenophobia, Gore, Kidnapping, Murder, Slavery, and Violence

Moderate: Alcoholism, Addiction, Drug abuse, Lesbophobia, Homophobia, Sexual assault, Excrement, Rape, Outing, Abandonment, Drug use, Dysphoria, Sexual harassment, and Sexual violence

crykea's review

adventurous sad 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? It's complicated

3.0

i enjoyed the book and loved the characters but I was a bit put off by the way what alfie went through and how he coped was tossed aside for the furthering of the other characters' plot? he had, arguably, some of the worst most tragic demeaning things happen and the whole time he was called names and unmotivated just because he was obviously affected by them. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Body horror, Abandonment, Alcoholism, Rape, Child death, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Kidnapping, Bullying, and Death

xoemax's review

adventurous dark emotional mysterious reflective sad 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

4.25

I have seen a lot of mixed reviews for this book, but regardless I was still eager to read it as a lover of anything queer, fantasy and historical fiction. And I can say for me, this book was just what I needed. 

This book covers some amazing social topics, and in my opinion has some great LGBTQIA+ representation, intersectionality, and an exploration of gender diversity/fluidity. I appreciated the nuances and consideration with how Florian/Flora was written, with varying pronouns depending on context/viewpoint. I think it's important not to get caught up expecting characters to always have everything figured out from the start, especially when they themselves are coming to terms with and discovering their own identity. So for me this felt like a very wholesome, honest and positive exploration of how it feels to explore gender and sexuality as a young person.

The book is relatively fast paced, I will say. And from that I can see where the criticism of the story and characters feeling unresolved by the end comes from. I like to think I have an active imagination, so this I'm lucky wasn't too much of a deterrent for me. Part 2 of the book in particular with

Xenobia

felt underdeveloped, and I wished there was a more complex dive into the society of The Floating Islands, and the themes of practical witchcraft, memories, and storytelling tradition. As mentioned in the acknowledgments, the book was originally scripted during NaNoWriMo, which I feel might be where it inadvertently limited itself. The characters and storyline I feel could've benefited from more in-depth explorations to make the book feel more developed and less jumpy. 

Overall: an enjoyable and fun read, with the beginnings of some great world building, emotional, and featured themes I'd definitely like to read more of.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Classism, Violence, Torture, Colonisation, and Murder

Moderate: Sexual assault, Trafficking, Blood, Death, Alcoholism, Lesbophobia, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Addiction, Rape, Alcohol, and War

Minor: Confinement, Slavery, Kidnapping, Abandonment, Child death, Mass/school shootings, Gore, and Homophobia

ettegoom's review

adventurous hopeful fast-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? No

4.0

I liked the concept of how magic worked in this world, but ultimately felt that the section with witch and learning magic were a bit pointless. 

The witch was all about how  Flora had to unlock her power... like Flora had this huge important destiny, and then the only time she used it was to travel to the ship...

. It was interesting at the time, but really didn't need to be there? 
The author laid the whole: colonialism is bad, and gender diversity should be normal on pretty thickly. I still enjoyed it though, and found myself rooting for several of the characters. 
A nice book for teens.  

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Bullying, Child abuse, Colonisation, Death, Animal death, Addiction, Kidnapping, Trafficking, Classism, Alcoholism, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Murder, Physical abuse, and Animal cruelty

Minor: Rape

sundayfever's review

adventurous emotional inspiring sad medium-paced

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

5.0

Fantastic read, dark but with a bittersweet ending. Great plot twists along the way. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Torture, and Violence

Moderate: Abandonment, Kidnapping, and Rape

Minor: Homophobia

dealingwithdragons's review

adventurous dark emotional hopeful 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? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Classism, Body horror, Biphobia, Alcoholism, Trafficking, Xenophobia, Torture, Sexual harassment, Alcohol, Rape, Sexual violence, Drug use, Death of parent, Homophobia, Sexual assault, Vomit, War, Violence, Suicidal thoughts, Slavery, Sexism, Self harm, Physical abuse, Murder, Kidnapping, Injury/Injury detail, Gun violence, Drug abuse, Death, Cursing, Colonisation, Child death, Child abuse, Bullying, Blood, and Addiction