Reviews tagging 'Death of parent'

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

22 reviews

dtierra's review

adventurous emotional sad medium-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Death, Gun violence, Violence, Blood, Torture, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Child death, Child abuse, War, Trafficking, and Grief

Minor: Colonisation, Confinement, Death of parent, Classism, and Drug use

There are parts of this book I loved but overall I was disappointed by how little time the main characters had together. Most of the book is spent with them apart and it is painfully slow moving. The pace of the book feels all over the place, parts of it move quite fast and other parts move painstakingly slowly. There are some really beautiful lines on the central romance but I wish there was more. I am extremely disappointed by

the bury your gays trope present in the book, while there is a somewhat happy ending, it felt unnecessary to the plot. The ending of the book, the very last chapter was also a bit unnecessary and confusing to me. It definitely could have been wrapped up better

. The world building was great, I just think Pt 2 of the book could be drastically shortened and I would have loved for Pt 3 to have been given 50-100 more pages!

kaytrain's review against another edition

adventurous inspiring 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Abandonment, Addiction, Alcoholism, Death of parent, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Colonisation, Cultural appropriation, Physical abuse, Slavery, Misogyny, and Sexual assault

claudiamacpherson's review against another edition

adventurous hopeful 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Blood, Colonisation, Classism, Death, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gore, Grief, Gun violence, Homophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Lesbophobia, Medical content, Misogyny, Abandonment, Addiction, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Murder, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Trafficking, Violence, Vomit, War, and Xenophobia

Minor: Child death

foreverinastory's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional 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

4.0

Oh my god, this was soooo fun! So glad I finally read it.

Rep: Japanese inspired cast. Dark skinned genderfluid queer MC, sapphic cis female MC, dark skinned male side character, nonbinary side character, indigenous cishet male side character.

CWs: Torture (water boarding), violence, blood, death, murder, slavery, alcoholism, alcohol consumption, trafficking (slaves), colonisation, gun violence, physical abuse, grief, addiction, gore, rape, injury/injury detail, misogyny, sexism, sexual assault, child death, confinement, xenophobia, general queerphobia/queermisia, drug use, emotional abuse, sexual harassment, animal cruelty (mermaids), drug abuse, child abuse, racism. Moderate: vomit, genocide recounted, pedophilia, kidnapping, death of parent, lesbophobia/lesbomisia, classism, gaslighting, war. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Trafficking, Colonisation, Emotional abuse, Drug use, Animal cruelty, Racism, Violence, Gun violence, Child abuse, Misogyny, Sexual harassment, Confinement, Murder, Physical abuse, Sexism, Torture, Blood, Child death, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Grief, Addiction, Gore, Death, Slavery, Drug abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Xenophobia, Rape, and Sexual assault

Moderate: Kidnapping, Lesbophobia, Vomit, Genocide, Classism, Pedophilia, Gaslighting, War, and Death of parent

miabellawymer's review against another edition

adventurous emotional reflective 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

4.5

loved it. I cried at the end.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Addiction, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Blood, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Rape, Sexism, Grief, and Murder

maggie_daydreaming's review

adventurous emotional reflective medium-paced

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

4.0

This was a lovely book.

I did feel like it was trying to be deeper and more lyrical than it was, especially toward the beginning. The concept felt like it could have been written in a similar style to Black Sun, with beautiful worldbuilding and descriptions and breathtaking writing, but it didn't quite get to that point. But that's okay- this author simply has a different style, and I don't mean to complain about her style not being someone else's.

A more fair complaint- the world at the beginning felt a little flat and dry, kind of like a middle grades novel where it doesn't go super in-depth, though maybe it was just me having a hard time getting into it. It did pick up as the book went on.

But okay! The plot of this book! Was so good! Mermaids and witches and pirates and magic and imperialism and love, with twists and turns, always enthralling... it was fantastic.

And the characters and their relationships and the rep in this book <3

Highly recommend if you like pirates, mermaids, and/or queer relationships. If that's not your jam, this probably isn't the book for you.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Colonisation, Torture, Death, and Murder

Moderate: Slavery, Alcohol, and Blood

Minor: Fire/Fire injury and Death of parent

panthalassa's review

adventurous emotional hopeful 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: Blood, Kidnapping, Slavery, Trafficking, Alcoholism, Colonisation, Confinement, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Homophobia, Misogyny, Torture, and Violence

Moderate: Child death, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual violence, Abandonment, Classism, Grief, and Sexual assault

Minor: Sexual content

sssssoup's review

adventurous dark emotional hopeful reflective 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: Alcohol, Blood, Bullying, Colonisation, Death, Death of parent, Grief, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Murder, Physical abuse, Sexism, Torture, and Violence

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Child death, Dysphoria, Gore, Homophobia, Kidnapping, Lesbophobia, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Transphobia, and Vomit

Minor: Abandonment, Medical content, Religious bigotry, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Trafficking, and War

matheo's review

adventurous dark emotional

• 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Blood, Body horror, Child death, Colonisation, Death, Drug use, Genocide, Gore, Grief, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Murder, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Torture, Violence, War, and Trafficking

Moderate: Death of parent, Vomit, and Pedophilia

bagel_z's review

adventurous emotional hopeful inspiring lighthearted mysterious tense medium-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? No

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Kidnapping, Violence, and Slavery

Moderate: Alcohol and Death of parent

Minor: Sexual assault