Reviews tagging 'Emotional abuse'

Girls of Paper and Fire by Natasha Ngan

60 reviews

not_asha01's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful inspiring 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? No

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Sexual content, and Sexual harassment

Moderate: Violence, Sexual violence, Physical abuse, and Emotional abuse

caoimhemchugh_'s review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious tense 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny, Murder, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, and Slavery

Moderate: Body horror, Death, Emotional abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Animal death, and Death of parent

Minor: War

moonchild_cos's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious sad 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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Slavery, Child abuse, Sexual harassment, Emotional abuse, Rape, Kidnapping, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Animal death, Classism, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, and Sexual violence

Moderate: Rape, Sexism, Alcohol, Blood, War, Murder, Trafficking, and Confinement

Minor: Drug use and Death of parent

louisaroselewis's review

adventurous 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? It's complicated

3.75

I did enjoy this book but I felt the book is world driven mostly. It depicts a gorgeous description of the world they live in and their culture. 

However, with this in mind, I feel the description is at some points a little too intricate, it doesn't neglect the story, but there are elements of it you forget because you are so focused on creating a picture of the world.

One important detail I found out was that the blurb doesn't match the story. It says "Ten years ago, her mother was snatched by the royal guards" yet it mentions multiple times in the book the event was "seven years ago".

Overall I enjoyed the book. I found the story interesting, the world intriguing, and the characters mysterious, and will continue with the series, especially since the book ends on a gripping cliffhanger.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Blood, Death, and Domestic abuse

Moderate: War, Death of parent, and Emotional abuse

poppywarphan's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark fast-paced

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

3.0

Characters: 5/10
Enjoyment: 6.5/10
Plot: 6/10
Worldbuilding: 5/10
Writing: 8/10

This might as well have been a standalone. But it's not because of that extra page at the end. Unfortunately, I don't think I'm invested enough to read any further installments.

The idea was good, the execution not so much. The worldbuilding wasn't really explored. The plot and writing were simplistic. That's not a bad thing, but on one hand it read as a book for younger teens, on the other hand though it discussed mature themes. There's rape. It's not graphic, but there nonetheless. If there's anything that triggers me in books, its sexual assault.  The girls are taken as mistresses and must have sex with the king against their will. Yes, they don't object, but it's either that or be killed.

The characters were underdeveloped. The king as a villain was just stupid. He's evil. OK, and? That's it? The paper girls were pretty indistinguishable. Aside from Aoki and Blue whose personality was being a bitch. The relationship between Lei and Wren didn't really have any foundation. It was pretty much just lusting and attraction.

Now, what I did like was what was done with Aoki's character. Not that I like what happened to her, but the book highlights how easy it is to fall victim to an abusive man. Aoki is the youngest out of the paper girls and naive. The king makes her feel special, so she starts having feelings for him. I like how it pointed out (although in a pretty juvenile way) that such a relationship is, in fact, not good (side-eyeing all the romance books that romanticize toxic relationships). Aoki is probably the most nuanced compared to the other two-dimensional characters.

Overall Girls of paper and fire wasn't a terrible book, just underwhelming. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Blood, Violence, Child abuse, Rape, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Sexual assault, Confinement, Sexual violence, and Body horror

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Grief, Misogyny, Trafficking, Injury/Injury detail, Lesbophobia, Racism, Kidnapping, Gaslighting, Racial slurs, Child abuse, Classism, Bullying, Death, and Genocide

mxstanton's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional 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? No

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, and Violence

Moderate: Sexual violence, Sexual harassment, Sexism, and Sexual assault

karapillar's review against another edition

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Sexual assault, Violence, Sexual violence, Sexism, Rape, Child abuse, Body shaming, Blood, Racism, Misogyny, Forced institutionalization, Fire/Fire injury, Body horror, Kidnapping, Emotional abuse, Domestic abuse, Murder, Torture, Stalking, Slavery, Lesbophobia, Infidelity, Homophobia, Sexual content, Grief, Physical abuse, Outing, Injury/Injury detail, Death, Gore, and Gaslighting

sofiacazares's review

adventurous dark sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated

3.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Genocide, Adult/minor relationship, Death, Emotional abuse, Kidnapping, Misogyny, Murder, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Grief, Sexual violence, Sexual harassment, and Slavery

emlela's review

adventurous dark emotional tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual harassment, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Emotional abuse, and Sexual content

Moderate: Violence and Physical abuse

Minor: Cursing, Grief, Animal death, Classism, Lesbophobia, and Sexism

The girls are forced to become concubines to the king, so there are scenes in which the characters are forced into sexual situations.

stardivine's review

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad 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? It's complicated

4.5

I really enjoyed this book, although it was a challenging read. It is incredibly dark and deals with a lot of heavy topics, much of which could potentially be very triggering. However, I found the characters well written and (with some big exceptions, for obvious reasons) sympathetic, and the story engaging.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Animal death, Physical abuse, Emotional abuse, Death, Kidnapping, Trafficking, Grief, and Slavery

Moderate: Blood, Gore, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Rape, Death of parent, and Murder

Minor: War