Reviews tagging 'Outing'

Girls of Paper and Fire by Natasha Ngan

18 reviews

pandemonicbaby's review

adventurous emotional tense 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? It's complicated

3.0

I was really hoping I'd like this book more. I mean, a forbidden romance between two girls who fight against an oppressive system in search for a future where they can be together??? Sign me up!! I thought I was going to LOVE this. Instead, I just felt kind of lukewarm about it.
And don't get me wrong, I think it's SO important how we are in a time period where we're able to have bestselling YA stories with central queer storylines, stories that deal with the theme of sexual assault but focus on the victims' journeys of healing, presenting these themes in a respectful way to a younger audience. I've been having an unfortunate streak with this type of thing lately, and 2 of the last books I've read have had explicit rape scenes which made me greatly uncomfortable. I was really shocked when this book (a YA novel) had the best, most respectful depiction of it out of the 3, and handled the topic with care, moreso than any of those other books I've read. It didn't have to describe it in detail to be impactful, and fully focused on the victim's feelings afterward.
That being said, otherwise, I think this book maybe wasn't exactly for me. People who know me know I LOVE sapphic romance, and will eat up basically anything, but this romance just felt sort of rushed and not really impactful. I wasn't really excited to see them finally kiss or confess their feelings to eachother like I usually am with any sapphic couple I read about. It just felt a bit, I don't know, spiceless, saltless, like the taste of food that you usually really love but in this specific casw it just feels bland. And I don't really think it has to do with the characters themselves, but more with the way the romance was written. Also, I don't know exactly why, but I felt like I didn't really enjoy the writing style. I'm not sure what I felt was lacking in it, but I just wasn't really digging it all that much.
Also, originally, I thought all castes were human, and had NO idea there were gonna be furries in this LMFAO. That *did* make the scenes with the king especially unbearable, though, and I feel like that was probably the intent.
Anyways, it wasn't really for me, but I really do hope that some readers are able to find something they love in this book. I just really really hoped I would love it too.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Misogyny, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Violence, Blood, Classism, Death, Physical abuse, Medical trauma, Police brutality, and Animal cruelty

Moderate: Death of parent, Genocide, Lesbophobia, Racial slurs, War, Grief, and Outing

Minor: Alcohol, Body horror, and Infertility

Unconsensual sexual acts are mentioned various times in this book, some particularly violent. There is one explicit rape scene in this book (albeit not described in detail).

dmrains's review

adventurous emotional inspiring tense fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny, Trafficking, Sexual violence, Rape, Outing, Classism, Homophobia, Kidnapping, and Lesbophobia

Moderate: Bullying

rsb12's review against another edition

adventurous dark 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse

Moderate: Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Animal death, Classism, Homophobia, Murder, Death, Slavery, Animal cruelty, Blood, Bullying, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, and Outing

Minor: Death of parent, Infertility, Confinement, Adult/minor relationship, and Alcohol

sipnayan's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective 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? No

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Grief, Torture, Misogyny, Murder, Sexism, Blood, Classism, Colonisation, Death of parent, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Sexual violence, Violence, War, Homophobia, Death, Genocide, Gore, Hate crime, Injury/Injury detail, Rape, Alcoholism, Alcohol, Lesbophobia, and Outing

Moderate: Vomit, Cursing, and Trafficking

talonsontypewriters's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense medium-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? No

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Death, Animal death, Sexual violence, Sexual harassment, Confinement, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Slavery, Classism, Emotional abuse, Murder, Violence, Sexual assault, Kidnapping, Sexism, and Misogyny

Moderate: Outing, Medical content, Sexual content, Grief, War, Death of parent, Bullying, Colonisation, and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Homophobia, Lesbophobia, and Vomit

runes_reads's review

challenging dark emotional reflective 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? Yes

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Slavery, Rape, Medical trauma, Grief, Alcohol, Toxic relationship, Sexual violence, Sexual harassment, Sexism, Kidnapping, Animal death, Trafficking, War, Murder, Sexual assault, Religious bigotry, Racial slurs, and Misogyny

Moderate: Outing, Gore, Adult/minor relationship, Torture, Physical abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Genocide, Death of parent, Mental illness, Confinement, and Panic attacks/disorders

Minor: Vomit

galexy_brain's review

adventurous challenging hopeful tense medium-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? Yes

3.25

The plot was alright but gahdamn can Ngan write a romance

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Rape, Sexual assault, and Sexual violence

Moderate: Child abuse, Blood, Classism, Medical trauma, Animal death, Physical abuse, and Toxic relationship

Minor: Infertility, Lesbophobia, Misogyny, Sexism, Confinement, Death, Death of parent, Homophobia, Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Kidnapping, Violence, Vomit, Grief, Murder, Slavery, Alcoholism, Pedophilia, War, Bullying, Gore, Outing, Sexual content, and Trafficking

peppermintlegs'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

3.5

I was surprised at the amount of sexual violence in this YA book. the worldbuilding was structured on an interesting concept that didn’t seem fully executed? I felt the main character acted rashly over and over again and seemed never to learn from her mistakes. I also felt that Lei could have perhaps paid any more attention to her surroundings. the time skips, handwave-y “I don’t pay attention in class,” and clunky lord dumps to the main character and, by extension, the reader, could have been more smoothly incorporated earlier in the story for a sleeker final act: I don’t want to hear “they’re from X clan” in the last six pages of the book. this was easily digestible and descriptively written; I just wish it had been a little tighter.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Sexual violence, and Violence

Moderate: Outing and Lesbophobia

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

bookcaptivated's review

emotional reflective tense medium-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Kidnapping, Sexual violence, Blood, Xenophobia, Animal death, Violence, Rape, and Slavery

Moderate: War, Confinement, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, and Outing

Minor: Bullying, Classism, and Infidelity