Reviews tagging 'Bullying'

The School for Good and Evil by Soman Chainani

37 reviews

_alyssar_'s review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Body shaming, Violence, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Bullying, Confinement, Child death, Death, Dysphoria, Eating disorder, Gaslighting, Gore, Grief, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Misogyny, Murder, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, and Trafficking

kim_lommaert's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Murder, War, Kidnapping, Fatphobia, Bullying, and Violence

Minor: Animal death, Death of parent, and Animal cruelty

chaos_na_regale's review against another edition

fast-paced

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

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Child death, Death of parent, and Misogyny

avaa1000's review against another edition

medium-paced

• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexism, Toxic friendship, Body shaming, Fatphobia, and Bullying

strawberrymushie's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious 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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Minor: Classism, Blood, Bullying, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Body shaming, and Death of parent

lct'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? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fatphobia and Body shaming

Moderate: Toxic friendship and Bullying

Minor: Death of parent and Homophobia

kaziaroo's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny 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

3.5

I picked this up because I enjoyed the film, although I didn't realise it was based on a children's book. It did contain some very undisguised dark themes though, so if it wasn't for the age of the characters, the writing style and some of the humour, I'd be tempted to call it YA.

It's a shame to see that children's stories still rely on fatphobia and making fun of "ugly" people for humour, and there was a lot of stereotyping of what "good" and "evil" people look like – although a lot of this is critiqued by the narrative, there were some blurred lines: for example, while we are shown that being mean to Dot about her fatness is bad, the author also mentions her size nearly every time she appears, and her size and appetite makes up most of her characterisation. Thankfully, there wasn't a hooked nose in sight, unlike in the film. 

While the plot dragged a bit in places, I really enjoyed the characters in this book and loved the portrayal of a character's descent into madness and the protagonists' respective identity crises. It was a really fun, if dark, read.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child death, Confinement, Fatphobia, Medical content, Body shaming, Bullying, Violence, War, Animal cruelty, Sexism, Ableism, Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Blood, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Infidelity, Kidnapping, Lesbophobia, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic friendship, Xenophobia, Death, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Torture, and Toxic relationship

Minor: Mental illness

neko_reads's review against another edition

adventurous dark lighthearted 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? Yes

3.75

3.75 
ok so mixed feelings here. on one side i hated it, sophie was pretty much unbearable but on the other side I thoroughly enjoyed it. the world is just amazing, and while sophie is definitely not my favourite character, especially at the start of the book, I do love her development at the end. 

now the characters I do like. hester, anadil and dot. i love them so much. the fact that they are the figure of evil for the start of the book, but there is so much good in their hearts and I love them.

agatha is one of my favourite characters in this book. her development, insecurities and personality is amazing

overall a pretty good read!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic friendship, Bullying, and Body shaming

Moderate: Fatphobia, Violence, and Death

Minor: Homophobia, Blood, and Death of parent

ashleylowry's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective tense fast-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence and Bullying

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Toxic friendship, Torture, Injury/Injury detail, and Emotional abuse

Minor: Kidnapping, Eating disorder, Abandonment, Adult/minor relationship, Murder, and Fatphobia

fastizfurious's review against another edition

adventurous 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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Bullying, Fatphobia, Homophobia, Body shaming, Sexism, Toxic friendship, and Misogyny

Minor: Violence