Reviews tagging 'Gaslighting'

The School for Good and Evil by Soman Chainani

7 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

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

rumireads's review against another edition

dark funny

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

1.75

• I haven't encountered a book so viciously fatphobic in at least a decade
• the way it sexualised 12 year olds is absolutely disgusting (I can see why they aged the characters up for the movie)
• weirdly homophobic as well. kids calling each other gay as an insult might be accurate but it's certainly not something that I'd like to model for them??
• I think this author has a reeeealy poor opinion of women 

please don't give/recommend this series to the youths, it's genuinely awful towards most kinds of people 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Child death, Fatphobia, Body shaming, Homophobia, Child abuse, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Ableism, Adult/minor relationship, Gaslighting, Sexism, Toxic relationship, and Misogyny

Minor: Animal death, Kidnapping, Animal cruelty, Torture, Blood, and Body horror

carmineslamp's review against another edition

adventurous funny sad fast-paced

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

4.5

It's a perfect book, I'd give it the full 5 but it'd not on the same level as other books I'd consider a full 5. I mostly re-read this because I watched the movie and they fr gave it the PJO movies treatment. Aggie is so girlboss. Tedros is so malewife. Sophie is so gaslight. 

If you're coming here expecting this to be like the movie, turn back around and find another book :D!

Ok, so there's a lot of misogyny (the Evergirls focused on beauty and being failed if they didn't adhere to the strict gender norms of finding a prince or whatever, Evergirls failed if they aren't asked to the Ball, but Everboys only getting half marks, etc) but I thought it was on purpose in the way that it was being condemned?? Like "ah, look at the juxtaposition of Good being so vain" as if to demonstrate how gray the whole nature of morality is! Which is why the scenes of Evers and Nevers trying to mingle (during the Trial by Tale, during that final battle) is so profound!

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Misogyny, Death, Toxic friendship, Sexism, Gaslighting, Bullying, and Body shaming

hayleyvem's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Classism, Gaslighting, Body shaming, Animal death, Animal cruelty, Bullying, Fatphobia, Fire/Fire injury, Kidnapping, Violence, Eating disorder, Misogyny, Murder, Toxic friendship, Blood, Death, and Dysphoria

Moderate: Torture, Child death, and Confinement

Minor: Cannibalism, Death of parent, Homophobia, Mental illness, Adult/minor relationship, and Lesbophobia

ninahuynh's review against another edition

adventurous challenging relaxing fast-paced

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

4.75

I can't help but rate this book 4.75 stars! This is technically a reread, as I have read it once during middle school. Now as an adult, I can see the appeal of the book to my middle school self and still do enjoy the book. There are moments when the characters get on my nerves, but I have to remember that they are children and trained to think in certain ways.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Animal death, Blood, Death, and Toxic friendship

Minor: Death of parent and Fatphobia

ariele3's review against another edition

adventurous inspiring mysterious reflective tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

A great start to a long series, with Chainani often blurring the lines between what is good and evil, and turning the script on beloved fairytales. Can't wait for more!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Child death, Confinement, Violence, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Violence, Gaslighting, Misogyny, and Injury/Injury detail