Reviews tagging 'Bullying'

Fairest by Marissa Meyer

23 reviews

strawberrytheauthor's review against another edition

dark sad tense fast-paced

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

4.0

“Here is what I think of love.” Is the last line of the book and I think it sums it up pretty well. 

When starting the book I was hoping that it would humanize Levana a little bit and make us like her more, but I was wrong. It was annoying because I feel that when you are reading about a villain you want to know what events led to them Losing their humanity, but it seemed Levana never had any. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Death of parent, Child abuse, Murder, Blood, Child death, Grief, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, and Body horror

Moderate: Pregnancy, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, and Violence

Minor: War, Sexual content, Bullying, Gore, and Pandemic/Epidemic

prashiie's review

dark emotional sad tense fast-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

4.0

"She did not want to go down in history as the fairest queen this little moon had ever known. She wanted to be known through history as the fairest queen of the galaxy. As the ruler who united Luna and Earth under one monarchy."

Queen Levana’s origin story. Levana is smart and cares about Luna, unlike her sister who got crowned queen after their parents’ death. But even though her heart is in the right place, her way of achieving things is wrong. But she didn’t have good role models in her life. Her parents’ marriage wasn’t a good example of love and her relationship with her sister was toxic. Her sister, Queen Channary, was very manipulative and such a bully to her. It made me wonder how things would have turned out if only her sister was nice to her.

The choices that Queen Levana makes were so frustrating! There were so many moments where she could have chosen a different path but that wouldn’t have made sense. She believes that she has to make these choices for Luna to thrive. She is convinced that only she could be a great queen and that she deserves to rule over the galaxy. Just like Icarus, she is getting too close to the sun.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Rape, Fire/Fire injury, Child abuse, Adult/minor relationship, Toxic relationship, Infertility, Child death, Toxic friendship, Bullying, Emotional abuse, Classism, Death, Grief, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Abandonment, War, Blood, Pregnancy, and Death of parent

marenm's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective tense fast-paced

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

2.25

it was interesting to see more about levanas background, but this book was very disturbing. while her actions fit her character and the evilness, it’s very reflective of right and wrong and the messiness of politics into a novella. the only reason it’s rated so low for me is that i couldn’t stand listening to levanas monologue and how terrible of a person she was. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Body horror, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Grief, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, Bullying, Child death, Torture, Dysphoria, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Child abuse, Classism, Gun violence, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Abandonment, Death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Infertility, Murder, Pregnancy, Stalking, and Violence

tuuliareads's review against another edition

dark tense medium-paced

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

3.0

While villain backstories can be good, this was okay at best. Yes it tells the story of Levana and her decisions and development towards evil (cray cray if you ask me) leading up to the events of the Lunar Chronicles. Mostly though, being in Levana's POV was very extremely uncomfortable. All the manipulation and cruel and obsessive thoughts. Interesting addition to the series, but imo you don't miss much by skipping this one.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness and Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Blood, Bullying, Murder, Death, Death of parent, Rape, Body horror, Body shaming, Child death, and Dysphoria

Minor: Abandonment

taylorleilani's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Gun violence, Blood, Body shaming, Bullying, Gore, Infertility, Pregnancy, Adult/minor relationship, Death, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Medical content, and Murder

elfeeza's review against another edition

challenging emotional sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

This book addresses the effects of parental negligence, sibling bullying and trauma. It was a difficult and heavy read. Marissa Meyer’s writing really sucks you into the story and holds you prisoner until the end of the story. Her characters had depth and are relatable.   I need to take a breather and calm down right now.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Mental illness, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Murder

emdashenthusiast's review

dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

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

4.0

Overall, I am very pleased with this book, it gave me everything I could have hoped for in a supplementary story to The Lunar Chronicles. It was fascinating to see things from Levanas perspective and how she came to be where and who she is in the series.

The only issue I have is I believe some of the heavier topics were handled in a way that comes across more as a justification for Levanas actions rather than an explanation. This only bothers me knowing that these books are targeted at a younger demographic who might have a harder time understanding the weight and nuance of these topics especially coming from the point of view of the abuser.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Bullying, Fire/Fire injury, Murder, and Adult/minor relationship

Moderate: Child death

Minor: Death of parent

adi_rocks_socks's review

adventurous dark emotional reflective sad fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying and Violence

maria_pell's review

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Gore, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Rape, Stalking, Torture, Toxic relationship, and Violence

Moderate: Gun violence, Body shaming, Bullying, Sexual assault, and Sexual harassment

Minor: Confinement, Infertility, Infidelity, and Terminal illness

aidamaria_reads's review

dark sad tense medium-paced

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

3.0

Fairest (part of the Lunar Chronicles by Marissa Meyer) tells the story of lunar queen Levana. Honestly, if it had not been part of this series, I would not have wanted to pick up a book centred around such an appalling main character. Levana is severely damaged and grew up to become a madwoman, despite her trying to justify her actions with flawed logic. But anyone who has read any book of the series already knows that. It was nice catching a glimpse of Winter and Jacin’s backstory though, but overall this part doesn’t make it past three out of five stars for me.

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Content Warnings

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Body horror, Bullying, Body shaming, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Dysphoria, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Grief, Gun violence, Infertility, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Murder, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Stalking, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, and War