Reviews tagging 'Torture'

Fairest by Marissa Meyer

9 reviews

christy15reads's review

dark fast-paced

• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

Finished this book this morning from the Lunar Chronicles series . It tells why Queen Levana is as wicked as she is and confirms that I don't like her at all. And while Cinder, Scarlet, and Cress are suitable for the 14+ crowd, with a kiss here or there, I think this one is for someone older because of all the promiscuity in it!  It was rather disappointing if you ask me because my teen daughter was reading these books along with me. Now I'm just hoping that Winter is not as inappropriate and she can finish the series with me because we both enjoyed the first 3 books but I can't pass this one along to her - I'll have to just fill her in on the queen's history.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic relationship, Emotional abuse, Sexual content, Pregnancy, Infertility, Child abuse, Death, Child death, Torture, Dysphoria, Fire/Fire injury, Mental illness, Stalking, and Rape

writer_egreene's review against another edition

dark sad tense fast-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Gaslighting, Violence, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Torture, Toxic relationship, Stalking, and Death

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

csmall73's review

dark fast-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Toxic relationship, Torture, Rape, Murder, Medical trauma, Injury/Injury detail, Genocide, Body horror, Sexual harassment, Mental illness, Classism, Toxic friendship, Sexism, Xenophobia, Racism, Slavery, Sexual assault, Emotional abuse, Child abuse, Child death, Body shaming, and Adult/minor relationship

tiana_king's review against another edition

dark sad medium-paced

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

5.0

This was not a pleasant book and the fact that it pained me to rate it 5 stars is a testament to the author’s skill. You aren’t SUPPOSED to like this story. It’s tragic overall with villains that have few redeeming qualities.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture, Fire/Fire injury, Toxic relationship, Emotional abuse, Murder, Violence, Adult/minor relationship, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Body horror, and Body shaming

Moderate: Pregnancy, Death of parent, Child death, and Infidelity

Minor: Sexual assault

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

mndy's review

dark emotional 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? Yes

3.75

It wasn’t a favorite, but a villain origin story is always eye-opening and allows a new perspective. Levana’s history explains so much about how she was raised to think in a certain way and how her malicious actions could be justified. This book precisely and disturbingly opens up Levana’s mind to the reader.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Torture, Toxic relationship, and Violence

Moderate: Blood and Gun violence

gattolinos_nerdy_nook's review against another edition

challenging dark medium-paced

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

4.0

Fairest gives you the backstory of Levana that leaves you both sympathetic and not towards her.

The story slowly shows us how her upbringing and trauma slowly drives her to make questionable and awful decisions that eventually lead her into becoming the Levana you know from the main series.
It also shows us what Lunar is like when not actively at war with Earth and the values that they hold.

The novella does really well to add to the series for both Levana as a character but also to the Lunar culture.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fire/Fire injury, Child death, Torture, and Child abuse

Moderate: Death of parent, Classism, War, Murder, and Death

Minor: Sexual assault