Reviews tagging 'Physical abuse'

Une fenêtre sur les ténèbres by Benjamin Peylet, Rachel Gillig

46 reviews

themis_biblos's review against another edition

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

2.75

Elm should've been the love interest. 

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the_castle_library's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

5.0

This book was AMAZING and I can't believe it took me so long to read it, especially since I was really eager to do so when I stumbled upon its existence last year! This reel doesn't even do it justice because I don't want to spoil ANYTHING! Part of the reason I'd waited is because it was always checked out and on 10+ holds at the library. This is a series hype I can fully understand! I am kicking myself right now because I can't check out the second book until I read 2 series i promised would be next after my library books were caught up 😅🤦🏻‍♀️ My ratings for spooky/dark and spice are 👻👻👻👻/🌶️

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kenzibir's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful mysterious sad tense
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes

3.5


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welfin's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? N/A
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.75


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kenich97's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious fast-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? It's complicated

5.0


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isabelleroyall's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0


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eedle_cacleberry's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious tense 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

5.0


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chloelai12's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

What happened to yearning 

yet again I need to stop listening to tiktok's hype train. don't get me wrong, i was thoroughly entertained, but this entertained me as a fantasy the same way bridgerton scratches my cringe romance itch. it did what it needed to do but it did not soar to the expectations i was sold. 

the main reviews i heard about this book from the internet was that for rachel gillig's first publish, the writing is exceptional. i wouldn't go as far as exceptional but i will applaud her for not falling into caravalesque trappings of language that make you want to burn a dictionary. she has a great control of tone and pacing and, to be fair to the internet, most of her scenes were really well crafted with convincing and beautiful language. it did fall short of the usual lyricism i look for in fantasy, and i think i was especially looking for it since this is a gothic fantasy but I can also appreciate that I do know many other ways that rachel gillig could have crafted this book outside of the voice it already has without taking away from the story itself.

that being said, my eye did twitch a lot reading this.  that ending especially. the first half of the book was a lot of fun, exploring the dynamics between everyone. i was ready for yearning but i didn't even have time to yearn before elsepth and ravyn (i can't believe she chose that creative decision) were at each other. all the time. and i still enjoyed their scenes together, even if as main characters they are a little bit bland. for me elm was the obviously better choice for mmc but that's another conversation. the last half though really choked me with the cringe, wattpad level plot. i can appreciate a cliffhanger and i am really curious how rachel gillig is going to navigate this new monster (praying she does 3rd pov) but i'd be lying if i said i wasn't rushing through that torture scene. 

as for the characters themselves, it might just be better if i do bullet points cos my god:
  • ravyn - it took me 2 days to actually accept that his name is actually just a stupid rearranging of the bird, even though it's not phonetic; bog standard dark haired 7ft tall cookie cutter fantasy boyf who gets twitchy any touches his girl (who's been his girl all of 3 days at the first point of violence); bland but plenty of room for improvement
  • jespyr - at the point at which she's introduced i really started to wonder if their parents had that white people naming their babies problem because what is with the y - it's only marginally more phonetic than ravyn but it still pissed me off; ngl i don't really get why she was here other than causing me to question if she was going to be the gay rep (ambiguous so far)
  • elm - so obviously the better mmc, took me a minute to adjust to the fact that he's not blonde but it was nice of rachel gillig to use auburn instead of ginger; if he goes for ione i will be very sad
  • ione - her motives didn't really make sense to me or feel natural to the story but get it girl i guess
  • emory - honestly forgot he was here

elspeth spindle needs her own subsection cos this girl had me reeling in embarrassment
  • perfect gal for ravyn because she is also cookie cutter fmc - i liked her (at times) but i still feel like I've seen several different renditions of her before 
  • this girl can not catch a clue to save her fucking life omg even when she has a 500 year old monster in her head literally giving her the answers to everything she is still shocked at what is happening around her
  • this book was the definition of being stuck inside a painful pov because it is easily the most predictable plot I've read in literal years - and I'm actually horrendous at getting plot and even i got it bitch
  • the chalice scene pissed me off so much because why are you wasting your turn with stupid questions you already know the answer too - OF COURSE HE WAS ALREADY USING THE SCYTHE CARD ON HER AND OF COURSE SHE ISN'T HAPPY 
  • also that dress on the cover is so fugly it hurts the more i look at it

i know for all my complaining I'm making this seem like a bad book, but it's really not - it's a solid fantasy read and for a first publish, it's still impressive that rachel gillig has such a way with words. girl, if leigh bardugo can go from shadow and bone to six of crows, you can do anything if this is your starting line. i will be reading the second one as soon as i can because i want it desperately to get better. the plot was predictable and the magic was a bit confusing at times to actually understand, and the world is..random, but hopefully this can be fleshed out a little bit more in the next and we can get a bit more purpose for everybody. i truly mean for everybody.

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oxfordcommas91's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark mysterious 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

4.5

I loved this dark, gothic fantasy with a complex and twisty female main character. I love the unique magical structure that Rachel Gillig created - the world building is a breath of fresh air compared to the vague general "magical powers" that most fantasy novels employ. I enjoyed the fact that Gillig put so much effort into the fantasy part of this novel and built the complex relationships and unique aspects of each character such that the romance subplot felt genuine and realistic rather than forced. I appreciate how morally grey the characters are here - their motivations are real and complicated and multi-faceted, so no one feels one dimensional. This book builds with rapid speed to an incredible crescendo and I was so relieved that I already had the second book in the duology immediately accessible, because that ending! It was missing a little something from me in order to be a five star read but I really enjoyed it nonetheless. 

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bethann_coleates's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-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

5.0


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