Reviews with content warning for Sexual content - A Strange and Stubborn Endurance

Reviews tagging 'Sexual content'

A Strange and Stubborn Endurance by Foz Meadows

86 reviews

cheye13's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful medium-paced

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

4.0

I credit this book with reminding me how magical reading can be. This book itself may not be my favorite book ever, but the author automatically leapt to "one of my favorites" status. I will be hunting down everything else they've written.

The worldbuilding was exquisite – nearly tangible. I could easily slip into someone else's story in this universe and that's one of my favorite elements of the fantasy genre. I also loved that not only were politics involved, but they were intrinsic to the core plot of the story. The characters were all so well-rounded, and using a main character in a foreign land as a reader-proxy to introduce everyone was genius. And above all, I loved the writing style. It was chronically readable, but also flowed between gravitas and levity, evocative of whatever mood the scene called for. I'm getting emotional thinking about just how fun simply the act of reading this book was.

Unfortunately, this still isn't my favorite book. The author kindly includes accurate content warnings, and while I think everything was handled well and with care, part of the rape and recovery storyline didn't gel with my reading experience. Unlike many other fantasy stories, I entirely understand why the scene of the assault was included, and I actually appreciate the story including Vel's journey of healing. I think I was mostly put off by

the rapist character's constant return and the amount of plot he carried. While I appreciate Vel getting closure, I would rather his ex not have been on-page so much.

. I also found the plot resolution a little rote and villian-monologue-y, focusing on wrapping up every loose end, when by that time, I was much more invested in the romance than the politics.

But still, overall a complete pleasure to read. I absolutely recommend it for curing slumps, despite the page count.

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smolhandsdan's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional funny inspiring lighthearted mysterious sad tense medium-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? Yes

5.0

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sorayah11's review against another edition

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emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced

4.0

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bookishmagpie's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional mysterious tense medium-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? It's complicated

3.75

I thoroughly enjoyed this! There was no lack of interest whenever I picked it up. I do have so gripes about the world building, more specifically the magic system (though this could just be attributed to my lack of understanding and not a lack of explanation). The characters felt lively and the romance felt genuine.

I don't know if I'll continue this series, but not for a lack of enjoyment. It felt like a satisfying enough ending with just enough ambiguity and loose-ends to justify a sequel, but not so much that I'm rushing to read it.

If you pick this up please heed the trigger warnings!

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voidature's review against another edition

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emotional

Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.0

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hazybee's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

The world building and depth of the characters was amazing! Reading this was like watching a well directed movie: all the pieces were there and when they get slotted into place it simply feels right, not cliche or too simple.

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srolocs's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional hopeful mysterious tense slow-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

The romantic tension in this book is so tight you could play it like a Harp
The world and character building are really amazing. I also listened to the book while reading it, the narrators were really amazing also and did a great job with portraying emotions that otherwise were not portrayed in the text.
The slow burn romance caught me off guard. The first kiss happened about

4/5ths

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