Reviews with content warning for Sexual assault - The Society for Soulless Girls

Reviews tagging 'Sexual assault'

The Society for Soulless Girls by Laura Steven

33 reviews

w0lfyfr3n's review against another edition

dark mysterious medium-paced

3.0

The first 75% of this book was a tough and slow read. It was not as scary as other horror books, and not as gripping as other mystery books. Eerie with a dragging suspense at best.

I did not like the main characters. Lottie is judgemental and self righteous, Alice is mean and pretentious. They both seem to be aware of this but do very little to curb it. The blurb is slightly misleading in that they actually cannot stand to be around eachother for a large part of the book, and the romance bits are scarce. Note: I particularly did not like the fact that Lottie thought she was asexual until she met Alice. It was a throwaway sentence that achieved nothing except feeding into the harmful idea that ace people just need to meet the right person to feel attraction.

The sentences were also packed with architectural descriptions that I spent a lot of time googling and then just gave up on. All the more interesting characters

Hafsah, Renner, Mordue, Feathering etc.

are only explored much later, and sadly not enough imo.

Moving on to what I eventually enjoyed though...I liked what this book was trying to say about the anger of women, how it grows from powerlessness, how it's often more unacceptable than a man's. However I did not agree with the bit about female violence. Anger and invasive thoughts are normal, but acting on them in the way that Alice and some of the others did, even before all the supernatural stuff came into play, is NOT. Sometimes it felt like this book was having a girlboss moment (Women can be violent too ! 💪) and as an afab person myself, I'm not sure I was a fan of that. I'm glad this was corrected towards the end

by providing them with a psychologist and a healthy outlet instead

. I just felt uncomfortable that anger issues and murderous/hurtful actions seem to be grouped together in some instances, though it made slightly more sense once the ritualistic stuff came into play.

However this books gets all its points for tying up the mystery super well. There was so much to untangle that it was ultimately upredictable, and towards the end almost every single mystery is resolved. The pieces fell in place in a very satisfying manner. The last 25% is definitely worth the haul, which is why this is still a 3/5.

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dmeiners's review against another edition

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2.75

Loved the concept, but the story itself failed to deliver. Highly recommend checking out the content warnings before starting.

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sage_alexandra's review

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dark funny mysterious 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? It's complicated

5.0

feminine rage, slow burn and sapphic enemies to lovers, murderous mysteries. what more can you ask for?

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adalieslittlelibrary's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense medium-paced

Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

I’m kind of waffling between 3.5 and 3.75. Overall, I really enjoyed it. It was vibey and had a decent dark academia setting for fall. I thought some of the philosophical musings were intriguing. I really liked the beginning. The middle was fine, but the ending felt rushed? I think? I don’t know, it kind of just wrapped up and left me feeling like something was missing. Overall, it was a good spooky season read. It kind of made me think of the show Wednesday, so if you liked that show, give it a try.

The one part I absolutely hated was

killing the cat. It honestly almost made me put down the book.

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dontreadthelastpage1989's review against another edition

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dark funny inspiring mysterious 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

4.5

it took me 3 months to finish this book but to put that in context, i was in a really long reading slump before that so this actually made me want to read again and got me out of it! i really wanted to know what would happen and how it ended and i would've liked to have so much more of it!! i loved the writing style most, also the themes of the book like female rage made it very interesting and the sapphic subplot was enjoyable as well! i thought the author really had a way with words, which i find is more rare than you'd think. this is definitely a book that would deserve more hype imo given the topic and prose!

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mady_grace_cooper's review against another edition

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dark emotional funny 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

3.5

The sapphic, dark academia/Gothic, female rage story of my dreams. (This book is dedicated to the angry girls (and people socialized/viewed as girls), by the way).

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autumnxrose's review

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dark emotional 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

4.75

This book had me on the edge of my seat the entire time. When I wasn't listening to it, I was thinking about popping my headphones back in to finish. The mystery was intriguing and the characters were complex and endearing.

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fanboyriot's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious 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

3.5

♡ Mystery

♡ Spooky Vibes

♡ Dark Academia

I loved the vibe of this book, the spooky atmosphere was set so well. And the formatting design was so beautiful. Especially with the UK cover it was really so pretty.

The mysterious vibe of the school and an atmosphere that drew me in like the north tower, having said that, the characters came off a bit annoying several times. One minute they were roommates and starting out on the wrong foot, then they were sharing secrets, then they were back to rude misunderstandings, it was so back and forth. By the end I was over them but it did improve and they were a lot better.

The lore of this school and the rituals were kinda nice to read, it was mysterious and interesting but also easy to read and enjoyable to play around with theories. While the plot of this got more and more ridiculous by the end it was super entertaining to read.

Spice Level: n/a

Angst Level: 💧(1/5)

POV: Duel, First Person

Release Date: 07, July 2022

Rep: Lesbian (? Main Character), Demisexual (Main Character), LGBTQIA+ (Main and Side Characters)

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izzyvioletgrace's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-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

3.5

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oolymee's review against another edition

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3.5

There are lot of things I really loved about this book. It is an excellent, eerie, and unsettling retelling of Jekyll & Hyde. Also it's sapphic. And the enemies-to-lovers is brilliant. The descriptions of rage are gritty and feel very tangible if that makes sense.

The downside to this book is that there were a few ends that just weren't quite tied up in the ending. While I did enjoy the ending, I wish the ending had been just a bit longer with a heavier focus on where the characters go next.

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