Reviews tagging 'Grief'

Ink and Bone by Rachel Caine

6 reviews

rinku's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious 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? It's complicated

4.0

At the beginning, I wasn’t sure if I would like Ink and Bone but later, it fascinated me totally. This book is what I wished The Atlas Six or Babel were: It had characters from different part of the world working together in a magic library, completed with some great action scenes and deep characters. 

This book follows Jess, who’s living in London where real books are only supposed to be in libraries, but his father is smuggling them. When he’s older, he’s invited to become a postulant at the great library of Alexandria where all the knowledge is stored and controlled. Arriving there, he learns that there’s more to the library than he thought and he’s in the middle of this big intrigue. 

The beginning was kinda slow but as soon as Jess arrives at the library, the story got more interesting. There are postulants from around the world there which I always love. At first, there’s a lot of competition between them for the few places in the library. Later, after they endure some hardships, they get closer to each other and

Wolfe starts to see them as equals which was so great

. These hardships include

the occupation of Oxford that depicted war quite realistically and hence disturbing

. After this, the novel in general became more exciting with dramatic action scenes and amazing moments between specific characters. Besides those, I furthermore enjoyed some small slice of life moments that introduced the characters more to us. The ending is not too satisfying since it’s kinda open ended and

Jess has to become a solider now, urgh

. 

What is additionally great about this book is the quite dark atmosphere and the steampunk elements thrown in here and there. In general, the world is really interesting with its different fractions. The chapters are a bit long though and at some points, I wished that we got a few more descriptions. 

The characters are one of the things I enjoyed the most about Ink and Bone. Jess is a great protagonist who’s caught up between two worlds, namely his love for books and the library, and the family business around smuggling books. This creates a tense atmosphere, especially when Jess first arrives at the library. Another character I absolutely love is Wolfe, he’s so interesting. I also shipped him with Santi, who’s great as well,

and I was right about them

! The rest of the cast was likable as well and it was so great to see how they slowly warm up in the course of the story. Thomas especially found a place in my heart because he’s just so wholesome;

his death was so sad and shocking

. 

I only had my problems with Morgan. It’s so obvious from the beginning that she’s the love interest but I really can’t see what Jess finds in her. Her character is not worked out enough and their chemistry is not really believable. Jess trusts her way too fast, and it was annoying how much he was focussed on her in the later part of the book; it isn’t shown enough why

he would sacrifice his life for hers

. 

Ink and Bone is thus an entertaining and dark fantasy novel that I personal wouldn’t categorize as YA since the conflicts in it felt too “adult” for this. There were so many interesting characters, and I can’t wait to see what adventures await them next – but I’ll also worry how long they will survive lmao. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fire/Fire injury, Police brutality, Blood, Gun violence, War, Violence, Body horror, Confinement, and Death

Moderate: Kidnapping, Grief, Classism, Slavery, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, and Suicide

Minor: Vomit and Sexual content

_alyssar_'s review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Emotional abuse, Murder, Medical trauma, Physical abuse, Bullying, Grief, Vomit, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, War, Blood, Child abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Fire/Fire injury, Gun violence, Forced institutionalization, and Gore

_mirambo_'s review against another edition

adventurous dark tense medium-paced

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

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Death, Colonisation, Slavery, Murder, Mental illness, and Gun violence

Moderate: Toxic friendship, Suicide attempt, and Grief

Minor: Alcohol

hayzey's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Violence, Medical trauma, Injury/Injury detail, Gun violence, Gore, Death, Blood, Police brutality, Murder, Grief, Genocide, and Confinement

Moderate: War, Torture, Slavery, Police brutality, Violence, Murder, Gun violence, Gore, Genocide, Confinement, Blood, Grief, and Death

Minor: Vomit, Torture, Slavery, Religious bigotry, Injury/Injury detail, Gun violence, Fire/Fire injury, Confinement, Classism, Blood, Alcohol, Violence, War, Police brutality, Murder, Mental illness, Medical trauma, Grief, Gore, Genocide, and Death

bookcaptivated's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious reflective 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Child death, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Suicide, Violence, and War

Moderate: Grief, Medical content, Suicidal thoughts, and Vomit

Minor: Confinement

caitlinjadams's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.75

A solid and brutal book that becomes more and more complicated as it goes and promises to reveal more and more as the series continues. I’m intrigued enough by the world building and how it probes at the many ways books and knowledge are power that I will likely read more of the series, but I also might not. There’s too much death and murder and torture and fear to be an truly enjoyable read for me. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Child death, Child abuse, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Murder, Torture, Violence, and War

Moderate: Blood, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide attempt

Minor: Bullying and Alcohol