Reviews tagging 'Cannibalism'

The Last Bloodcarver by Vanessa Le

4 reviews

betweentheshelves's review

adventurous emotional mysterious 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? Yes

4.0

This one actually surprised me! I thought it was going to be darker than it was. There are darker elements, but it wasn't nearly as bloody or graphic as the cover makes it seem. The magic system was actually really interesting; I like how it sort of tied to science and anatomy.

The characters were also really well done. Nhika is such a complicated main character, as are the Congmis and Kochin. Just when you think you might have the plot figured out, Le throws a wrench into things. It hooked me until the end, and I can't wait to read the next one!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Blood, and Medical content

Moderate: Death of parent, Murder, and Colonisation

Minor: Animal death, Child death, and Cannibalism

runealin's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny mysterious reflective 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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Content Warnings

Moderate: Classism, Medical content, Medical trauma, Death, Gun violence, and Blood

Minor: Death of parent, Animal death, and Cannibalism

thebookkeepers's review

adventurous dark emotional mysterious 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

4.5

This book was riveting and impossible to put down. The mechanical and steampunk elements reminded me of Cinder as well as some Frankenstein retellings I’ve read, especially with the medical focused magic system. Some other books this reminded me of was The Poppy War (colonialism) and Belladonna (murder mystery). While I could see different elements that reminded me of a lot of my other favorite books, this story felt fresh and original all on its own with the world. 

I always enjoy a magic system that comes with a cost to the user like this one did and is one of the many reasons I loved the magic & world building. A few plot reveals I was able to predict but not in an overly apparent way. The ending was wild and definitely increased my overall rating. I don’t necessarily love what the epilogue suggested…but I’ll still read book 2 to see what comes next. 

This book does contain blood - think surgery, medical, and gun violence scenes. 

LGBTQ + rep: male/male relationship with side characters 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Death, Gun violence, Medical content, Gore, Death of parent, Torture, Violence, and Colonisation

Moderate: Child death and Animal death

Minor: Cannibalism

shimmeringice's review

adventurous dark mysterious tense 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? No

3.75

One of the coolest depictions of blood magic I've ever read, set in vaguely 1920s steampunk-y SE Asia. I wish I loved the characters and their relationships more, but this was an incredibly solid debut.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, and Trafficking

Moderate: Colonisation, Death of parent, Child death, Chronic illness, and Grief

Minor: Animal cruelty, Cannibalism, and Animal death