Reviews tagging 'Child death'

To Snap a Silver Stem by Sarah A. Parker

4 reviews

weylynn7's review

It seems pretty obvious that the endgame romantic interest is a grooming, abusive brute. The writing style is so good, and I enjoyed When the Moon Hatched. But I can’t get over the love interest in this series. He’s not “morally gray.” He’s abusive. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Bullying, Kidnapping, Toxic relationship, Cursing, Death of parent, Child abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Sexual assault, Stalking, Grief, Adult/minor relationship, Confinement, Death, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, Toxic friendship, Domestic abuse, Addiction, Child death, Drug abuse, and Physical abuse

wildroseoftexas's review

dark sad tense medium-paced

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

3.0

I want to see character development. The main character looks, acts, and thinks the same from page one to the end of the book swapped in guilt and addicted to a weird “love”. 

The overall storyline and plot is so hard to see. We get glimpses in such tiny bites, I would get frustrated every time we change character points of view. It feels like the layers aren’t fleshed out and ideas were thrown in as it was written without working them out to the whole picture. 

I want less *tension* and changing eye colors. How old is R anyway??? This still feels like a gross and abusive relationship. I need to clear explanations that make this make sense. 

I asked myself several times, “Is this a vampire story?” Spoiler alert: It’s not. 
I have more questions than answers, and not in the excited, what-will-happen-next way.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Blood, and Death

Moderate: Sexual content and Child death

deesquared's review

adventurous challenging mysterious medium-paced

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

3.75

I mean, I still have no idea what the story’s about. It was a good book, in the sense it’s addictive to read when you get into it. But I couldn’t really tell you the plot. Or what was going on with Kai’s side quest. 

I am looking forward to the next book, not least so I can find out what happens next. 

Also the cliffhanger o_O

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Grief, Self harm, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Injury/Injury detail, and Violence

Moderate: Child death, Alcohol, Body horror, Sexual harassment, and Death of parent

samantha_ellen's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

5.0

This book was everything I wanted from this story & MORE. I am in awe of Sarah’s writing, such beautiful prose with dark unflinching emotions in a magical fantasy world. 

Orlaiths journey is hard & raw but so beautifully explored. 

I still have so many questions but we were also gifted with a lot of answers. 

But holy Fuck! That ending has me SHOOK! 

I can’t believe that happened but also I can see all the steps that lead to it. 

I don’t feel like 5 ⭐️ is enough for this book - or this series as a whole… I CAN NOT WAIT for B3

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child death, Grief, Death of parent, Toxic relationship, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, and Alcohol