Reviews tagging 'Violence'

Blood Like Magic by Liselle Sambury

59 reviews

rae477's review against another edition

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dark emotional hopeful informative 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? Yes

4.0

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teakaybee's review

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emotional reflective tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • 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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my_personal_escape's review

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

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mallotar's review against another edition

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

3.5

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cosmicwillow's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

this was such a fascinating and gripping world! the story was cool, but i think the setting sold me the most; i found the balance of fantasy and a future sci-fi to be really fun - not quite the typical urban fantasy you’d expect! im very much looking forward to reading the sequel.
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brjedi26's review

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emotional medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

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therainbowshelf's review

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challenging dark emotional mysterious 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

4.0

If you're looking for a dark, witchy sci-fi fantasy centering a strong female protagonist, this might be a pick for you! I enjoyed it but I didn't love it. A few things didn't work for me, especially every characters' insistence that words without set meaning definitely have this one specific random interpretation that doesn't make a ton of sense. That part was just frustrating and was a major plot element. 
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hecubatohim's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional funny 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? Yes

5.0

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thirdeyeangel23's review against another edition

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adventurous dark 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? Yes

4.5

Blood Like Magic is one of the most intense as Sci-Fi Fantasies I’ve read. Voya Thomas hails from a long line of magic, but all of that is put in jeopardy when her Calling demands she complete an impossible task. In order to preserve her family’s magic, Voya must destroy her first love. This story was a page turner from beginning to end. More than anything I love that while Voya has the entire world on her shoulders, she still acts her age. Such a wild and emotional ride. I can’t wait to get into book two!
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tinysierra's review against another edition

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dark mysterious medium-paced
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

“There’s something about lounging in a bath of blood that makes me want to stay until my fingers shrivel enough to show the outlines of my bones.” pg 1

I expected to fall in love with Blood like Magic. The synopsis was interesting and the first sentence hooked me. It’s got black witches and queer representation. Speaking of, I swear I’ve seen this book on asexual rec lists, but asexual and aromantic are two different things. It has an explicit demiromantic (meaning that they’re on the aromantic spectrum) side character. There is another character that does not seem to enjoy physical touch or kissing, but the word asexual is not used. Moving on, another thing that influenced me to read the book was the fact that the plot reminded me of Raybearer, which I really loved. 

Maybe I set my expectations too high. I’m not sure. I originally decided to DNF this book because it was a bit repetitive and felt like nothing was really happening. After a few months, I picked it up again to see if it got better. I enjoyed the interactions we got to see between Luc and Voya. The way the plot was executed just didn’t do anything for me. I think the writing style was too… dense and long winded. The book felt too long. The pacing was not fast. 

I’m disappointed because I also really loved the cover of this one and the sequel. I won’t be reading the second book. 

Themes:
-Broken family
-importance of community
-importance of family ties
-connection to ancestors 
-cooking 
-sacrifice
-trust
-addiction
-poverty
-eating disorder briefly mentioned 
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