Reviews tagging 'Blood'

Blood Like Magic by Liselle Sambury

102 reviews

kristakp's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional mysterious tense fast-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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Grief, Slavery, Violence, Murder, Blood, and Self harm

Moderate: Gore, Colonisation, Emotional abuse, Police brutality, and Medical content

goldynnae's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional funny mysterious 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

4.75

I picked up this for the fantasy but I truly got tied to the familial and romantic love of the story instead. One of the things I loved most about this book was that it was saturated in highly accurate black culture representation from the hair struggles right down to the family dynamics and bonus points for the Trinidadian culture representation. I loved the generational magic system and loved how each person in the family used their gifts to better the family. But, Keis was definitely my favourite character as she believed a witch could and should be more than just her gift and I hated the family for not supporting her in her belief. Similarly, I hated the family for not believing in Voya's ability to be able to complete her task, a luxury they afforded everyone before her, despite what was a stake and her not so great track record to make the best decisions. I was rooting so hard for her as well as Voya and Luc that

I literally cannot believe the book ended without their happily ever after

. The ending of this literally made me cry and I can't wait to read book two!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood and Murder

ladevonne's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful reflective 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

4.5

Though I felt like the story took a little to find it's footing in the first quarter, it rapidly hooked it's claws in me as I kept going. I couldn't put it down! Highly recommend.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Racism, Blood, and Death

Minor: Slavery and Police brutality

prairieraven's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional informative mysterious reflective sad tense 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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Minor: Addiction, Abandonment, Alcohol, Blood, Child death, Classism, Colonisation, Death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Grief, Gun violence, Hate crime, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Murder, Physical abuse, Police brutality, Racism, Slavery, Torture, Trafficking, and Violence

quejk25's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious 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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Racism, Slavery, and Torture

Moderate: Abandonment, Classism, Death, Death of parent, and Forced institutionalization

Minor: Addiction, Body horror, Child death, Dysphoria, Gun violence, Hate crime, Outing, Transphobia, and Violence

niita's review against another edition

adventurous challenging 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? No

5.0

Talk about cliffhanger!!! I gotta see what happens next!! Do Voya and Luca rekindle their romance? I GOTTA KNOW!!! 😭😭😭

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Blood, Child death, Death, Gun violence, Murder, Slavery, and Violence

aproudmc13's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious 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

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Child abuse, Addiction, Blood, Death of parent, Outing, Racism, and Transphobia

cemeterygay's review against another edition

challenging emotional reflective 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

I absolutely adored this book.

Between the wonderful focus on family, the amazing cast of characters, the interesting worldbuilding, and interesting exploration of choice and generational trauma.

I love Voya as a main character and her compassion comes through, although her initial indecision could be somewhat of a problem. I adored her relationship with her complicated relationship with her family. The author did a great job with building empathy for Voya and the stresses and mistreatment she at time faces from her family. 

I also really liked Luc as a romantic interest and I adored him as trans Latino rep. I love the asshole who only likes one person kind of person and he hits that mark so well. I love the complicated relationship he has with his identity as a Latino boy and his sponsor. 

I also loved how Voya's ancestors played a role in her growth and her involvement with her family. 

The blend of sci-fi and fantasy was great and I love how well-integrated Toronto was into the story and worldbuilding. I liked the world as a whole and I thought it was well blended into the story. I like how contemporary issues were addressed in context of the future time period. 

I love the full cast of side characters and I think quite a bit of the characters were given depth, especially other 

I am intensely excited for the next book and I did ultimately like how the primary conflict was resolved in this book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Police brutality, Slavery, Violence, Death of parent, and Child death

Moderate: Racism, Drug abuse, Death, Murder, and Eating disorder

Minor: Transphobia

Death of a mother

wanderonwards's review against another edition

I will need to return to this at a different time. I'm only 6.5 pages in and blood has been mentioned or inferred 23 times already and I just don't think I can handle the rest of this book at the moment.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood

amalyndb's review against another edition

dark emotional medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture, Slavery, Murder, and Blood

Moderate: Addiction and Eating disorder

Minor: Transphobia, Gun violence, and Racism