Reviews tagging 'Grief'

Blood Like Magic by Liselle Sambury

19 reviews

pagesofplatypus's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

One of the best YA fantasy books I've read. With a lush, slightly futuristic world and rich magic system, Loselle Sambury crafts a pulse-pounding novel of magic, choice, and sacrifice.

Voya is a compelling protagonist with crippling indecision and immense care for her family. She's faced with an inpossible task and readers greatly sympathise with her conflict between saving her family and destroying her first love.

There are plenty of shocking twists that lead to a pretty satisfying ending, despite this being only book 1 of 2 there's no frustrating cliffhanger and it feels like it could be a standalone.

The famy dynamics are messy and strained but with loce and trust serving as the main conflict points. I really like how all the characters felt fully developed no matter how much page time they were given. Keis and Alex are standouts.

Part of the premise of learning to trust in yourself, what determines your worth, and what you're willing to do to protect your family remind me a bit of Encanto especially with the aspects of a large family, a Matriarch, fading magic/threat of loss of magic for the entire family, and magic being tied to a family house.

I definitely look forward to reading the sequel and highly recommend this as a teen/YA sci-fi/fantasy read.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Death, Grief, Hate crime, and Slavery

Minor: Addiction, Eating disorder, Abandonment, and Drug abuse

emzhay's review

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced

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

2.5

I really really wanted to love this book. At the mid-point it was looking like 4 stars, then 3.5 but the ending really ruined things for me.

The characters were the highlight of the book for me from the beginning. I cared about literally everyone and wanted to know more about them. I liked how messy their relationships
were too. The plot, however, was way too drawn out. It could have been edited down. There was too much telling and not enough showing. There was so much repetition that could have been excluded, and so many details that were over explained at least 3 times sometimes in the same chapter. It made listening to the book such a chore especially toward the end.

I know this is a duology, but the ending is incredibly unsatisfying.

We’re told (many times) that Voya struggles with choices, but we never see her struggle with a choice that isn’t somehow related to the task which literally anyone would struggle with. Her major character flaw is that she’s never thinking about the right things. She only looks at the surface of a problem. So much of the book could’ve been avoided if she (or anyone in her family) had thought about things beyond like two steps. I know they’re dysfunctional, and I liked that about them, but eventually it made for a difficult reading experience

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Slavery, Death, and Blood

Moderate: Ableism and Grief

Minor: Addiction and Eating disorder

therainbowshelf's review

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Classism, Gore, Slavery, Racism, Transphobia, Murder, Kidnapping, Mental illness, Blood, Violence, Grief, and Torture

Moderate: Eating disorder

hecubatohim's review against another edition

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Slavery, Violence, and Blood

Moderate: Torture, Murder, and Death

Minor: Addiction, Child death, Drug abuse, Grief, Racism, and Drug use

jenna_04's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious slow-paced

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

2.0

A lot of repetition in the story, it's very slow paced seeing it took 400 pages to get to the actual task being preformed. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Murder, Self harm, Injury/Injury detail, and Death

Moderate: Grief, Racism, and Police brutality

Minor: Addiction, Medical content, and Kidnapping

aformeracceleratedreader's review

dark mysterious sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Loveable characters? It's complicated

3.75

A slow start but picked up throughout. I really enjoy the premise along with all the magic meets future tech, but Voya could get a little frustrating. Will read the sequel because I overall enjoyed the story and writing.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Grief, Murder, Death, Medical content, Blood, Child death, Death of parent, and Injury/Injury detail

annorabrady's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective 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

4.5

The magic system is interesting and well designed, though I won't lie and say it was particularly nice to read of some of the uses.

Especially in instances where blood mixee on open wounds or when Voya poured the blood into her eyes. The first drew me out of the story with thoughts of bloodborne illnesses and the latter triggering thosd thoughts AND completely grossed me out.

 

I understand and appreciate the resolution, and the point of the challenge. Though I feel angry about how the story wrapped up because Keis deserved betted.

I kept waiting for Voya to realize that self sacrifice was an option, or that revealing the truth to Luc about Justin was also an option. Also, binding Keis to the house with no contract with the outside world was especially cruel and selfish – the opposite of what she claims to be her goal. Hell, bringing down Justin would have succeeded in destroying both Keis and Luc while better appealing to the goal of helping everyone.

The ending is why I can't rate this higher. Though it's not bad enough for me to rate this lower. 

I do greatly appreciate the representation of various minority groups in this story, as well as the social commentaries on racism, colonialism, slavery, generational trauma, family dynamics, communities, dependencies on technologies, etc at various points in history. It's both timely and timeless. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Kidnapping, Grief, Classism, Colonisation, Death, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Child abuse, Mental illness, Police brutality, Racism, Self harm, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Confinement, Cursing, Gore, Gun violence, and Sexual violence

Moderate: Addiction, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Chronic illness, Eating disorder, and Medical content

madamenovelist's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense slow-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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Medical trauma, Blood, and Death of parent

Moderate: Drug abuse, Body horror, Self harm, Police brutality, Alcohol, Violence, Slavery, Grief, and Racism

halfbloodprincess_hogwarts's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring mysterious sad 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

5.0

Blood Like Magic is pure perfection. I may have found my favorite book for 2022🥰😍

That was quite an emotional rollercoaster...I am speechless. It's impossible to add specific lines (I annotated this like crazy) without gushing over what happened that it felt like watching a movie series.

 It was quite indept... going through the various magic systems, magical families, scientific use of genes and the list goes on!!!!

 There were so many laugh out loud moments and one in particular was comic relief at the PERFECT moment 👏🏼🤌🏼 relating to a "certain" family member, it would be a HUGE SPOILER.

I ADORE Voya and find her to be a truly relatable character. From being afraid to making mistakes to her passion for baking to her fierce love for her family and grandma🥰🥺🦋.

I am so enthused its the first of a duology and will soon purchase physical copies to enjoy over and over again. BE ON THE LOOKOUT FOR BLOOD LIKE FATE, released August 9th. I know for a fact it will NOT disappoint🔥🦋🦋🦋

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture, Addiction, Blood, Death of parent, Drug use, Injury/Injury detail, Confinement, Emotional abuse, Pregnancy, Violence, Alcohol, Child death, Cursing, Forced institutionalization, Gore, Vomit, Body shaming, Chronic illness, Death, Hate crime, Murder, Police brutality, Infertility, Medical content, Body horror, Kidnapping, Medical trauma, Bullying, Grief, Gun violence, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Racism, Slavery, and Stalking

yvonne_cl's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• 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, Slavery, Murder, and Violence

Moderate: Racism, Medical content, Terminal illness, Grief, Addiction, Abandonment, Torture, Police brutality, Drug abuse, Death of parent, and Death

Minor: Infidelity, Gun violence, and Eating disorder