Reviews tagging 'Colonisation'

Blood Like Magic by Liselle Sambury

7 reviews

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

xandra_'s review against another edition

dark slow-paced

• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Kidnapping, Murder, Torture, Blood, Abandonment, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Confinement, and Slavery

Moderate: Addiction, Child death, Police brutality, Racism, Deportation, Stalking, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail, Outing, Suicide, and Transphobia

Minor: Alcohol, Body shaming, Fatphobia, Pregnancy, and Fire/Fire injury

jacksons_books_and_music's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional 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? It's complicated

5.0

I adored this book and look forward to reading the sequel!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood

Moderate: Murder, Violence, Slavery, and Terminal illness

Minor: Transphobia and Colonisation

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

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

hannahadamson's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful 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

5.0

Meet my new favourite book!

I absolutely loved Blood Like Magic. It was magical, mysterious and the characters were so loveable and well developed. If you love fantasy and the enemies to lovers trope, I would highly recommend this book.

I thought that the world in this book was really unique and interesting, it was a great blend of fantasy and sci fi. The world building was also done really well. The author does a really good job of easing you into the new world. 

I also mentioned this briefly at the beginning of my review, but the characters in this book were wonderful. Our main character, Voya, is so interesting and well developed. I loved her growth throughout the book and I was rooting for her the whole time. 
Voya has a really large family and I felt that all these characters were really well developed and I cared about them all so deeply by the end of the book. 
Luc was also a wonderful love interest. I loved getting to know him with Voya and there were so many cute moments!

The pacing in this book is also great. There aren’t any slow points at all, I was hooked the entire time.

Overall, I really loved this book and would highly recommend it to any YA fantasy lovers. I’m already desperate for book 2n 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Colonisation, Death of parent, Eating disorder, Murder, and Slavery

bedtimesandbooks's review against another edition

dark 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Slavery, Child death, Murder, Violence, Torture, Addiction, Blood, Colonisation, Death, Death of parent, Gore, Grief, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Racism, Toxic relationship, Police brutality, and Pregnancy

Moderate: Terminal illness