Reviews tagging 'Blood'

The Unbroken by C.L. Clark

75 reviews

melliedm's review

dark tense 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

4.0

Overall a fantastic read, and I’m looking forward to reading the sequel. There were times that the pacing felt strange, and some of the action sequences were confusing to read. I am also not entirely sold on the romance subplot, but I’m open to seeing how it shapes up by the series’ end.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Colonisation, Confinement, Violence, Xenophobia, Toxic relationship, Racism, Death, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Pandemic/Epidemic, Animal death, Child abuse, Excrement, Genocide, Gore, and Gun violence

salemander's review

4.0

this was a very interesting and pretty poignant fantasy, but it felt lacking in some places. the characters motivations got kind of confusing at times, leaving you wondering how many fucking lessons they had to learn before the understanding their actions were harmful would actually sink in. and while i do appreciate how complex the main characters were it felt redundant at times and the romance between them was not very believable. i still think this book was a great read but i don’t think it lives up to its full potential. i would be very interested to see how these characters develop in the continuing books, but i am rooting for the downfall of their romance lol

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Sexual violence, Blood, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail, Pandemic/Epidemic, Gore, Grief, Genocide, Violence, Fire/Fire injury, Slavery, War, Death, and Torture

angiepoggi's review

adventurous dark reflective slow-paced

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

3.5

 I didn't hate or love this book. I liked the world building being an analogy to France colonizing North Africa. Thus, it touches on themes such as racism, xenophobia and religious prejudice, but in a fantasy world with magic and many queers.

However, I didn't like the pace. It was slow (which I don't have a problem with) but boring. It took a long time for things to happen and there's a lot of time spent just talking, for example, until halfway through the book, about 245 pages, we were still building the narrative. Not to mention that, when some type of action could've happen, being running around or the characters discovering a secret on their own, a character immediately tells them everything and resolves the possible conflict quickly.  Also, after halfway through the book, the pacing becomes very inconsistent, with the ending, the very end, very rushed, but that part didn't bother me as much.

Now, I didn't like one of the main characters, Touraine.  She makes some decisions that made me so ANGRY AAA and they didn't make any sense, I mean, in theory they could've made for her, but the author didn't build much of a foundation for it.  For example, in relation to the development of this character, I know the points the author wanted to reach in Touraine's journey, but there were none to few scenes to justify the key changes in her head.

Even with all these reservations, I'm still curious to read the second one.  I heard that it's a different vibe and that the pacing is better balanced.

Anyway, I recommend this book if you want to read a fantasy that talks about colonialism with a lot of queers. There are a lot of people who love it, including a friend who wanted me to read it, so I think it's worth giving it a chance.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Physical abuse, Violence, War, Gun violence, Islamophobia, Toxic relationship, Police brutality, Hate crime, Colonisation, Cannibalism, Alcohol, Murder, Body horror, Blood, Kidnapping, Gore, Emotional abuse, Genocide, and Racial slurs

Moderate: Sexual assault, Vomit, Mental illness, Torture, Pandemic/Epidemic, and Grief

Minor: Animal death and Pregnancy

persephonefoxx's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense medium-paced

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

3.75

She was as free now as she ever would be. She could choose what she fought for. She could choose who she was willing to die for

This book has me conflicted - while it tells a story that is both confronting and important, there are elements that fell flat for me. 

This does an amazing job depicting the horrors of war and revolution, and the desperation of people fighting for their lands, their right to be treated as people, their freedom. It is confronting. It is raw. It is very real in its depiction. 

My struggle in this book stems more from the characters. I love a flawed character, it is what makes them real. However, the plot of this book ruminated on the constant backsliding and poor decisions made my Touraine and Luca. And while I believe Touraine completed a character arch, growing and changing (albeit it with constant side switching). Luca almost started and finished in the same place, just with a plethora of poor choices in the middle. 

Lastly, there are intricacies when depicting a coloniser/colonised relationship that I do not believe were hit. I am interested to see how the relationship and romance is handled and develops over the rest of the series. 

TL:DR - What this book has to say is very important. And Clark doesn’t sugar coat the horrors of colonisation and war. However, some marks outside of action and conflicts were missed. I am tentatively going to pick up the next book, and am curious to see if these marks are hit in the sequel. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Vomit, Violence, Colonisation, Blood, War, Death, Gore, and Confinement

Moderate: Torture, Classism, Sexual harassment, and Religious bigotry

Minor: Rape and Gun violence

marysunburn's review

hopeful informative inspiring slow-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Racism, Blood, Deportation, Pandemic/Epidemic, Trafficking, War, Colonisation, Cursing, Death, Genocide, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, and Murder

sophiesmallhands's review

adventurous dark emotional sad medium-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Colonisation, Blood, Slavery, Gore, Religious bigotry, Racism, Violence, Death, War, Chronic illness, Police brutality, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Child abuse, Torture, Hate crime, Classism, Kidnapping, Animal death, Vomit, Pandemic/Epidemic, and Cursing

heather667's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful medium-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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Injury/Injury detail, Colonisation, Body horror, Death, Gun violence, Pandemic/Epidemic, Suicidal thoughts, Blood, Chronic illness, Grief, Police brutality, Racism, Violence, Classism, Cultural appropriation, Torture, and Vomit

Moderate: Animal death, Child abuse, and Excrement

Minor: Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Homophobia, Murder, Sexual assault, Abandonment, and Rape

mar's review against another edition

dark slow-paced

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

2.5

this was so mediocre why did u guys lie to me :(

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Violence, Gore, Gun violence, Kidnapping, and Racism

Moderate: Grief, Fire/Fire injury, Pandemic/Epidemic, Ableism, Sexual assault, and Torture

Minor: Vomit and Animal death

lanid's review

dark

• 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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Colonisation, War, Racism, Police brutality, and Violence

Minor: Blood, Confinement, Death, Gun violence, Pandemic/Epidemic, Sexual harassment, Ableism, and Body horror

aseel_reads's review

adventurous dark 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

3.75

This one is a hard one to rate because I found it super engrossing and something I wanted to constantly read but at the same time, I found that some of the betrayals just didn't make any sense and were quite unbelievable, so I couldn't rate this as a four. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Sexual harassment, Body shaming, Child death, Child abuse, Colonisation, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Religious bigotry, Toxic friendship, Genocide, Gun violence, War, Blood, Kidnapping, Medical content, Rape, Torture, Violence, Vomit, Bullying, Fire/Fire injury, Murder, Slavery, and Toxic relationship