Reviews tagging 'Fire/Fire injury'

A Curse So Dark and Lonely by Brigid Kemmerer

10 reviews

cdoubet's review against another edition

adventurous 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? Yes

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Cursing, Suicide attempt, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Death of parent, Terminal illness, Ableism, Suicidal thoughts, War, Genocide, Death, Physical abuse, Confinement, Grief, Medical content, Alcohol, Emotional abuse, Toxic relationship, Torture, Murder, Violence, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Animal death, Body horror, Cancer, and Kidnapping

Minor: Vomit, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Sexism, Panic attacks/disorders, Gun violence, Infidelity, and Suicidal thoughts

onefineelephant's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious 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

4.5

9/10. I really enjoyed this book. Not gonna lie, the beginning was pretty confusing and I was worried that it was gonna stay that way. However, after only like 3 (short) chapters, it got really good. I love the alternating POV. My only slight critique of this book was that there was A LOT going on. There were multiple complicated plot points and a lot of side characters but overall, I think the author did a nice job of having a lot going on but only enough that it advanced the story in an organic way. Also, the romance was nice, though I wish the characters were aged up just a couple years (not in a weird way, 16/17/18 just seems really young to be for the maturity levels of these characters). I am always a sucker for the "he fell first" and "he fell harder" tropes. Also, as a disabled person, I appreciated how the fmc's disability was incorporated and acknowledged. Definitely recommend.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Kidnapping, War, Vomit, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Grief, Alcohol, Gore, Chronic illness, Death, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Violence, Medical content, Murder, and Torture

Moderate: Body horror and Child death

Minor: Abandonment, Ableism, Gun violence, Rape, Suicide attempt, Suicidal thoughts, Drug abuse, Cancer, Cannibalism, Drug use, Misogyny, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, and Terminal illness

hapalyn's review against another edition

adventurous funny tense fast-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Death of parent, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Fire/Fire injury, Death, Emotional abuse, and Violence

Minor: Misogyny

katievallin's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cancer, Kidnapping, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Violence, Torture, Blood, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Medical content, Physical abuse, Stalking, Alcohol, Gore, War, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Suicide attempt, and Terminal illness

Moderate: Gun violence, Sexual violence, and Sexual assault

Minor: Child death, Vomit, Abandonment, Pedophilia, Infidelity, Rape, and Ableism

annorabrady's review

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, Medical content, Suicide attempt, Blood, Kidnapping, and Terminal illness

Moderate: Self harm, Outing, Abandonment, Child death, Death of parent, Cancer, Vomit, War, Violence, Torture, and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Ableism

lilacs_book_bower's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

3.25

I unfortunately wasn't a huge fan of this.  Harper was very quick to accept her situation, and also really should have made the connection between Rhen and the monster much sooner.  I feel like we are supposed to think Rhen grew and changed, but it felt like he had already done most of that before the book even began. Other than the main three characters, I don't feel like we spent enough time with anyone else (including Harper's family) to care about them.  None of the minor characters had more than one or two traits.  The plot twist at the end, to set up the sequel, came out of nowhere. On the plus side, kind of, I appreciated that Harper has cerebral palsy, and am always glad to see representation for people, but as the author does not have CP, nor do I, I cannot speak to the accuracy of the representation (and I recognize people's lives and experiences with CP can vary widely!). I'm wondering if I should rate this lower actually, but I did like the relationship between Harper and Rhen wasn't rushed, and I liked Rhen and Grey's friendship as well.  

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Blood, Death of parent, Murder, Cancer, Gore, Suicide attempt, War, Death, Kidnapping, Violence, and Fire/Fire injury

mo_books_read's review

adventurous dark emotional sad 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 love the fantasy element and how it's a dual pov and with the female lead you truly feel that she is a fish out of water in the fantasy world. Also she has cerebral palsy which gives her a limp but she never lets it define/ makes her whole personality but it is there and she works around it and is still a complete lovable badass.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Violence, War, Cancer, Death, Blood, Chronic illness, Alcohol, Murder, and Torture

fromjuliereads's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced

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

3.0

I enjoyed it well enough. Harper is a typical YA protagonist in actions and thoughts. Some of the other characters should have been developed more. I also think the book could have been shorter. Not sure if I'll continue the trilogy or not. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Death of parent, Violence, Blood, Cancer, War, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, Gore, Grief, Emotional abuse, and Kidnapping

Minor: Suicide attempt

readwithde's review against another edition

adventurous dark 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? It's complicated

4.25

This may be my favorite Beauty and the Beast retelling. 

First, I love having any character, but especially a MC with a chronic disease or disability. It was handled so well in the narrative; it never felt like a plot point or focus, but simply part of Harper. 

Second, I really liked the way the romance between Rhen and Harper played out. The friendship and trust is built first, then the romance begins to bloom. I liked that there was initial attraction, but it was a true slow burn. Normally I'm impatient about that, but it felt so organic and well-developed. 

I'm less of a fan of the

love triangle with Grey. At first, it felt like he was a brother figure to both, especially when Harper compared him to Jake a few times. Honestly, I would ship him with Rhen over Harper.

I do like how Grey's narrative turned out, for the most part.

Being a "halfling" human and magic user, and perhaps heir to the throne, was a big revelation, and I'm glad we saw him struggling with that in the epilogue.

I was most excited about how the kingdom and the people reacted to Rhen and his decision to start doing something for them. It helped build up the story to be worth a trilogy instead of a single book.

Even though it's off-brand for me, I like the semi-vague ending

of whether or not Harper loves Rhen, whether she broke the curse or if Grey did.

While there's still a clean ending, a resolution, it gives room for more play in the series without stirring up extra (i.e. unnecessary) drama.

Overall, I really liked it, and I'm excited to read more in the series.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Gore, and Violence

Moderate: Alcohol, Death, Emotional abuse, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Medical content, Sexual harassment, Suicide attempt, Toxic relationship, and War

Minor: Animal death, Cancer, Child death, Chronic illness, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Infidelity, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, and Torture

nytefall_library's review

adventurous dark emotional funny inspiring sad 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

5.0

I fell in love with this book so quickly. Of course I picked this up as it’s sold as a retelling of Beauty and the Beast which is one of my favourite stories of all time. I love that this is slightly different. Told from perspective of two of the main characters (mostly) it was interesting to see their minds and what they thought, rather then guessing on one side. The story is fast passes but does not feel rushed. The characters are well written and their flaws are evident but so is their development. I liked that Harper wasn’t exactly a cliché and thank you to the author for writing a character whose disability does not hold her back. I know this is not the same for everyone but everyone wants to know they are more then something they have or were born with. Rhen and Grey’s friendship is a lovely story and I cannot wait to see what the next two books bring. I loved Noah - his attitude to life is inspiring and how he adapts is brilliant. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Violence, Torture, and Blood

Moderate: Death of parent, Cancer, Suicide attempt, and Kidnapping

Minor: Fire/Fire injury