Reviews tagging 'Murder'

The Familiar by Leigh Bardugo

57 reviews

temperamentalprotagonist's review against another edition

dark emotional funny hopeful informative mysterious fast-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? No

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Death, Gore, Sexism, Torture, Violence, Blood, Antisemitism, and Religious bigotry

Moderate: Genocide, Hate crime, Infidelity, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Minor: Animal death, Infertility, Mental illness, and Murder

skbgfd's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent and Murder

Moderate: Religious bigotry

Minor: Cursing and Fire/Fire injury

ceeess's review against another edition

challenging dark informative mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture and Murder

queerloras's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful sad medium-paced

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

4.5

This was gorgeous. I didn't understand it properly the first time I don't think, but I'll be rereading it again just for the beauty of the prose so that's not an issue.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Body horror, Death, Emotional abuse, Slavery, Torture, Antisemitism, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Murder, and Fire/Fire injury

sarahsbooklife's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced

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

3.5

Honestly, I wasn't really sure what to expect going into this book. I knew very little, just that it was set in late 16th century Spain and a woman could do magic. And I'm glad that I didn't have any expectations going into this book.
It has a bit of a slow start. When I was reading it, it felt like it took longer than it actually did for characters to be introduced and for the plot to actually start. The overall pacing of the book is pretty slow. Maybe that's because I never felt like there were particularly highstakes for the characters. I was pretty sure that the main couple would get a happy ending even if no one else did. Although, towards the end I did begin to doubt that. 
I wouldn't say that this book was amazing. It was good and I enjoyed reading it. But it's not one that I would recommend to everyone.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexism, Blood, Antisemitism, Islamophobia, Religious bigotry, and Classism

Moderate: Death, Sexual content, Torture, Violence, and Murder

Minor: Mental illness, Slavery, Suicide, Excrement, Vomit, Grief, Death of parent, War, and Injury/Injury detail

thebooknook180's review against another edition

adventurous dark 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? No

4.25

I love the characters and world building. The magic was interesting and there was enough of a mystery and draw between the characters ever changing relationships to keep you turning the page. I did find the plot (especially with all of the characters) a bit hard to follow at times. Although we knew a decent amount about each character, I still found myself having to intently think about and remind myself who was in the scene and what relationships they help to one another. This started to impede my reading experience after a bit of it continually seeming to happen. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture and Violence

Moderate: Murder

Minor: Death of parent

zolifetimebookaddict's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense medium-paced

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

4.25

All though a slow starter this really gathers pace as the book moves on. More world building in the middle of the book would have been amazing! I enjoyed it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Cursing, and Blood

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Genocide, Sexual content, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, and Murder

turtles555's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional informative mysterious reflective 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? It's complicated

4.75

The individual stories of the very unique journeys the leads embark on brings brilliantly to life the disturbing presence of patriarchal societies. Top notch. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Misogyny, Racism, Sexism, Sexual content, Violence, Blood, Police brutality, Antisemitism, Grief, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

sashajust4you's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious 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? It's complicated

5.0

An amazing read. The language is beautiful and the characters stole my breath away.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Torture, Antisemitism, Religious bigotry, and Murder

vagrantheather's review against another edition

slow-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? No

3.0

Had trouble getting into this one. Picked up in the second half.

It feels a little wrong to me that the MC never acknowledges her religious background, even when she is on the verge of execution. Seems like a thread left untied. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Confinement, Sexism, Torture, Violence, Police brutality, and Religious bigotry

Minor: Infertility, Misogyny, and Murder