Reviews tagging 'Colonisation'

A Shadow Crown by Melissa Blair

12 reviews

quinzelle's review

adventurous dark emotional reflective 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

I don’t think I’ve placed a hold on a book’s sequel as fast as I did for this one. Keera’s journey in this book was heartbreaking to follow and the ENDING!! I genuinely didn’t expect the book to end the way it did. There is romance and lately, I’ve found romantasy to be too formulaic but Blair writes the romance between characters as secondary to everything that’s happening. It’s not their focus and their personalities don’t become their partners.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Colonisation and Slavery

Moderate: War, Self harm, Violence, and Torture

Minor: Misogyny, Sexual violence, and Murder

All of the triggering content that Blair incorporates is done with purpose and is not poorly represented. Colonialism and the effects of colonization are themes that are the focus of novel.

cryosphinx's review

adventurous emotional 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

4.25

I really enjoyed A Broken Blade, and was happy to find that A Shadow Crown improved on almost all aspects. I'd say it's slower paced with less action but there is a lot of focus on Keera and his history and healing journey and because of that, it grows apart from being overly tropey like the first book was but it does suffer from being slow since there's a lot of relationship building. This series warms my heart and the found family is one of the best I've read in this genre. While still not super unique, there's enough differences from other books in the genre that I still find it wholly entertaining and captivating.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Violence, Blood, and Death

Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Addiction, Sexual content, Alcoholism, and Colonisation

Minor: Suicidal thoughts and Torture

rachelfayreads's review

adventurous challenging emotional 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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Classism, Alcoholism, Colonisation, Physical abuse, Kidnapping, Violence, Self harm, Genocide, and Grief

Moderate: Rape, Sexual assault, and War

laurenrcharles's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring mysterious sad 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Abandonment, Alcoholism, Colonisation, Addiction, and Death of parent

sophia_teknoe's review

• 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? It's complicated

4.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Grief, Torture, Colonisation, and Self harm

ljp817's review

adventurous dark emotional 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? No

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Colonisation, Grief, Self harm, and Violence

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Death, Death of parent, Murder, and Addiction

Minor: Ableism, Gore, Blood, Torture, Drug abuse, Confinement, War, and Alcoholism

melissaslibraryy's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful reflective 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? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Slavery, Classism, Confinement, Fire/Fire injury, Genocide, Grief, Medical content, Violence, Blood, Colonisation, Forced institutionalization, Murder, and Death

Moderate: Sexual content, Cursing, Genocide, Torture, Body horror, and War

starrysteph's review

adventurous dark emotional mysterious reflective 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

3.75

Okay Melissa Blair!! A Shadow Crown starts RIGHT where A Broken Blade left off - and in my opinion, adds much more depth to the world and characters.

Keera is bound to serve the king as his Blade - his top killer and spy. But she’s secretly been working against him, with his youngest son Prince Killian and the Shadow, Riven (whom she may just be falling for). They’re conspiring to defeat the immortal ruler once and for all and bring safety back to the kingdom.

But not everyone is trustworthy, and plans are thwarted one by one. Keera has to protect her people, find a potential spy, and navigate the depths of her own grief while uncovering the truth of her own identity.

I appreciate how accessible and engaging this series is. I think Blair’s writing has already improved tremendously from book one, and the pacing worked perfectly for me here. The overall arc of A Shadow Crown is much slower than the action-packed A Broken Blade, but there were still interesting things happening during each bite-sized chapter. I particularly enjoyed some new side characters, including earnest librarian Vrail.

This readability allows for brilliant overarching themes such as colonization, racism, trauma & grief, addiction, identity, and so much more to be highlighted and ingrained in every aspect of the world and characters. 

There were a few plot stumbles for me - mostly around Keera’s judgment and intellect (which I felt took a big dip here when compared with her decision-making in book one). I also felt like the writing was a bit awkward and clunky at times, and occasionally the tropey elements were overused without any clever subversions or fresh angles.

But there were so many captivating moments here - a few explosive battle scenes, but mostly a lot of emotional heart and growth and learning to live through loss and trauma. 

And the ending?! I can’t wait for book three.

CW: colonization, death, violence, self harm, murder, grief, confinement, gore, war, injury, genocide, abuse, slavery, suicidal thoughts, torture, fire, abandonment, addiction, mental health, racism, sexual violence, sexual content

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(I received an advance reader copy of this book; this is my honest review.)

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Self harm, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Colonisation, Death, Slavery, Sexual violence, Sexual content, Grief, Abandonment, Mental illness, Child abuse, Confinement, Gore, War, Genocide, Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Emotional abuse, Addiction, Racism, Drug abuse, and Fire/Fire injury

mcluster1's review

dark tense slow-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

3.75

Overall this was a good read. The characters are interesting and easy to route for, even Keera. However, this book definitely had some pacing issues that the first book did not have. I had a hard time getting through the first 75% and then the last 25% was constant action. I am still very excited for the third book! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Blood, War, Xenophobia, Torture, Slavery, Self harm, Gore, and Colonisation

kat1105's review

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad 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: Addiction, Alcoholism, Fire/Fire injury, Sexual content, Torture, Colonisation, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Drug use, Drug abuse, Slavery, Body horror, Child abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Murder, Physical abuse, Self harm, Child death, Alcohol, War, Violence, Gore, Abandonment, Blood, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Grief, and Vomit

Minor: Rape, Suicide, Suicidal thoughts, and Sexual violence