Reviews tagging 'Cursing'

The Ashes and the Star-Cursed King by Carissa Broadbent

27 reviews

hapalyn's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Death, Torture, Blood, Fire/Fire injury, Sexual content, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, War, and Violence

Moderate: Slavery, Medical content, Child abuse, Confinement, Grief, and Murder

wildflower_magic's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Slavery, Injury/Injury detail, Abandonment, Blood, Death, Cursing, Grief, Confinement, Death of parent, Violence, War, Sexual content, and Gore

Moderate: Torture, Vomit, Child abuse, Child death, and Sexual assault

Minor: Alcohol, Animal death, and Classism

emilywemily6's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective tense medium-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

4.25

I enjoyed this book and found that it has a lot of things that I love- complex and messy characters that are so relatable and lovable, intriguing world building and political intrigue, exploration of grief, etc. I think vampires are just not quite for me. I loved seeing the progression of Oraya’s reconciliation with her past and Oraya and Raihn’s relationship after what happened in the first book- it was dynamic and flawed and heartbreaking and heartwarming all at once. And the spice 🥵 I’m not usually a fan of messy relationships but I enjoyed this one. I loved the twists at the end and look forward to hearing more stories about the white pantheon of gods if the author delves further that way. This book is just too long though, so I am more happy to be done reading it that I was reading it, if that makes sense. I would read more from this author, but I probably wouldn’t seek out her books unless they were significantly shorter than 600 pages. I look forward to the novella set in this world!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Excrement, Gore, Grief, Body horror, Murder, Sexual content, War, Blood, Cursing, Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, and Violence

Moderate: Confinement

Minor: Alcohol, Toxic relationship, and Vomit

hannahp95's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional tense slow-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? It's complicated

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Gore, Grief, Death, Slavery, Rape, Sexual content, Torture, Cursing, and Vomit

headinthepages's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes

4.75

Gah! Ok I love this series. I need more and can’t wait for another FOUR books 😍

The pacing, scene setting and plot itself are brilliant and engaging in this. It didn’t feel like a longer book and I was riveted the whole way through.

I love the character development that continues from book 1 into book 2, I love these characters so much and hope I get to see them in the other books of the series!

If you love vampires, action & enemies to lovers then get reading!

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Blood, Child abuse, Child death, Death of parent, Gore, Murder, Slavery, Alcohol, Animal death, Body horror, Kidnapping, Medical content, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Rape, Cannibalism, Pregnancy, Abandonment, Cursing, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Torture, Toxic relationship, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Violence, and War

casey05's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content, Blood, Violence, Death, Grief, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Child abuse, Cursing, Death of parent, War, and Confinement

Minor: Excrement

lovejasmine's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Cursing, Gore, Murder, Blood, Grief, Physical abuse, and War

Minor: Alcohol, Genocide, Death of parent, Torture, Violence, and Confinement

skillyillian's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional sad tense 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? Yes

4.0

Okay okay okay. So. I devoured the first one, read 6SR, and hopped straight into this one. The first 30-40% of this book is distrust, trauma, and political disasters, without a ton of action right away. It picks up really nicely from the last one but it didn't seem like a ton of super super important stuff happened until after the first third-ish of the book. It felt like some stuff could've been cut out, but it's weird bc the ending felt a little rushed? Like everything needed to end with a nice bow bc we're done with oraya and raihn now. If some of the earlier stuff had been swapped to fill out the end more I would've liked that better. The stakes didn't feel quite as high this time I think, which is weird considering the circumstances of this book? But I think it's bc there weren't really any major character deaths and the action took a minute to get to.

raihn and oraya's takeover at the very end should've been more complicated than it was. Idk maybe it's just me but a time skip of a few weeks and summing it up to "we scared everyone out of rebelling and now they're probably loyal to us?" felt too easy. I don't mind a lot, I think I'd rather have that over the mildly-drawn-out politics of the beginning of the book again, but it did feel very glazed over. I think something like listing a few names of nobles who didn't bow down right away would've been good to slip in and keep in her back pocket for later would've been good, but idk. 🤷🏻‍♀️

 

Getting more story with Vincent and Septimus was great, but I feel like more on Jesmine would've been nice too though. I like Vale but he felt a little flat compared to who he was in 6SR, so I'm definitely glad I read the novella first otherwise he might've been easy to dislike. I'd have liked Lilith to be more than kind of a plot device for the main event that happens with her and Vale in this one? But I'm super attached to Lilith at this point tbh. 

Watching oraya deal with her loss of trust in Vincent first and then raihn immediately after was very relatable and it was nice to see that there is no easy, one-size-fits-all answer for having conflicting feelings about loving someone who hurt you and broke your trust. Especially with Vincent, realizing someone close to you did a bunch of fucked up shit, even in the name of what they thought was love and protection, and then dealing with all of that baggage. Damn dude. Hit the nail on the head to see her reconcile with that and not find an easy solution, or one at all.

Overall the plot isn't quite as edge-of-your-seat as the last one until the last third of the book, give or take. Still an excellent book. I loved that the first one was enemies to lovers and the second one did it all over again but without it feeling repetitive. There were still "folds" and "slit" in the smut, which I boo wholeheartedly, but it didn't make me hate it. The romance and intimacy was very good, some of it had me actually grinning. There's a particular couple of chapters with dual POV bitey smut and when I tell you WHEW I mean WHEW. 🥵 So good. But ANYWAY very good book, despite being a little slow sometimes. Seeing oraya and raihn come apart and back together to save their home was fulfilling and I really enjoyed it. I'll be waiting eagerly for the next one. 🖤

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Sexual content, Cursing, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Blood, War, Gore, Death, and Grief

Moderate: Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Slavery, Death of parent, and Sexual assault

edilyaaang's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious 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

5.0

Usually, when I really like the first book, the second one doesn't usually meet my expectations. But this one topped it, damn it. The first few chapters were slow but when it gained momentum, it took me to a rollercoaster ride. I can't wait for Mische's story!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Classism, Grief, War, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Death, Death of parent, Gore, and Murder

Moderate: Alcohol, Confinement, Cursing, Genocide, Self harm, and Fire/Fire injury

kotahlotah's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional 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: Blood, Cursing, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual content, Violence, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Death of parent, Death, and Confinement

Moderate: War

Minor: Torture, Alcohol, Child death, Emotional abuse, Kidnapping, Suicidal thoughts, Slavery, and Sexual violence