Reviews tagging 'Death'

Before They Are Hanged by Joe Abercrombie

21 reviews

saemiligr's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced

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

4.0

Powerful. Was completely swept away. Was mildly amused to remember that Logan talked to spirits. Read so many books where this was a big deal, and for this character it was a just a minor foot note of a complicated person.  Jezal's transformation was good, while Glokta's entire story is fascinating. It's exactly what people have said, none of them are GOOD people, but they are FACINATING people. 

I absolutely cackled with horror when the enormous journey ended up being a waste of time. It felt like a painful reflection of life.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Gore, Cursing, Sexual harassment, Murder, Death, Torture, War, Medical trauma, Animal death, Violence, and Chronic illness

marthadude's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-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? Yes

4.25

This is a great second entry in this trilogy. It builds on the foundations of the first novel and leaves a lot of interesting loose ends for the next book to hopefully wrap up. Abercrombie’s character work is fantastic. I do have a gripe with the way the female characters are written. Only one of them feels fleshed out and the rest seem more like objects for the male characters to gain more characterization. I wish they just had more to do. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Gore, Sexual harassment, Torture, Violence, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Murder, Alcohol, Cannibalism, Cursing, Racism, Sexism, Sexual content, Sexual assault, Vomit, and War

Moderate: Animal death and Animal cruelty

Minor: Fatphobia and Suicidal thoughts

There is a scene where a female character is about to be raped but is saved. There are also consensual sex scenes. They aren’t too graphic but they get the point across. Lots of mentions of death, war, and torture.

btrz7's review

adventurous dark medium-paced

• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Classism, Misogyny, Murder, Police brutality, Racism, Sexism, Sexual content, Slavery, Colonisation, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Sexual assault, Child death, Gore, Torture, War, Ableism, Blood, Body shaming, Religious bigotry, and Violence

coulro's review against another edition

dark emotional funny tense 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Excrement, Genocide, Grief, Animal death, Sexual content, Body horror, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Violence, Vomit, Classism, Cursing, Murder, Self harm, Torture, Blood, Cannibalism, Racial slurs, Rape, Sexual assault, and War

kylieqrada's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-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

5.0

I am so bad at rating books because it is legit allllllll vibes. The further I get into a series and the more invested I get, for the most part, my rating goes up. And there wasn't much room to improve here from The Blade Itself's 4.5 ⭐s! We were definitely moving and grooving more in this one (in some cases literally - ew Joe don't write sex scenes) and I am READY for book threeeeeeeee.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Violence, and Torture

Moderate: Rape, Sexual assault, and Sexual content

Minor: Animal death, Domestic abuse, and Slavery

redwavereads's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense medium-paced

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

4.5

What a sequel.
The character work continues. I am very much invested in every one of them.
It’s brutal and bloody and I like it.
Book one was the setting of the pieces, and book two is the middle game - it’s not clear who will win and the first hard hitting losses were endured.
Book one was barely any greater world building, only hints, and book two is starting to dive into politics and magic.
I’m very excited for book 3.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and War

Moderate: Blood and Torture

hannah8713's review

adventurous dark emotional tense 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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Torture, and War

Moderate: Sexual content and Sexual harassment

podanotherjessi's review

challenging tense medium-paced

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

4.25

WOW This was an improvement over the last book. Just already knowing the characters made this much better. I still wish the plots seemed more interconnected, and some characters I care considerably more or less about, but this was a good book. If you're on the fence after The Blade Itself, I recommend giving at least book 2 a shot.

Characters: 9
Plot: 8
Setting: 8
General appeal: 8
Writing style: 9
Originality: 9
Ending: 9

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Cursing, Death, Gore, Sexism, Torture, and Violence

Moderate: Murder, Rape, Slavery, and Vomit

taglharp's review

adventurous dark mysterious 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? Yes

4.0

4 bloody stars, and no mistake.

From a structural point of view, middle books in trilogies are always hard to judge for me. Not much experience analyzing them as I do with beginnings. The better they are in the elements I favor, the harder I know how to review them. This one is no different.

But. Say one thing for Abercrombie, say that he does not let you down when it comes to characters. Bastards they might be, bastard roles they might play, and yet no matter how vile... they fucking grow on you. If you were ever attached to any characters you met in the first book, well. I have both good and bad news for you in this one.

(And though I do have some qualms about certain choices in the narrative, they're few compared to the good.)

NGEL, don't think I'll be able to keep myself from jumping on the Last Argument of Kings ASAP.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Blood, Death, Gore, Misogyny, Racism, and Violence

Moderate: Cannibalism, Sexual content, Slavery, and Torture

Minor: Rape and Sexual assault

shadereads's review

adventurous dark emotional funny 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? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, War, Torture, Violence, Racism, and Murder

Moderate: Slavery and Sexual content

Minor: Sexual assault