Reviews tagging 'Kidnapping'

Morning Star by Pierce Brown

14 reviews

laguerrelewis's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring sad tense slow-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

3.5

This is my favorite installment in the Red Rising series so far. A lot of my previous complaints are less glaring here—the female characters are treated less like sexual objects (though, ultimately, almost every one invariably finds themselves smitten with a man and swayed by whatever he wants), the core of the book felt a lot stronger, and the stylized narration didn’t grate on me this time around. Pierce Brown’s strength certainly lies in his ability to create a sweeping, epic battlefield, with twists and turns that keep you on the edge of your seat. I felt myself caring for the characters and their fates more than I had before, though I will admit some of the “twists” were unfortunately over-telegraphed. If you liked the last two installments, I see no reason why you wouldn’t enjoy this one!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Death of parent, Drug use, Gun violence, Colonisation, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Torture, Excrement, Genocide, Kidnapping, Violence, War, Blood, Medical content, Suicidal thoughts, Classism, and Confinement

_forestofpages's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring 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? Yes

5.0

Break the chains.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexism, Kidnapping, Gun violence, Cursing, Death, War, Xenophobia, Suicide, Slavery, Racial slurs, and Murder

Moderate: Torture, Emotional abuse, Child death, Self harm, and Death of parent

Minor: Excrement

grets_reads's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional 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

Scifi and dystopia isn't really my thing and I didn't think I was that into this series... Until I couldn't stop listening. 

It kept me engaged and guessing the whole time - just when I thought I knew where it was going, it would go in a completely different direction (but in a completely plausible way). 
I'm fairly certain that a large part of my enjoyment was due to how well the audiobook was narrated. Would definitely recommend.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Violence, Racism, Injury/Injury detail, Torture, Blood, and Death

Moderate: Suicide, Physical abuse, Grief, Genocide, Police brutality, Murder, Kidnapping, Classism, and Confinement

Minor: Excrement, Cannibalism, Alcohol, Slavery, and Vomit

heyjaycee's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring tense fast-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? Yes

4.0

After the end of Golden Son, everything is different. It's one of those 'where can we even go from here?' moments. But there is somewhere to go, and the only way is up.

Kept captive and tortured by the Jackal, Darrow must escape and return to his struggling rebellion. But when he does, he must contend with the clashing personalities of everyone he has brought together.

I appreciated how Morning Star became less about Darrow—though of course he is centre stage—and more about the people around him. Brown really shines at creating memorable characters, and they were all given their moment in the spotlight in this final book of the series.

Of course, the exceptionally grimdark tone continued, and I began to find the endless setbacks and awful surprises hard to bear. There was a moment, three quarters from the end, where yet another terrible thing happened and I immediately put the book down and didn't come back to it for three weeks. Eventually I returned to it, and was glad I did. But still—the neverending tension was wearisome.

Oh, and the ending? Allow me to sigh heavily. The political conclusion made sense, but the interpersonal wrap-up for Darrow felt agonisingly hackneyed. But there will be those who like that kind of thing, I guess.

It's been a rollercoaster of a series. Pierce Brown is a master of emotional intensity, conflict, and sci-fi coolness. I'm glad I experienced it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Violence, Torture, Suicidal thoughts, Kidnapping, Gore, Emotional abuse, Death, Cursing, and Blood

Minor: Cannibalism and Genocide