Reviews tagging 'Torture'

Golden Son by Pierce Brown

22 reviews

joshoonet's review against another edition

adventurous tense fast-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

4.0

• I had a bit if a hard time getting into this book, mostly because the feeling of having to read another ~1200 pages to finish the series was kind of daunting
• But then I ended up finishing the majority of the book in one day, so it was absolutely captivating!
• Almost as good as the first one, but of course higher stakes and more complicated politics
• Lost focus a bit during the big fighting bits
• Love how nothing is ever quite how it seems, everyone is scheming all the time
• Starting the third book immediately!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Gore, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, War, Gun violence, Classism, and Death

Moderate: Vomit, Cursing, Murder, and Kidnapping

Minor: Child abuse, Genocide, Torture, and Excrement

War and pretty much all the violent and gory stuff:

well, there's war breaking out. A shit ton of people die in quick or gruesome ways, sometimes it's described in detail, sometimes not.

Vomit:

a couple of times someone has to vomit after experiencing a lot of physical turbulence aka being jiggled around. It's gross, but not overly graphic.

Kidnapping:

a child is getting kidnapped by the main characters for a short amount of time. It doesn't get harmed and doesn't seem terribly disturbed by the while thing.

blueberry0531's review

adventurous challenging dark medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Classism, Murder, and War

Moderate: Slavery, Blood, and Torture

Minor: Sexual content

nicoledelairs's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense fast-paced

• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

*Listened to the Audiobook narrated by Tim Gerard Reynolds*

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Classism, Death, Injury/Injury detail, and Gore

Moderate: Torture, Child death, and Death of parent

Minor: Drug use, Misogyny, Cannibalism, and Toxic friendship

berglindsh's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional 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? It's complicated

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Violence, Death, Gore, Blood, Classism, Slavery, and Torture

lilylaflair's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gore, and Murder

Moderate: Torture

bookwisp's review against another edition

adventurous dark fast-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

5.0

This is another excellent, bloody and brutal entry into the series. 

Having survived the brutal war games of the Academy, Darrow is launched into Gold society. Here he must survive and negotiate planetary politics, blood feuds and shifting agendas to further his own revolutionary designs. 

I wondered how the scope of the story would change following Red Rising and Brown did not disappoint. Gold politics are integral to Golden Son and it’s impossible for these sections to be dry, on account of all the bloodshed. If you’re not into fictional politics, you might struggle with this book but, to be honest, there’s probably enough action to carry you through even if that’s not your exact cup of tea. This book is packed with combat ranging from one-on-one duels to interstellar warfare. And, if that’s not enough, Ares is unmasked in this book; a reveal I found to be narratively satisfying. 

The cast of characters is, quite literally, colourful: Ragnar, an Obsidian, Orion, a Blue, and Theodora, a Pink, were my favourite additions. As before, friendship, trust, and loyalty stay on as key themes. As an aside, I do wish Mustang had been more developed in this second outing. Her character absolutely has potential, but I thought she was criminally under-used in this novel. 

Epic Fantasy is a recognised sub-genre – with Golden Son, I’d be able to make a pretty strong case for this series being Epic Sci-Fi. This book is very much about building the legend of the Reaper and, after THAT ending, I’m deeply intrigued to see how the legend unfurls. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gore, and Violence

Minor: Rape and Torture

grets_reads's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Violence, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Death, and War

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Trafficking, Police brutality, Classism, Genocide, Slavery, Xenophobia, and Grief

Minor: Torture, Pregnancy, Rape, Vomit, and Alcohol

powkaye's review against another edition

The book was just too violent

they bashed babies heads in

Also I was told that the writing and overall story would improve from book one but over 100 pages in and wasn’t getting better it was getting worse.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Blood, Child death, Death, Drug use, Gore, Rape, Sexism, Torture, and Violence

I know now that this is grim dark series. I’ve read them before but this was the absolute worst I’ve ever read and it’s directed at young adults. Reviewers don’t mention the barbarism when they review the book and thus aren’t being honest with their audience. I wish I’d known. Waste of time and money although I sent mine back for a refund.

astrea13's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective sad fast-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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Cursing, Death, Gore, Grief, Murder, Torture, and Violence

katiefronk's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional fast-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Blood, Gore, and Murder

Minor: Torture and Sexual content