Reviews tagging 'Self harm'

Blood Scion by Deborah Falaye

21 reviews

shadesofdivine's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional 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? No

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Torture, Sexual violence, Self harm, Fire/Fire injury, Death, Child death, Murder, Colonisation, Genocide, Blood, Gun violence, and Sexual assault

remaininlullaby's review

unfortunately, nothing in this made sense to me. the second it got interesting, the protag did smth again that completely contradicted what her inner monologue said before. also, how much trauma do you want your 15yo to have, gdi

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Colonisation, War, and Torture

Moderate: Rape, Physical abuse, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Fire/Fire injury, Genocide, Gun violence, Racism, Self harm, and Slavery

Minor: Vomit

librarybookscene's review

adventurous dark emotional informative mysterious reflective tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Physical abuse, Cursing, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Genocide, Gore, Grief, Violence, Rape, Racism, Sexual assault, Self harm, Colonisation, Blood, and Classism

jenna_reads_'s review

This book didn’t peak my interest until 25%. I would have dnf’d sooner but am reading this for a buddy read so I pushed on.  For character growth MCs often start as unlikable. However, at 74% in I still can’t deal with the MCs ego and inability to control herself. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Fire/Fire injury, Violence, Gun violence, Child death, and Slavery

Moderate: Child abuse, Sexual violence, and Sexual assault

Minor: Death of parent, Self harm, Suicide attempt, and Vomit

ashlislibrary's review

adventurous challenging emotional mysterious sad 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Genocide, Child death, Gun violence, Colonisation, Self harm, Rape, War, Racial slurs, Racism, Violence, Murder, Hate crime, and Death of parent

lennie_reads'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? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Blood, War, Violence, Gun violence, Grief, Death of parent, Xenophobia, Racism, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Fire/Fire injury, Genocide, Forced institutionalization, and Colonisation

Moderate: Rape, Sexual assault, and Self harm

bookishflower's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional medium-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

3.5

I really wanted to like this, but I think it was just not my thing as I found it quite triggering. (This is my own fault for not knowing reading this book would not be good for me personally). 
However, this book has my total respect and there is no doubt that this is a rich world that will be so meaningful to other readers. You can tell the sheer amount of research that Falaye put into this book, how the topic of child soldiers was handled brutally beautifully. 
However, I was just not mentally prepared enough for the unrelenting and hard-hitting reality built into Blood Scion. I’d strongly advise checking the trigger warnings. I feel this book should be approached with the same discretion as The Poppy War which I have avoided but respected from a distance for this very reason. 
I’m glad I read Blood Scion because of Fairyloot and the read your own adventure read-a-thon, but I don’t think I will read this book again (at least not for a while).

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Colonisation, Cultural appropriation, Gaslighting, Violence, Abandonment, Blood, Body horror, Bullying, Child death, Classism, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Grief, Gun violence, Mental illness, Murder, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Terminal illness, Torture, Toxic relationship, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Genocide, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Self harm, War, and Xenophobia

mxkanteven's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense 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? No

5.0

This book is… amazing.

That’s the best word to describe it. Deborah Falaye did a phenomenal job creating the world of Nagea, taking inspiration from Yoruba lore and real world colonial histories to weave together a challenging yet gratifying read. 

The book doesn’t shy away from the atrocities of war, colonialism and subjugation. Nor does it sweep rage and anger under the rug in favour of a love & light message. It paints a vivid picture of the realities of being a child living and fighting in a world of systemic inequities and oppressions. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Genocide, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Physical abuse, Self harm, and War

Moderate: Physical abuse, Gun violence, Confinement, Outing, Injury/Injury detail, and Genocide

betweentheshelves's review against another edition

adventurous dark 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

 Thanks to HarperCollins and NetGalley for an advanced copy of this to review! The cover to this book is absolutely striking. You know from the beginning you're likely getting an action packed science fiction epic, and that's exactly what this book delivers.

Falaye sets the tone of this story right from the beginning. We get to see Sloane's powers in the first opening scene, and you know that something dangerous is going to follow it. This is definitely a military driven story, and we see how this affects Sloane from beginning to end. Thoughout, Falaye integrates the African mythology with the technology of those in power, making for an overall hard-hitting story.

While sometimes pacing can be difficult for stories like this, I'd argue the pacing is pretty spot on in this book. It makes the story itself more accessibly, and it makes it difficult to put the book down. In addition to the pacing, Falaye fleshes out each of the main characters well. They more than one dimensional, adding to the intense nature of the story.

All in all, if you're looking for something like Skyhunter by Marie Lu, this is a great read-a-like. I'd definitely be interested in reading the next book! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Genocide, and Physical abuse

Moderate: Sexual assault, Self harm, and Rape

Minor: Death of parent and Trafficking

amivireads's review

adventurous challenging dark sad 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

 Thank you Harper Collins and Edelweiss for an arc of Blood Scion; here is my honest review.

Blood Scion has become my new favorite fantasy book! The characters are complex, and even when I didn't agree with their decisions, I understood why they made them.

Slone is a great main character that is put through a lot but still holds onto her humanity as she is put through horrifying things.

There's a lot of twists with this story that I didn't see coming, and the ending left us off on a cliffhanger. Usually I can guess what's going to happen next, but I really have no idea where the story goes from here. This truly shows me how great of a writer Deborah Falaye is. I need book 2 now!

 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Colonisation, Blood, Child abuse, Child death, Fire/Fire injury, Genocide, Physical abuse, Slavery, and Violence

Moderate: Colonisation, Cultural appropriation, Rape, Sexual harassment, Self harm, Sexual assault, and Torture

Minor: Death of parent