Reviews tagging 'Terminal illness'

Blood Scion by Deborah Falaye

4 reviews

eeyores_flowers's review

adventurous challenging dark tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• 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: Gun violence, Violence, Racism, Emotional abuse, Gore, Kidnapping, Terminal illness, War, Colonisation, Cultural appropriation, Grief, Death, Abandonment, Genocide, Body horror, Child abuse, Gaslighting, Murder, Police brutality, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Slavery, Blood, Rape, and Sexual assault

kirstenf's review

adventurous dark emotional hopeful inspiring sad 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Hate crime, Gun violence, Child death, Child abuse, Physical abuse, Violence, Murder, Genocide, Fire/Fire injury, and Death

Moderate: Colonisation, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Death of parent, War, and Cultural appropriation

Minor: Terminal illness, Sexual violence, Kidnapping, Confinement, Rape, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, and Chronic illness

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

gem114's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional 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? No

4.0

Damn. There's a warning at the beginning of this book that while the story itself is fiction the experiences of the characters are based on the real experiences of child soldiers, and Falaye doesn't hold back. This book is dark.  Many of the scenes are hard to read because the content is brutal. Still, Falaye does an amazing job packaging these hard truths in a way that pushes readers to grapple with them and keep reading rather than turning away.

This book reminded me a lot of Children of Blood and Bone since that's the only other book I've read that is based in the same mythology, but Falaye does a better job at developing complex, morally gray characters. Sloane is a great main character. She's a strong young woman with badass ancestral magic taking on an oppressive monarchy while struggling to balance her own humanity with her survival instincts. 

The whole book is a roller coaster, but the last 50 pages or so are absolutely wild. So much happens. Almost too much. Definitely too much given the number of questions I still have and the fact that the next book isn't out yet. This is me impatiently waiting for a sequel.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Torture, Racism, Physical abuse, Murder, Blood, Genocide, Fire/Fire injury, Child death, War, Death of parent, Colonisation, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Rape, Gun violence, and Child abuse

Minor: Cultural appropriation and Terminal illness