Reviews tagging 'Animal death'

Blood Scion by Deborah Falaye

3 reviews

hollyk's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional 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

So so so good!!
This book is dark, like, really dark. But it's about child soldiers conscripted into an army, so that tracks. I feel like a lot of fantasy series have a similar aspect of teenagers in military, but Sloane actively pushes back against that, where a lot of other protagonists are relatively complacent. I also see some similarities to The Blood Trials in this one, but Blood Scion focuses more on the ancestry and oppression of Yorubas and Scions, whereas The Blood Trials is more sci-fi and political. Sloane is young, and it shows at times, but that's understandable--she's a child forced into conscription. She's not going to be the most successful recruit, and that makes her easy to root for. She's tough, smart, and keeps ahold of her humanity when the military leaders try to break her. There are so many twists and turns, and I didn't see the ending coming. The only questionable thing is (MASSIVE SPOILER)

the slight romantic involvement with Dane at the end. He's 18, she's 15 and a subordinate. He turns out to be a backstabber, so this adds to his nastiness, but I was not a fan of the age gap here.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fire/Fire injury, Racism, War, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Child death, Cultural appropriation, Genocide, Murder, Sexual violence, Gore, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, Police brutality, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Torture, Violence, Blood, Grief, and Racial slurs

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Death of parent, Vomit, and Animal death

natsbookshelves's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense 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? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Torture, Violence, War, Death of parent, and Child death

Minor: Violence, Animal death, and Torture

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