Reviews tagging 'Police brutality'

Blood Scion by Deborah Falaye

4 reviews

booksthatburn's review against another edition

Go to review page


Expand filter menu Content Warnings

kbairbooks's review

Go to review page

I was consuming this as physical and audio (to try and have the audio assist me through the physical) and I just can’t anymore. It’s too much for me. Either death or rape or both every single chapter. Horrific thing, followed by horrific thing. There is too much horrific in real life and this fantasy is too real. It’s making me sick to my stomach. I don’t enjoy reading it, I don’t look forward to opening the book, it ruins my day. I have to be done.

Expand filter menu Content Warnings

hollyk's review

Go to review page

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.

Expand filter menu Content Warnings

sunrae_booknook's review

Go to review page

challenging dark emotional informative sad tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? N/A
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.25

This book came with the trigger warning but it did not let you take a second away from them. It was a very dark and hard read. 

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
More...