Reviews tagging 'Fire/Fire injury'

Blood Scion by Deborah Falaye

45 reviews

flamesocks's review against another edition

adventurous challenging 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Colonisation, Fire/Fire injury, Child abuse, Classism, Genocide, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Murder, Sexual violence, Slavery, Blood, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, Death, Sexual content, Torture, Gun violence, and Physical abuse

lover97's review

A lot of content warnings. I gave it a try but its just not something I can see myself enjoying.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Rape, Fire/Fire injury, and Sexual violence

booksthatburn's review against another edition

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Child abuse, and Murder

Moderate: Sexual assault, Abandonment, Misogyny, Racism, War, Gun violence, Sexism, Cursing, Fire/Fire injury, Police brutality, Genocide, Violence, and Colonisation

Minor: Sexual content and Rape

kbairbooks's review

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.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual violence, Child death, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Genocide, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Body horror, Colonisation, Grief, Gun violence, Police brutality, Rape, Pedophilia, Torture, Violence, War, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Physical abuse, and Blood

catsandbookspluspup's review

dark tense slow-paced

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, War, Child death, Body horror, Fire/Fire injury, Sexual assault, and Torture

vickymcckey's review

adventurous fast-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? Yes

2.5

A good speech can elevate a book, but when every dramatic line that can be created is shoved into the pages, the message becomes watered down. This results in characters feeling flat and whiny, and plot points appearing contrived. I liked certain aspects of this book a lot. The world building and magic systems were interesting, and every character had some degree of complexity, which I did appreciate. There was a lot of potential, but the “tell don’t show” writing style made me put this book down on multiple occasions.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fire/Fire injury, Violence, Torture, Gore, and Murder

Moderate: Sexual assault and Rape

Minor: Vomit

laurajeangrace's review

adventurous dark medium-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Religious bigotry, Colonisation, Gun violence, Murder, Blood, Genocide, Fire/Fire injury, and Death

Moderate: War and Death of parent

Minor: Sexual violence

kelly_e's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional 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

Title: Blood Scion
Author: Deborah Falaye
MSeries: Blood Scion, #1
Genre: YA Fantasy
Rating: 3.75
Pub Date: March 8, 2022

T H R E E • W O R D S

Emotionally Charged • Complex • Unforgiving

📖 S Y N O P S I S

Fifteen-year-old Sloane can incinerate an enemy at will—she is a Scion, a descendant of the ancient Orisha gods.

Under the Lucis’ brutal rule, her identity means her death if her powers are discovered. But when she is forcibly conscripted into the Lucis army on her fifteenth birthday, Sloane sees a new opportunity: to overcome the bloody challenges of Lucis training, and destroy them from within.

Sloane rises through the ranks and gains strength but, in doing so, risks something greater: losing herself entirely, and becoming the very monster that she abhors.

💭 T H O U G H T S

Blood Scion first came onto my radar when it was longlisted for Canada Read 2023 back in January. Unfortunately, it didn't make it onto the shortlist, but being a completionist, I wanted to continue to pick up the longlist titles throughout the year. Of all of the books on the list, I'd have to say this was the one more outside my comfort zone, yet I was pleasantly surprised enjoying more than I'd originally anticipated.

Inspired by Yoruba-Nigerian mythology, this novel is marketed as YA fantasy, however, for me it read more like the type of YA primarily written for adults. Books based in mythology will never be my cup to tea, but I definitely don't mind getting my toes wet from time to time, and this book took me places I didn't know it could. It is fierce. It is raw. It is brutal. And it's hard to believe it is a debut.

Equal parts compelling and heartbreaking, Blood Scion offers a fictionalized account of the real-life horrors endured by child soldiers. The intensity of the violence is hard to digest, yet showcases the lived experiences of so many of these child soldiers. There is quite a large cast of characters, but the one that truly matters is Sloane. She's one of those unforgettable heroines and everything about her character development was fantastic.

Tackling themes of slavery, oppression injustice, revenge and power tinged with a little bit of magic, Blood Scion took me by surprise. And while this genre will never be something I rush to pick up, I can definitely see myself continuing on with this series. I have no doubts that Deborah Falaye has a bright future ahead.

📚 R E C O M M E N D • T O
• mature readers
• fantasy fans
• readers looking for a strong debut

🔖 F A V O U R I T E • Q U O T E S

"Treat something like a monster and it will certainly learn to become a monster." 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture, Murder, Rape, Slavery, Violence, Hate crime, Genocide, Racial slurs, Sexual violence, War, Blood, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Racism, Death, Child death, Physical abuse, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Colonisation, and Cultural appropriation

Moderate: Grief, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, Death of parent, Classism, and Self harm

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

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