Reviews tagging 'Fire/Fire injury'

Blood Scion by Deborah Falaye

46 reviews

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

zee's review

dark emotional tense medium-paced

3.5

Blood Scion is a dark fantasy story steeped in Nigerian-Yoruba mythology. It follows Sloane, a 15-year-old Scion, who is drafted into the Lucis army to continue the centuries-old genocide against the Yoruba people, specifically targetting Scions for their magical abilities. There is seriously a lot to unpack in this novel, and it is extremely violent (though, expected for a story of genocide backed by child soldiers, I guess). 

Although the story teems with lore, I found it hard to engage in. The recruit training is only 30 days, which seems impossibly short for the amount of action and events, while it also managed to drag on painfully at times. The pacing was highly inconsistent, and the end is similarly (and unsatisfyingly) abrupt.

It sounds like there is already a film deal on the table, and I think this story would translate really well, while adding a rich diversity to the usual types of Western stories told. It was a very impressive debut novel, but just not one for me. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Genocide, Violence, Child death, War, and Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Sexual assault, Self harm, Death of parent, and Blood

samjdoe's review

dark emotional tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Child death, Sexual violence, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Fire/Fire injury, Sexual assault, Murder, and Child abuse

Moderate: Self harm, Suicide attempt, Torture, Adult/minor relationship, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual assault, Cultural appropriation, Death of parent, Grief, and Violence

dragonwriter's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

This story was powerful but miserable. It’s not something I can casually recommend because what little light and hope there was was always squashed. Though I found Solange sympathetic, acknowledging that she was in a rough situation I could NEVER imagine facing, I can’t say she’s someone I admire or even like. She killed too many of her own people.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fire/Fire injury, Genocide, Grief, War, and Child abuse

Minor: Rape

kaylamoran's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark sad 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? Yes

4.75

Wow.

This book was nothing like I expected, and I loved every moment.  It reminded me a bit of the Poppy War at times, which is one of my favourite fantasy series.

The pacing was perfect.  Sloane was so well developed, so human despite everything she goes though and every awful thing she has to do.  Her moments of selfishness were so human, and its nice to read a protagonist for whom self preservation is more important than morality.  The story was so well crafted, and the twist at the end caught me totally off guard.  Overall, I thought this book was brilliant.

The only reason this isn't 5 stars is because a few words felt overused in descriptions.  "Bleeding" (as in to replace a swear word, like the f word) and bastard come to mind.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Murder, Torture, Violence, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, War, Blood, and Child death

Moderate: Death of parent, Genocide, Grief, and Sexual harassment

Minor: Self harm and Cultural appropriation

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

peeko99's review

adventurous dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense medium-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

4.5

Inconclusive ending, hopefully a sequel?

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Sexual assault, Rape, Torture, Fire/Fire injury, and Violence

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

bookishmikay's review

dark emotional 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? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Blood, Death, Body horror, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, and Classism

Moderate: Grief, Gun violence, Murder, Violence, Injury/Injury detail, and Torture

icelandicbookworm's review

4.0

I have had this one on my shelf since I got it in a fairyloot box last year. I have been seeing great things about it on tiktok and I'm glad I finally read it. Should have read it sooner! 
Recommend giving this book a try
Please read trigger warnings before you read it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Violence, Child death, Blood, Sexual harassment, Fire/Fire injury, War, and Torture