Reviews tagging 'Sexual violence'

From Blood and Ash by Jennifer L. Armentrout

62 reviews

allisonamber's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional 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? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Blood, Sexual violence, Violence, Body shaming, and Murder

Moderate: Death of parent

bree_h_reads's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced

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

0.25

What was that ending?

This book started out pretty shaky BUT I was won over by the amazing work of the narrator. She had a way of narrating things so that the banter and characters flowed in a way that the prose didn’t. I will also credit the book with the fact that Poppy felt like an 18-year-old girl scrabbling for control in her own life. The themes and exploration of them was interesting. Poppy’s character lent to these themes and it was fairly well done. Aside from that, the foreshadowing as fairly well done.

What really tanked this book for me was the last quarter of the book roughly. While it was declining slightly before the twist was revealed, that’s what destroyed the book for me. Everything about the characters and who they were felt like it vanished. Their actions stopped making sense and while I thought some changes after the reveal of the twist were well some, most didn’t. I stopped understanding Poppy and her actions. I found myself so frustrated with her and what she was doing that it tanked the book for me.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Sexism, Cursing, Death of parent, Religious bigotry, Confinement, Sexual assault, Kidnapping, Misogyny, Grief, Sexual content, Rape, Sexual violence, Death, Sexual harassment, and Violence

Moderate: Body horror, Emotional abuse, Murder, Confinement, Physical abuse, Gore, and Torture

Minor: Domestic abuse, Pedophilia, Child death, and Child abuse

cdoubet's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious 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? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Child death, Body shaming, Child abuse, Confinement, Gore, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Torture, Violence, Death of parent, Genocide, Bullying, Gaslighting, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Body horror, Emotional abuse, Murder, Religious bigotry, Sexism, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Panic attacks/disorders, Alcohol, Blood, Classism, Cursing, Physical abuse, Addiction, Death, Mental illness, and Misogyny

Moderate: Kidnapping, Domestic abuse, and Medical content

Minor: Toxic relationship, Animal cruelty, Pregnancy, and Fire/Fire injury

cupcakebazooka's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious 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

Graphic: Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, and Murder

louiepotterbook's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

1.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Grief, Kidnapping, Sexual content, Death, Misogyny, Sexual assault, Sexism, Sexual harassment, Gaslighting, Violence, Injury/Injury detail, Body shaming, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Sexual violence, Torture, and Toxic relationship

dalenora's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional medium-paced

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

3.0

I really did not enjoy the resolution of this book. As many have covered the plot was very predictable, and I could have told you exactly what all the reveals would be within the first 100 pages. I also found it to be very poorly written, to an almost annoying extent. I don’t tend to expect much of my smutty fantasy novels, I tend to think of them kind of like reality tv where my expectations are pretty low for the prose/plot, but this one somehow set the bar even lower than it had been. 

while I was kind of into the way the book explored organized religion and how harmful it can be when it’s used as a mechanism of control, I found the emphasis placed on the main characters virginity/purity to be incredibly uncomfortable, and it undermined any social commentary the book might have had. The way the male main character had what amounted to a fetish for her “purity” just really gave me the ick. I also really took issue with the end of the book and “Hawk’s” behavior. I had been anticipating some conflict when she finally found out the truth, expecting it to follow the same kind of trope where once she understands his motives she is able to forgive him, but with this book I found his behavior totally unacceptable. He didn’t even seem remorseful for hurting her as deeply as he had, and it seemed like he was almost gleeful to be completely shattering her reality. For how much the book focused on the way agency had been taken away from her, and the way Cas himself went out of his way to deconstruct her captivity and make her realize she deserved freedom, it was shocking to me that he turned around and inflicted the exact same trauma on her. He touched her without her consent, refused to listen when she said no, and completely tormented her. It’s just something I cannot excuse or get behind, and as far as I’m concerned he is the villain of the novel for that behavior. I have a feeling they’re going to completely overlook that abuse in future books in favor of continuing the romance, and I just cannot get behind a male love interest who treats the female mc like that. He was totally irredeemable whether they have “chemistry” or not. 

 

I guess despite not really loving this book I was still incredibly protective of the Poppy, so I was still into it to some extent. I just don’t really want that kind of abuse in my fantasy novels, it’s not my cup of tea. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual harassment, War, Sexual violence, Emotional abuse, and Domestic abuse

steen19's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny sad medium-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual violence

katbsc's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture, Child abuse, Sexual harassment, Rape, Sexual violence, Gore, and Religious bigotry

janeywaneyb's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny 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

4.25

A must-read for fans of ACOTR. Poppy is the revered Maiden who lives a sheltered life controlled by the Ascended. As her own ascension nears, her own desires and needs wrestle with the expectations on her. When the handsome Hawke becomes her Royal Guard, Poppy struggles to keep her emotions in check. What follows is some earth-shattering truths that Poppy will need to make sense of if she is to survive.
After book one, this feels like a great series, as TikTok readers have claimed. The first half is a little slow as the world & character building is the focus, the last half of the book has a good pace and of course the passionate smut makes an appearance. I enjoyed this read and will continue with the series.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Violence, Blood, and Sexual content

Minor: Death, Torture, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, and Emotional abuse

ampersandcats's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Diverse cast of characters? No

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse

Moderate: Sexual violence

Minor: Death of parent