Reviews tagging 'Murder'

A Duel With The Vampire Lord by Elise Kova

5 reviews

siglerbooknook's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious reflective tense slow-paced

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

4.0

Despite its ups and downs I enjoyed this novel. Floriane is a great example of a strong capable woman who has believable skills and isn't a mean person. Ruvan was also well written with flaws, fears, and wants all fleshed out.

As always, Kova's side characters are my favorite. While some mannerisms became rather redundant, for the most part this group made me laugh, feel the second hand embarassment, and wish for a happy ending.

The plot itself dragged a little. The push me, pull me tension in the romance definitely could have been shorter and I skimmed some areas. I did figure out who the villain was well before the book told me, but the solution was delightfully unexpected.

The magic system introduced for the Vampir is excitingly unique and imaginative, and the underlying principals of the story were heartwarming. As always, I can't wait to dive into the next Kova novel.

🌶️🌶️

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Terminal illness, and Violence

Moderate: Sexual content, Gore, Medical trauma, Injury/Injury detail, and Kidnapping

Minor: Death, Pandemic/Epidemic, Self harm, Grief, Slavery, Suicide, Cannibalism, Murder, Death of parent, and Genocide

wormonastring's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

2.0

I wasn't sure I was going to finish this book. The first initial chapters were so cringe with bad dialogue I almost stopped reading. It gets better over time, though, and I wound up enjoying the character conflict. The ending of this book

gives you a happily ever after,

which is what I think most readers of this genre enjoy. It's an easy read and enjoyable for most. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Blood, Kidnapping, and Sexual content

Moderate: Body horror, Self harm, Death of parent, Gore, Animal cruelty, War, Animal death, Colonisation, and Death

Minor: Cannibalism

prettynerdy3's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-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? No

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Death of parent, Grief, Violence, Self harm, Murder, Body horror, Death, Injury/Injury detail, and War

Minor: Confinement, Addiction, Gaslighting, Animal death, Animal cruelty, and Sexual content

tieraneysreadingcorner's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious reflective slow-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

4.0

I took my time reading this one since there was so much more world building to add onto the previous books. I didn’t reread, so it really took me a minute to remember and catch up what each book had done. 


4⭐️’s because I thoroughly enjoyed it,
1 on the 🌶 scale for me. 


In the beginning I was skeptical, “wow another human has to help break a curse” *insert eyeroll*. But then I realized that’s just the trope of these books and I quickly got over it.

It felt a bit deja vu from the elf king plot, ‘the human girl has visions from the ancestors before them and figured everything out just in time’, however with that being said I still enjoyed it! It was the same yet different. 

I loved the plot in a whole itself. The forbidden love & sworn enemies falling for each other really has me in a chokehold. The acceptance in this book about working with a human? *chefs kiss*. The way the two MC forged (no pun intended) their relationship -minus the miscommunication- really made me feel like I was apart of their journey!  

Miscommunication, one of the worst icks in a book for me. Honestly why can’t the character just say what they mean? Why go around the whole subject just for their suitor/partner/future SO to misunderstand them, it just leads to more problems, which leads to more unnecessary plot. The book was long, longer than the other two. A quarter of the book was about her forging swords “so she could think” but she barely had any breakthroughs while doing so. 

All in all, 10/10 would recommend. 

I can’t wait for the next book in the Married to Magic series!!!

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Blood, Death of parent, Murder, and Violence

Minor: Kidnapping and Sexual content

chelsreid1's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense slow-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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Kidnapping, Slavery, Body horror, Cursing, Emotional abuse, Gore, Grief, Racism, Classism, Death of parent, Genocide, Injury/Injury detail, Suicide, Violence, Death, Hate crime, Murder, War, Gaslighting, and Sexual content