Reviews tagging 'Confinement'

The Blood Trials by N.E. Davenport

14 reviews

marinaaurelia's review against another edition

adventurous 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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Sexism, Violence, Blood, Racism, and Death

Moderate: Sexual content, War, Confinement, Murder, and Cannibalism

cass_ward's review

This book details violence very vividly. I think the storyline is good, and the characters are very well written, but I can’t stomach the descriptions of mangling and death. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Gore, Cannibalism, Blood, Murder, Body horror, Racism, and Violence

Moderate: Confinement, Classism, Cursing, Death of parent, Hate crime, and Racial slurs

tattooedbibliophile's review against another edition

adventurous 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? It's complicated

5.0

I’m mad that this book isn’t absolutely huge. It’s just as good as The Hunger Games or Fourth Wing, but it hasn’t been promoted by the publisher nearly enough. It’s absolutely amazing!

Beware, don’t get too attached to anyone. Nobody can be trusted. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Confinement, Misogyny, Religious bigotry, Bullying, Sexism, Injury/Injury detail, Racism, Death of parent, Grief, Sexual content, Blood, Classism, and Gore

Minor: Cannibalism

hollyk's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny mysterious tense fast-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

5.0

HOW DOES THIS NOT HAVE MORE READS???? Genuinely astounded. This is so good, it goes places other fantasy books with similar presences do not go. Some of the world-building is shaky and a bit cloudy/confusing, but with the more you read the easier it is to grasp. I would also say this is more new adult than young adult.

Ikenna is an absolute badass. She's also flawed, and I like that she's hotheaded, impulsive, and doesn't back down. Her resilience is commendable and I think she's incredibly complex. She shows a lot of growth, but I also think a lot of other characters show growth as well, which I think can often get lost in other books. Several characters have some big changes and I am glad to see that growth. 

The pacing is a little slow at first, but once the Trials start, they Start™. One of the twists is kind of obvious, but I think that the details of it are well executed and are shocking. I won't say more because spoilers. Speaking of, TW in spoilers:

racism, sexism, gore, violence, death, murder, body horror(?), cannibalism (?), mentions of slavery, death of a parent/parental figure, grief

I think that covers most of the major ones.

I loved this book and I will not stop thinking about it for the foreseeable future

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cannibalism, Death, Violence, Gun violence, Blood, Bullying, Gore, Medical content, Body horror, Death of parent, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Murder, Racism, Classism, Confinement, Racial slurs, Torture, and War

Moderate: Sexual content and Xenophobia

Minor: Pregnancy

mjdedevis24's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense fast-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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Misogyny, Racism, Sexual assault, Violence, Torture, War, Cannibalism, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Racial slurs, Blood, Death, and Grief

emfass's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious tense 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? It's complicated

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture, Gun violence, Classism, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Sexual content, Cursing, Misogyny, Body horror, Xenophobia, Death of parent, Violence, Blood, Racism, Sexism, Gore, Death, Racial slurs, and Bullying

Moderate: Cannibalism, Confinement, Alcohol, War, Grief, and Colonisation

kbairbooks's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

4.5

Wow! Between this and Queen of Nothing I’ve been reading some of the most vicious, blood thirsty, and VIOLENT books I’ve ever read. It makes for a really intense experience. The backstabbing, betrayal, who can be trusted, political agenda absolute beast this book is took me by storm. I couldn’t put it down! I was gripped and at the end I was staring into space experiencing this book. Incredible storytelling, incredible challenges, incredible strength and resilience in times of adversary. Wow.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cannibalism, Cursing, Gaslighting, Gore, Racism, Torture, Violence, Classism, Death of parent, Grief, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Toxic friendship, Hate crime, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Body horror, Bullying, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Murder, Outing, Sexism, and War

shaipanda's review

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense 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? It's complicated

4.5

Ok this book is bat shit insaneeee - I absolutely loved it but definitely did not expect exactly how dark it is so keep that I mind if you read this. However despite that, I really loved Kenna and this was a superrr engaging book. Despite it being  darker than I tend to prefer I’ll almost definitely read the sequel when it comes out cause omg so well doneee :) 
However I will say I personally didn’t give it a 5 star because of how unlikeable pretty much every character is at various parts of the story (including Kenna occasionally lol) and I tend to prefer to at least somewhat like the characters I’m reading about 
Oh also reallyyyy look at the trigger warnings fr cause this book is insanely dark and has no issues killing off characters 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture, Confinement, Racial slurs, Racism, Violence, Xenophobia, Death of parent, Gore, Misogyny, Injury/Injury detail, Hate crime, Medical content, Blood, Body horror, Cursing, Grief, Murder, Death, Gaslighting, Physical abuse, and Sexism

Moderate: Cannibalism, Sexual content, War, and Vomit

Minor: Toxic friendship

thereadingskeleton's review

adventurous dark tense medium-paced

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

4.5

Thank you to B2Weird Book Club and Harper Voyager for an ARC in exchange for an honest review and promotion. All opinions are my own.

Rep: Black MC, biracial LI, Black side characters

What. A. Ride.

Honestly, what else can I say?

Actually, a lot.

First of all, this book is extremely violent, bloody, and gory. It follows Ikenna Amari as she enters the Praetorian Trials, a brutal military initiation, to search for her grandfather’s murderer. With a premise like that (not to mention a name like The Blood Trials, amiright?), I went in expecting violence—but, even so, there was A LOT. I wasn’t particularly bothered by it, but if you’re squeamish, you might want to skip this one.

If I had to choose one thing about the book to gush over, it would be the blending of science and magic. I love science fantasy; it’s a genre I never get enough of. In The Blood Trials, Kenna’s home country of Mareen has eschewed magic in favor of technology—so much so that they’ve executed anyone in the country born with magic. This is a big problem for Kenna, since she secretly has a blood gift—one of the most reviled forms of magic. Throughout the novel, Kenna embraces her gift more and more, and I’m hoping that, in Book 2, that extends to the world and we get to see more mixing of magic and technology.

There were a couple of things I wasn’t as big a fan of. For one, Kenna hardly experiences any character growth. I expect we’ll see more in the second book, but it was frustrating to see her consistently making the same kinds of mistakes without learning a single thing. I was extremely frustrated with her for most of the book. That honestly didn’t detract much from my enjoyment of the story, because I was really here for the action-packed (if not always the least predictable) plot, and I’m excited to see the plot threads that were left dangling get picked back up in the sequel.

I also highly recommend the audiobook version! The narrator, Jeanette Illidge, did a fantastic job.

As a last note, this book is not YA. It is firmly in the adult category, and I definitely wouldn’t recommend it for younger teens. Some older teens will probably enjoy it, though.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Violence, Blood, Sexism, Bullying, Racism, Cannibalism, Gun violence, Torture, Confinement, Misogyny, Death, and Grief

Moderate: Xenophobia, Classism, Death of parent, Racial slurs, War, and Sexual content

Minor: Colonisation and Genocide

rebeccajost's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional 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: Physical abuse, Racism, Xenophobia, Cannibalism, Death, Grief, Gun violence, Hate crime, Murder, Racial slurs, Sexual content, Violence, Confinement, Gore, Medical trauma, Misogyny, Body horror, Sexism, War, Blood, Torture, and Medical content

Moderate: Death of parent, Gaslighting, Kidnapping, and Alcohol