Reviews tagging 'Medical content'

The Blood Trials by N.E. Davenport

15 reviews

queergoth_reads's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious 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

I struggled to get into this at first and then it kicked off about a third of the way in and I was completely hooked. And that ending! I'll have to get to the second one soon because I need to know how on this is all going to play out. 

My only thing I wasn't so keen on is a huge plot spoiler so proceeded with caution.

I felt like thete were a lot of character deaths that just didn't draw a lot of emotion from me as I felt like I didn't really know them. This is particularly true for Zayne. I felt Ikenna's emotion but I didn't feel much for Zayne as he was kind of pushed to the side for a lot of the story, which just made me feel like some of the impact was lost. But at the same time I don't know how much of this is just me. I think I just wanted to know them more before we lost them.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny, Death, Racial slurs, Murder, Blood, Medical content, Violence, and Racism

Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, War, Gore, and Sexual content

emerentina's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional inspiring mysterious tense

• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, War, Bullying, Murder, Torture, Hate crime, Physical abuse, Sexism, Body horror, Blood, Miscarriage, Death, Violence, Racial slurs, Gaslighting, and Grief

Moderate: Medical content, Death of parent, Sexual harassment, and Sexual content

blakeandbooks's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark 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

LFGGGGGG

Why did no one force me to read this sooner?! What’s freaking masterpiece. Ikenna is such a badass who doesn’t take shit from anyone! So much happened from beginning to end — I was on the edge of my seat the entire time. The audiobook? So so good! I’m excited to read book 2.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Xenophobia, Murder, Racism, Violence, Blood, Racial slurs, Medical trauma, and Medical content

Moderate: War

Minor: Slavery

erincrichter's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional tense fast-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Racism, Medical trauma, Blood, Bullying, War, Medical content, Gun violence, Gore, Body horror, Death, Grief, Racial slurs, Physical abuse, and Violence

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

headinthepages's review against another edition

medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Alcohol, Drug use, Grief, Medical content, Misogyny, Murder, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Sexism, Racism, Animal death, Cursing, Child death, Death, Blood, Body horror, Bullying, Gun violence, Violence, Abandonment, Sexual content, War, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Torture, and Xenophobia

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

thelostartofsecretkeeping's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Cannibalism, Emotional abuse, Sexism, Bullying, Blood, Death, Death of parent, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Violence, Classism, Gaslighting, Gore, Torture, Grief, Murder, Racial slurs, Racism, Kidnapping, Misogyny, and Physical abuse

nytephoenyx's review

adventurous dark emotional slow-paced

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

4.0

The Blood Trials was a great story set up, and I enjoyed it. There was the right amount of action and just enough character and background to set everything up for a great book two—honestly, a great debut.

Why four stars instead of five? The Blood Gift Duology should be a trilogy. There were clear signposts for an ending after the Praetorian trials, but the book continued for another 150 pages. The next book comes out next year (and I will be reading it!), and I assume there's a similar point that will feel like a transition should have happened. There was a three-act feel to it, and the last third of the book felt disjointed.

That is honestly my only complaint! Otherwise, I liked the lore and the twists (so many twists!), and I eagerly anticipate the bloody, grimy story the next book is sure to tell.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Death of parent, Racial slurs, Classism, Racism, Gun violence, Death, Sexual content, and Violence

Moderate: Medical content, Alcohol, and Hate crime

Minor: 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