Reviews with content warning for Torture - A Crane Among Wolves

when the author said this book reads like a historical k-drama, well i guess she was right! this book tells about iseul, a girl in a mission to seek her sister, set in the joseon era around the ruling of king yeongsan. this book describes his cruelty and it was based on the history. it looks like it takes a lot of research just for this book.

the romance in this book was what got me the most. the MC went from trying-to-kill-each-other enemies to i'll-protect-you-even-if-it-costs-my-life lovers, making it interesting, honestly. but aside the romance, this book has such a heartwarming portrayal of sisterhood and friendship. it also deals with grief, how grief could make you so afraid to love anyone ever again. These quotes below was the ones that shattered my heart the most.

I did love my sister. The same way I had loved my parents, the same love that had left me bedridden with grief and depression, the love that left me haunted and sleepless many nights still.

More than ever, now, I was afraid of this love for her, afraid of the intolerable agony that came with loving anyone at all.

my only complain probably is that the plot twist wasn't that shocking. but it wasn't that much of a problem. overall, i enjoyed this book, SO MUCH actually i couldn't stop myself reading it especially near the end. so if you're looking for a romance-historical fiction with enemies-to-lovers and found family trope, try this book!!

p.s. prepare yourself for chapter 42 :)))

Content Warnings

abbehmelinda's review

Go to review page

adventurous dark emotional informative 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

4.5

THE HYPE AROUND CHAPTER 42 IS REAL Y’ALL.

This was one of my most anticipated releases of 2024, and it definitely didn’t disappoint. I fell in love with The Red Palace by this author when I first read it last year. The subjects and events that this novel covers are hard to read due to how grim they are and because the events in the novel are based on true events, but they are SO IMPORTANT to read and learn about.

The characters were so lovable, the plot was intriguing, and the transformation of the FMC was inspiring. I’ll have to definitely re-read this book bc it was hard to keep track of all the characters and everything going on, but I can’t wait.

Content Warnings

filipateodoro's review

Go to review page

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

It was darker and more violent than what I had anticipated, which I liked. Basically, this was not a 5 star read because I didn't love the way descriptions were handled. In some scenes I felt a bit lost and had to go back to recap where things were taking place, or in what positon characters were in a room. I found that travel between locations got a bit awkward too, I didn't feel like the author was giving the reader a good sense of how far away/near the locales were (maybe a map would've helped?). This was probably done to keep the narrative tight and moving along, but it made it harder for me to be immersed in the story. If the writing had dedicated a bit more space to describing the settings, the story and world would have felt a lot more atmospheric and rich, and this would have benefited the mystery plot.

In any case, it was a good time and I'm probably going to be reading the author's other work. The nerd in me loved that the author included the bibliography she used for research at the end. I'll probably look at some of those in the future.

EDIT: Forgot to add that there were a lot of korean terms that I had to look up on Wikipedia, even as someone who consumes south korean media and entertainment, for example the names for different ranks/types of palace maids/servants. Would've REALLY appreciated it if a clarification on these had been accessible (Keep in mind I read this on an ereader).

Content Warnings

spellbindingtomes's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark emotional mysterious sad medium-paced

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

4.5

Content Warnings

sydapel's review

Go to review page

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? It's complicated

4.0

Another really solid historical YA about a period of history I had no idea about! While pretty simplistic in form and execution, this has all the benchmarks of a great YA: tension between main characters, exciting action points and a healthy dose of angst. In particular, I love the characterization of the female main character, who is wonderfully stubborn and determined, but learns how to hone her impulsiveness into subtle action.

Content Warnings

rknitss's review

Go to review page

adventurous dark emotional tense fast-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

4.25

This book comes with a page one content warning. It is important to check that out if you're a younger reader or looking to give this book to a younger reader. I wouldn't say that any of the atrocities in this book are described graphically (and in most places are strongly implied rather than shown), but they are mentioned. This is historical fiction that takes place during the reign of a monster. The author has been extremely up front about all of this.

With that in mind, I think a younger reader could handle this. I would have been ok to read this at 13 or so but I know I shouldn't be the bench mark. The writing is excellent but clearly leans hard to a young adult/teen audience.

This was really hard for me to get into (hence the less than 5 stars). Our main POV character is an angry, spoiled girl when she starts and she stays angry through out. Rightfully so. Her journey to get back to her sister is difficult to say the least, there's a serial killer on the loose putting a rebellion in danger... but she is very easy to dislike up front and that made it hard for me to follow her journey. At First. Struggling past the 60ish page mark, I hit my stride and the book sucked me in.

This book features a dual POV that I haven't seen before. In mostly alternating chapters we have the first person narrative from Iseul, the aforementioned angry girl, and then a third person narrative that follows Daehyun, the "favorite" brother of the Tyrant King. It took me a bit to get used to the POV shift but it made for a very interesting read, especially when the characters interacted.

I would recommend this book to anyone (even young readers) who liked Red Palace by June Hur and fans ofhistorical fiction. I would even say this is a good introduction to it.

Content Warnings

221bpinkst's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

Content Warnings

More...