Reviews tagging 'Violence'

A Crane Among Wolves by June Hur

46 reviews

clone's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring mysterious sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Violence, Trafficking, Kidnapping, and Murder

221bpinkst's review against another edition

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

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Confinement, Death, Violence, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, and War

Minor: Cursing, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Blood, Stalking, Pregnancy, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

amyteurhour's review

3.75

Content warning: murder, kidnapping, rape, torture, blood, violence, death of a parent, death of a child, physical abuse, emotional abuse, sexism, sexual violence, imprisonment, pregnancy, miscarriage, suicide, suicidal thoughts

There's a content warning list at the beginning of the book provided by the author which I appreciated. This is really dark. Maybe it's because I recently read Burial Rites by Hannah Kent, but I found myself getting similar vibes from the two. Things start out kind of slow, and I found Iseul to be a bit frustrating at first (but I think that was kind of Hur's point). 

If you're going to check this out, I'd recommend listening to the audiobook narrated by Greg Chun and Michelle H. Lee; I enjoyed their performances and listening helped me visualize what was happening. If you've watched historical k-dramas and are a fan of the political intrigue-y shows, then I think you would enjoy this book.  

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Kidnapping, Death of parent, Murder, and Pregnancy

whomever_0's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes

4.0

Hur is great at creating an intriguing mystery set in historical setting that I often know little about. Despite the the summary, the novel wasn't as coup focused as I thought it was going to be, but I still enjoyed the plot.  I have read other books by Hur and she very formulaic and recycle the same tropes, but I like the formula ~ so if you are interested in reading be aware. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Violence, and Murder

Moderate: Rape and Suicide

abbrown118's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Sexual violence, Violence, and Grief

Minor: Animal cruelty, Incest, and Rape

trillen17's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious 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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Violence

Minor: Incest, Rape, and Sexual assault

jartone93's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional informative mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Death, Gore, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

phoenixfire88's review

dark emotional mysterious sad medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Minor: Death, Rape, Suicide, Violence, and Death of parent

dreamer626's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense 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

3.75

I was more interested in the mystery plot and the politics at play than the romance. For me, it seemed like the relationship between Iseul and Daehyun was more of a friendship. I also appreciated the author showcasing a piece of Korea's tragic past as an inspiration for this story.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Death, Sexual content, and Violence

lm19's review against another edition

dark hopeful medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix

3.75

Overall a truly interesting book about a terrible period in Korean history.  The first half of the book was the stronger portion for me but that might be because I never really bought into the romance between the main leads. It just ended up feeling forced and the turn from “enemies” to lovers didn’t flow as naturally as it could have been depicted.  There also seemed to be too many easy plot conveniences in the second half that just felt lazy?  I don’t usually advocate for longer books but maybe additional pages could have let the introduction of characters like “Crow” flow better.

I also wish that we got more of the actual coup from Daehyun’s perspective and even that there were more scenes with Yeonsan in the second half - he really just kind of disappeared towards the end.  And in a way I almost wanted Yeonsan to be worse?  He certainly did horrible things but so much was “told” and not enough was “show” to really build him into the terrible antagonist he was in real life. 

But in general a strong book that could have been even better with some changes to the second half.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Sexual violence, Slavery, and Violence