Reviews tagging 'Excrement'

House of Flame and Shadow by Sarah J. Maas

32 reviews

jeanettesreadingcorner's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring tense 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? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Gore, Sexual content, Slavery, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Excrement, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

avialaeleigh's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional funny sad 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? No

5.0

Okay every part of this book had me on the edge of my seat. 

Fucking Bryce going to Valaris and hanging out with the sass queen herself Nesta. The Asteri being intergalactic parasites that feed on people magic and all the shit that we learn about how Midgard came to be the way it is. Hel being another world and not a part of Midgard. Ruhn and Lidia being mates. 

All the shit that goes one is just one roller coater after another. Honestly it's so hard to remember everything that happened it was all so crazy. 

Of course it was great and I can't wait to read the next SJM book. Hopefully it's something in the ACOTAR world so we can see what Nesta goes with the starsword.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Confinement, Death, Gore, Rape, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Grief, Cannibalism, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

kat1105's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring mysterious sad tense 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? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Confinement, Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexism, Sexual content, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

kinsportch's review against another edition

adventurous lighthearted 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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Sexual content, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Kidnapping, Murder, Colonisation, and War

Moderate: Child death and Excrement

chanlo1994's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful lighthearted mysterious sad tense 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Drug use, Genocide, Gun violence, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Excrement, Grief, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Vomit, and Kidnapping

Minor: Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Cannibalism, and Death of parent

amy_in_the_city's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional slow-paced

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

3.0

This book was just OK. It did have some major issues and was definitely my least favorite of the three books in this series. I'm just glad to have a conclusion to the Asteri plotline, even if the final battle was underwhelming.

The book suffered from pacing problems. The first third of the book dragged on and on, with Bryce spending way too much time wandering through tunnels looking at art. Maybe it would have been a bit more interesting if we at least got some angst from Bryce, but it felt like she wasn't all that concerned about her mate and brother being in grave danger. There was no sense of urgency on her part to rescue them from being tortured and maybe eventually executed. Then, later in the book, we get to follow along as Bryce wanders through tunnels again. Not exactly riveting stuff. 

There were also too many POVs happening to allow enough time with the main characters. I really didn't care about Ithan's and Tharion's storylines and dreaded every time it switched back to their POVs. They were mostly just those two characters making stupid mistakes followed by a lot of self loathing. I hope they make Tharion much more interesting and likeable if he's going to feature prominently in the next book. I did like his marriage of convenience subplot and think there is interesting potential there.

Bryce and Hunt's relationship was a mess in this book, and I really didn't like Bryce much. She never communicates her plans with Hunt. Then even though Hunt is blindly following her into danger, she picks fights with him because he isn't enthusiastic about being there. How can he be 100% on board with her plans when he doesn't know what they are? She doesn't seem to care that this is only a couple days after he got back from spending several days being brutally tortured for allowing her to drag him into this mess. Or that the situation is reminiscent of how things went with Shahar and to say that ended tragically would be an understatement. Bryce was being so disrespectful towards Hunt and his trauma because she wanted to look like a badass with gotcha moments and zingers. Really, it feels like most of her plans were half-baked at best, and they only work out in her favor because of plot armor. It didn't feel like an equal partnership between the main couple. Bryce just does whatever she wants, doesn't tell Hunt, and leaves him to deal with the consequences. At least she does apologize to Hunt for being a dick at one point, but I'd prefer if she didn't spend most of the book acting like a dick to begin with.

Ruhn and Lidia were this book's saving grace. I kept wishing they were the main couple because they were great, and I wanted the story to spend more time with them. Lidia was such a badass, so clever and sneaky. I love sneaky characters who know how to play along with the game in order to achieve their goals and there aren't nearly enough leading women out there like this. I don't know that we got enough justification for why she joined the evil side to begin with though, and I feel like the explanation for why she changed sides was kind of flimsy. Ruhn is almost perfect in every way, with a major exception for

when he shot Lidia to try to save her. That was kind of a patriarchal bullshit move.

. I still love him so much. 

Other characters I really liked spending time with in this book were Nesta, Azriel, Hypaxia, and Aidas.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Death, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexism, Sexual content, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Blood, Murder, Colonisation, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Addiction, Child abuse, Drug use, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Excrement, Grief, Fire/Fire injury, Sexual harassment, and Classism

Minor: Child death, Domestic abuse, Vomit, Medical content, and Pregnancy

shellind75's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful inspiring tense fast-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? It's complicated

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Slavery, Torture, Forced institutionalization, Excrement, Grief, Murder, Gaslighting, Colonisation, War, and Injury/Injury detail

josxphinchen's review against another edition

dark funny tense slow-paced

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

0.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexism, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Kidnapping, Cannibalism, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, War, and Injury/Injury detail

rhiannon_burden's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

4.0

I enjoyed this book at the root of it but Bryce was absolutely insufferable for the most part, she spent half the book complaining about the fae being selfish and callous and then proceeded to do exactly the same. She is essentially a hypocrite and I have no idea how Hunt puts up with her considering how horrible she was to him throughout. But despite what appears to be the popular opinion I enjoyed Ithan and Tharions stories as they had intricacies that others were lacking. There are some clear set ups for the next book namely the return of Ariadne at the end but otherwise the story felt finished as most ends were tied up.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, War, and Injury/Injury detail

princessrory's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• 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: Confinement, Cursing, Death, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Slavery, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Colonisation, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Addiction, Child death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, and Classism

Minor: Vomit and Pregnancy