Reviews tagging 'Torture'

Vespertine by Margaret Rogerson

9 reviews

judassilver's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful 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

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Fire/Fire injury, War, Child abuse, Self harm, Death, Blood, and Confinement

Moderate: Child death, Torture, Grief, Religious bigotry, and Vomit

Minor: Suicide and Pandemic/Epidemic

eviethebookworm's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional 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? N/A

4.25

Margaret Rogerson has created a dark and gritty world that reminds me of The Merciful Crow by Margaret Owens. 

Artemisia, who I have nicknamed Artie in my head, is fantastically introverted and intelligent. Her relationship with the revenant is reminiscent of a begrudging elder taking on an apprentice against their better judgment. 

If you’re looking for a fantasy novel that addresses religious themes, this book is the answer to your prayers. It’s not dismissive of those with faith. However, Rogerson hasn’t shied away from issues that come up when dealing with belief systems and the people who follow them. 

I can’t wait to see if there’s more to Artie’s story. Fingers crossed Rogerson writes another Vespertine novel sometime soon.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Self harm, Fire/Fire injury, Confinement, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Moderate: War and Torture

Minor: Suicide

charloforce's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious medium-paced

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

3.25

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical content, Mental illness, Body horror, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Domestic abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Self harm, Abandonment, Death, Violence, Bullying, and Medical trauma

Moderate: Murder and Torture

Minor: War

neonfrills's review

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

4.0

 Summary: Joan of Arc meets Venom. High fantasy setting where a nun ends up taking on this powerful spirit called a Relevant to help her fight. Normally it would most likely end up possessing her, but she’s able to keep it at bay and a la Venom, it becomes this sassy demon in her head who she has to work with to beat back this undead horde that is sweeping the land.

Characters: I love Artemisia and the Revenant's relationship. I went in thinking this was going to be a romance (because when something gets sold as Venom inspired, you can’t convince me that Eddy and Venom aren’t in love), but instead we got an honestly really sweet friendship of “Girl and her weird, murderous Pet Monster”, which I also adore. I really loved all of the side-characters who end up making up Artemisia’s squad, and how over the course of the story, Artemisia learns to trust people and let them help her carry her burden instead of thinking she has to always be alone.

The only character I didn’t love for most of the book is Leander, mostly because I am begging Margaret Rogerson to not make him come back as the love interest in the next book. I have 3 people I’d much rather have her with (Marguerite, The Revenant and Jean), but also No Love Interest Supremacy. Artemisia doesn’t need a boyfriend to make her story worthwhile!! 

---

Content Warnings

Minor: Suicide, Torture, Kidnapping, and Grief

chamaeleontis's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious reflective 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? Yes

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Religious bigotry, Violence, Vomit, Fire/Fire injury, Panic attacks/disorders, Animal cruelty, Death, Excrement, Grief, Medical content, Self harm, Suicide attempt, War, Blood, Bullying, Child death, Confinement, Gore, and Torture

r_a_bell's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful mysterious tense medium-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? Yes

5.0

The writing in this is so beautiful. The way the main character slowly develops relationships with the other characters makes you invested. And the plot and system of magic is really interesting and clearly well thought out. 

The way of depicts the effects of trauma and discusses it feels very real and doesn’t smack you in the face. It feels natural to the story, not forced.

 I also really liked that there wasn’t a big romance or love interest. Not every story needs to revolve around one and it actually makes it more engaging. There is a romance between side characters which is cute and endearing, and helps bring a certain lightheartedness.

This is a really great book for someone who feels like they’ve outgrown YA in some ways, but can’t seem to get into adult fiction and how detached it often feels.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Panic attacks/disorders, Violence, War, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Grief, Murder, Self harm, Gore, Animal cruelty, Torture, and Eating disorder

Trigger warning for animal abuse is for the most minor of mentions, it’s something I’m extremely sensitive about, so I really mean minor. Nothing is actually described it’s just mentioned to explain the behavior of an animal (who is then treated very nicely and heals from the trauma). Eating disorder isn’t really for an eating disorder, but more for disordered eating, if that makes sense. It’s not an eating disorder that’s described, but the way a character’s eating behaviors are described could be triggering for some people

headinthepages's review

emotional funny medium-paced

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

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Medical content, Murder, Torture, Blood, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, Confinement, Death, Medical trauma, Self harm, Mental illness, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, Religious bigotry, Violence, and Vomit

nnniro411's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

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

4.5

A beautifully written story with characters that jumped off the page. I just have to say I adored the revenant so much, it was hilarious, dark, endearing, sarcastic and a little bit of a mother hen. I immediately loved this disembodied demonic spirit as soon as it spoke. Revenant and Artemisia’s banter was fun to listen to and seeing them go from adversaries to friends was so much fun. I also loved the side characters and enjoyed the mystery that they gave. 
The world felt lived in and the world building was well done. We didn’t need exposition and instead taken into the world where we picked up the mythology as the adventure unfolded. I would not mind going back into this world if Roberson ever decided to continue the story.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, Blood, Body horror, Murder, Bullying, War, Abandonment, Torture, and Gore

beautifulpaxielreads's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny medium-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? Yes

4.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Murder, Physical abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, Blood, Child abuse, Mental illness, Violence, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Medical content, Torture, Religious bigotry, and Animal cruelty

Moderate: War, Self harm, Ableism, and Vomit

Minor: Bullying and Suicide

Descriptions of human bodies being used as vessels for spirits (or possessed), torture by magical means, use of human bones as relics for spirits, necromancy, anxiety. Author also states (https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3883340977?book_show_action=true&from_review_page=1) the book includes instances of disordered eating