Reviews tagging 'Kidnapping'

Winter's Orbit by Everina Maxwell

75 reviews

jamesdaniel's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful mysterious 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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse

Moderate: Kidnapping and Torture

viivacious's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious sad medium-paced

• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes

5.0

I could not put it down, I loved it. The romance was cute, and I thought Jainan's journey was well done. I enjoyed the murder mystery aspect of it, the characters, and the world.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail and Kidnapping

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, and Xenophobia

thoseoldcrows23's review against another edition

adventurous funny 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

3.0

 I wanted to like this a lot more than I actually did. There are some solid bones here; however, I think the execution was clunky and deeply unsatisfying in a lot of places. This was sold to me as a sci-fi romance, and, while I love speculative romance in general, I find that sometimes authors struggle to balance the speculative plot and the romance, and I think that that was a problem here. Much of the book’s energy is put into the science fiction plot and the romance suffers for it. By the end of the book our two leads are talking about how much they love each other I couldn’t fathom why. A big part of the reason for that is that the entirety of the romance pivots on chronic miscommunication, which I found absolutely infuriating. It feels like they barely know each other because all their conversations are riddled with misunderstanding. They each spend way more time in their own heads when they're talking to each other than they do focused on the other person.  So much of the tension between the two leads would be completely gone if they would just behave like adults and talk honestly with each other but they don't do that until over halfway into the book. At the same time, the sci-fi plot wasn't compelling enough to warrant all the focus that was put on it. It's effectively a mystery plot, and I didn't find myself particularly caring who the culprit turned out to be, and in fact struggled through most of the book to even remember who people were because nobody really stood out that much besides our two main characters. Overall, this was just a big letdown for me. It's not a bad book, and I understand why people like it, but I definitely think it's been way overhyped, and this is a story that could have been told much more effectively than it was. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Domestic abuse, and Violence

Moderate: Torture, Toxic relationship, Xenophobia, Physical abuse, Medical content, and Kidnapping

Minor: Sexual violence, Sexual content, War, and Alcohol

frantic_vampire's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny mysterious 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

This was such a good book! I don’t really have the words for all the feelings that this book gave me. It was comforting, it was adventurous, it was political, and so many other things. I just loved this so, so much.

I loved the dynamic between Kiem and Jainan once they got past all the awkward miscommunications (and lack of communication). I loved that Kiem was so bubbly and talked with literally everyone, and that Jainan was almost the complete opposite. I loved all the political drama, the murder mystery, and everything else that this had going for it! Somehow this world felt familiar and yet not at all, if that makes sense. Winter’s Orbit was just so good and I’m giving it five stars.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Xenophobia, Gaslighting, Grief, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Car accident, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Physical abuse, Emotional abuse, and Domestic abuse

All tags are in relation to Taam and Aren and the shitty things they did before/during the story.

bennoyb's review against another edition

adventurous emotional 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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug use, Emotional abuse, Kidnapping, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, and Torture

stinkologist's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted mysterious reflective 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? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Gaslighting, Colonisation, Domestic abuse, Death, Violence, Toxic relationship, Sexual content, Emotional abuse, and Physical abuse

Minor: War, Kidnapping, Xenophobia, and Violence

gardens_and_dragons's review against another edition

adventurous funny tense fast-paced

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

5.0

I read this in a day because it is simply too good to put down once you start reading. It tells a very intense political tale, wrapped up with interplanetary war, and a great romance. It also covers some really hard hitting topics with past abusive relationships, insecurity, and we use the miscommunication can really affect mental health. The world building was so perfect. It really felt like there was this huge, interplanetary empire just beyond the scope of the story that added this very realistic element to all of the politics surrounding the plot.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Xenophobia, Kidnapping, and Colonisation

Moderate: War and Domestic abuse

exhumedprince's review against another edition

adventurous emotional sad 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, and Kidnapping

Moderate: Confinement, Gun violence, Police brutality, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Violence, and Sexual content

Minor: Death, Alcohol, Blood, and Medical content

discarded_dust_jacket's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny mysterious medium-paced

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

4.5

This book was utterly delightful. It had been floating around the edges of my literary radar for some time, but I honestly wasn’t expecting to like it as much as I did. I knew by the end of the first chapter that I was going to enjoy this book and it never let me down.

Did I kind of skim over some of the parts that delved more into the political or technical aspects of the story… ok, yeah. Sure. But I do that with most of the books I read involving intricate politics or technology, because I have trouble following. Yet I never lost the thread of the story here, and my attachment to the characters kept me glued to the page.

Granted, I did want to literally throw my phone (I read this on the Kindle app) across the room because of the miscommunication that persists in the first half, but the eventual resolution was so satisfying.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Kidnapping, Domestic abuse, and Physical abuse

Moderate: Car accident and Drug use

shelvesofivy's review against another edition

adventurous funny mysterious 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? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Gaslighting, Toxic relationship, Physical abuse, and Emotional abuse

Moderate: Alcohol, Sexual assault, Torture, Kidnapping, Rape, and Violence

Minor: Medical content and Colonisation

induced hallucinations