Reviews tagging 'Grief'

Zodiac Academy 9: Restless Stars by Susanne Valenti, Caroline Peckham

9 reviews

mj_86's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny 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

4.75

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, War, and Violence

Moderate: Classism, Confinement, Sexual content, and Grief

Minor: Pregnancy and Kidnapping

ashleynp24's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful reflective 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

3.5

By far the best part of this book is Seth and Caleb. I felt they really carried with their relationship. The ending of the book with the war and then the afterwards was fun. I liked seeing their lives after. I did feel like it was kind of anticlimactic though and I felt Lionel and Lavinia should have had worse deaths. I do feel things got wrapped up nicely, I’d have liked to read more about their kids. Also the last chapter said there’s more evil coming so I wonder if there will be more writing in a spinoff of their kids for that? Also I know why they didn’t kill off any main characters but I feel the battle would’ve been more impactful if one of the main characters was killed, not just Justin and Milton.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, War, Cursing, Grief, Hate crime, Sexual content, Blood, Murder, Pregnancy, Violence, Gore, Torture, Death of parent, Genocide, Classism, Death, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, and Physical abuse

mary_catherine's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny hopeful tense medium-paced

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

4.25

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, War, Fire/Fire injury, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Gore, Blood, and Cursing

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Grief, Torture, Death of parent, and Physical abuse

selestre's review against another edition

adventurous emotional reflective fast-paced

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

4.75

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Sexual content, Gore, Violence, Fire/Fire injury, Cursing, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, War, Grief, and Blood

Minor: Alcohol, Car accident, Slavery, Bullying, Pregnancy, Stalking, and Kidnapping

yarisbooksandbevs's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective 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

What an ending! I absolutely loved this series. It made me cry, laugh, fan myself, and cheer them on. This book was a great way to finish it off and I think the story closed up really nicely. It did feel a little slow at times but still great.

A few thoughts. Clyde felt a little too easy but I’m glad Lionel ended up being the big bad in the end. What was Max’s mom trying to say about Linda? Where is Vard? Lol

I love these characters and this was great!

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content, Violence, Cursing, Death, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, Genocide, Pregnancy, Grief, Blood, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and War

Moderate: Panic attacks/disorders and Confinement

Minor: Alcohol

sarah_sedai_blueajah's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful 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? Yes

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Cursing, Gore, War, Blood, Death, and Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Grief and Injury/Injury detail

tguccione's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional funny hopeful 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

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Genocide, Panic attacks/disorders, Blood, Domestic abuse, Confinement, Death of parent, Slavery, Death, Torture, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Gore, Grief, War, Classism, Murder, Violence, and Body horror

condls27's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny slow-paced

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

3.0

Look, no one reads ZA expecting a masterpiece but good god this was a slog. I skimmed it and it still took me a week to get through. It was fine, I liked the final battle but it could’ve been 500 pages shorter. 

My biggest complaint was how all over the place the plot was. We’re introduced to a new bad guy who seems unbeatable but literally does jack shit. Same with the Lyra character. Y’all gave us a POV making it seem like she’s going to have a bigger part of the plot and then we never see her again. There was barely any threading of storylines. Either plot points were completely abandoned or a brand new thing that breaks all of the established rules is introduced with no explanation.  

Speaking of introducing a new thing out of the blue, what the hell are Moon Mates?! Why can’t you just let them be regular mates like everyone else? I hated that, it felt cheap. Here, be this thing we’ve never mentioned in the prior 8 books and dropped in out of no where even though we already have an established mate system in place. As the only gay couple in the series, it just gave me major side-eye. Why can’t they just be Elysian mates like everyone else? I get that Seth has the whole thing with the moon but still. And while we’re on the subject, why the hell didn’t they make Max and Gerry mates? That poor guy barely had a storyline the least they could’ve done is given him some silver rings. 

All of the extra POVs were annoying too. I love Gerry but I can’t take full chapters of her. Same with Washer. The bit gets old and I end up completely skipping their chapters.

I was happy with the epilogues but I just don’t see Tory and Darius as parents to that many kids. That felt out of character to me. They seem like one and done type parents. Also, how the heck does line of succession work? Do Tory’s twins rule next since they were born first or is it Tory’s twins AND Darcy’s oldest? I mean, it’s ZA I’m not sure why I’m expecting  plot continuity but here we’re are.

All that said, I’m glad it’s over. The ZA universe was an experience I don’t regret- I’ve never been sucked into a series like that before. I mean I blinked, two weeks of my life had gone by and I had finished the first 7 books. I knew objectively they were bad books but they just had that kind of addictive magic that wouldn’t let me put them down despite being terribly written. The last couple of books just did not have that same magic but at least we got an HEA so I can walk away satisfied. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Death of parent, Sexual content, and War

mels_reading_log's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious 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? It's complicated

5.0

This book wraps up the Zodiac Academy Series. I love the characters in this series and the amount of depth and growth you see in them over the series. This book, being the last one, goes through the war with the False King, there is death and destruction, as you would expect. But there is also love, so much love.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Genocide, War, Death of parent, Sexual content, Xenophobia, Violence, Injury/Injury detail, Death, Murder, Gun violence, Grief, Gore, Fire/Fire injury, Blood, Emotional abuse, Classism, and Torture

Minor: Pregnancy