Reviews tagging 'Child death'

A Song of Wraiths and Ruin by Roseanne A. Brown

11 reviews

aformeracceleratedreader's review

adventurous dark mysterious sad medium-paced

5.0

Oh I liked this a lot! I will def be reading the second one. It started a little slow but it picked up and kept my interest. 
I loved the world and the characters. I need to know what will happen with everyone.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Classism, Panic attacks/disorders, Blood, Child death, Injury/Injury detail, Death, Gaslighting, Grief, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Mental illness, and Murder

annorabrady's review

challenging dark tense slow-paced

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

3.0

Karina's story and narration are both engaging and worth reading. Malik's, though, is hard to enjoy. I like the way that his struggles with anxiety are handled. But I struggle with connecting to his story enough to want to hear his POV. And his POV made the romance between him and Karina impossible to care about.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Gaslighting, Murder, Animal cruelty, Child death, Classism, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Animal death, Blood, Child abuse, Death of parent, Drug use, Injury/Injury detail, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicide attempt, Racial slurs, and Mental illness

Moderate: Vomit

Minor: Police brutality, Trafficking, and Slavery

anni_swanilda's review

adventurous dark emotional informative 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Death of parent, Animal cruelty, Gaslighting, Blood, Classism, Confinement, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Mental illness, Racial slurs, Gore, Murder, Animal death, Suicide attempt, Grief, Panic attacks/disorders, Racism, Vomit, Xenophobia, Injury/Injury detail, and Violence

Moderate: Fire/Fire injury and Self harm

Minor: Sexual content, Child death, Domestic abuse, Child abuse, Physical abuse, War, Abandonment, Emotional abuse, and Slavery

anekk78's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Death of parent, Panic attacks/disorders, and Violence

Minor: Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, Child death, and Police brutality

strawberrytheauthor's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious 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? No

5.0

This book was so good! There were wonderful tropes I love and also magic and mythology I hadn’t heard before. I love fantasy stories that include mythology based off of places on Earth. This was based of West and North African Folktales.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Colonisation, Death, Xenophobia, Vomit, Violence, Blood, Fire/Fire injury, Kidnapping, Mental illness, Racial slurs, Animal death, Classism, Confinement, Death of parent, Grief, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, and Racism

Moderate: Child abuse, Physical abuse, Self harm, Slavery, and Domestic abuse

Minor: Sexual content

mme_carton's review

challenging emotional 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

Graphic: Grief, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Animal death, Bullying, Child death, Mental illness, Murder, Blood, War, Alcohol, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, and Violence

Moderate: Gaslighting, Slavery, Abandonment, and Confinement

corriejn's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No

4.25

First two thirds or so of this book were great: skilled worldbuilding, introduction of characters and storylines that were destined to clash. However, things fall a part a bit when the author actually gets to resolving how those various storylines interact and resolve. Brown seems to want to be N. K. Jemisin, but falls short. Too many flat, undeveloped characters who pop in to be major parts of the narrative, too many twists and turns that aren't foreshadowed or a logical part of the story, but just tossed in and basically rewrite the worldbuilding and characters that were more skillfully introduced earlier. I don't plan to read the rest of this series. It started off really promising through most of this volume, but ended up a jumbled mess.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Classism, Death, Mental illness, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Violence, Death of parent, Grief, Kidnapping, Racism, Self harm, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Child abuse, Alcohol, Child death, Fire/Fire injury, Vomit, and Physical abuse

Minor: Cannibalism, War, and Torture

februaryfriday's review

adventurous challenging dark 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? It's complicated

3.5

i picked this up on a whim and i have no regrets. 
firstly, the magic system was really unique and interesting and the lore involved so lovely to read about. 
however, i feel like this novel didn’t reach its full potential quite yet. i liked the characters, but for some reason i wasn’t really that invested (could also still be leftover pieces of my reading slump). i felt more for them towards the end when things ~happened~, but i wish we could’ve seen more of the protagonists interactions and see why they actually like each other. 
nevertheless, it was very enjoyable and thrilling, especially the second half. i will probably pick up the second book sometime to see where it goes and would still recommend it if it sounds like something you’d enjoy!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief

Moderate: Child death, Death of parent, Murder, and Panic attacks/disorders

pagebypaigereviews's review

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.5

 "Do not underestimate the strength it takes to be kind in a world as cruel as ours."
--A Song of Wraiths and Ruin

Once every 50 years a comet passes by Ziran, and its people hold a week long celebration to usher in a new era. But unbeknownst to the majority, the comet's passing has even greater significance than just a reason to party. Malik and Princess Karina each harbor dangerous secrets, which leads them on separate, deadly missions to save someone they love.

A Song of Wraiths and Ruin is told from two perspectives: Malik and Princess Karina. Each main character has their own mental health struggles and unresolved trauma. It features a unique magic system and world building. I was fascinated by the concept behind the belief system, but the amount of world building did make it slower for me to get into. Most of the action picks up in the second half of the book. The end was a series of shocking reveals that had me yelling at my book!

One thing that kind of bothered me was the ease with which each of the characters considered murder. I thought there would have been more moral qualms associated with the act. It also seemed a little repetitive at times. At the end, I still had a hard time understanding everything about the magic system, so I hope we get more explanation in the next book. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Death of parent, and Mental illness

Moderate: Blood, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Death, and Gore

Minor: Vomit, Slavery, and Genocide

dayday_reads's review against another edition

adventurous challenging mysterious 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

4.5

This was a surprise read for me. In part because YA isn't my usual genre but also because I struggled to really like/enjoy the male MC, Malik. He was not a bad character by any means, he was just a bit frustrating to me at times. That's just me though .... in the end, I really came to root for him and his character growth. I loved the female MC (Karina) even though she was a selfish, spoiled brat at times. I thought that she experienced quite a bit of growth and developed in a real way. 

Pros: the world building was beautiful and immersive. The characters were so fascinating and seemed SO real to me. The anxiety rep was so on point and although I've never had a migraine, I felt like I was right there with Karina when she was experiencing them. The plot was also very interesting and although I knew what it was SUPPOSED to be about, I was invested in how the characters got there. The family dynamics were great and felt really real and sad at the same time. Also ... can I just say that Hyena was such a fun addition that I didn't really "get" until the characters were clued in too. LOL 

CONS:
I would've liked to learn more about the magic system and how it works. I feel like the magic was always present but it was so behind the scenes and we didn't get full understanding of how it works. Also, it would've been nice to learn more about the Alahari family, why The Kestrel basically shut out her daughter and what the heck is this nkra thing really. That part just left me wanting more. Also, as much I came to love Malik, his overwhelming anxiety and panic attacks made parts of the book super frustrating and dragged on.

Overall, it was a wonderful book. I enjoyed it, the second half of the book was better than the first and I was drawn in at that point. The end was a nice set up for the second book and I'm here for it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Panic attacks/disorders

Moderate: Death, Death of parent, Child death, Grief, and Racism