Reviews tagging 'Drug use'

Sword Catcher by Cassandra Clare

19 reviews

calathean's review against another edition

adventurous tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.25

This book made me realise how much I enjoy reading about characters who are deeply loyal to a person, even at their own expense. Both Kel and Lin are very loyal main characters - Lin in wanting to save her best friend's life and Kel in living to protect Conor at all cost even dying for him if necessary. Likeable characters, strong friendships, strong worldbuilding within Castellane. The toxicity of the friendship between Conor and Kel due to the power imbalance and Kel literally being Conor's shield despite the friendship itself being genuine and Conor not wanting Kel to die or treating him like a servant at all is delicious. The worldbuilidng was a bit difficult to follow when it comes to the world outside Castellane, I'm still not sure which country is which and what their deal is. And it was also difficult to remember all the nobles and not get Conor's friends mixed up.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Child death, Medical content, and Violence

Moderate: Classism, Sexism, Blood, Murder, Xenophobia, Chronic illness, Death, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Death of parent, Physical abuse, Vomit, Sexual content, Drug use, and Rape

jennipea382's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious sad tense slow-paced

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

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Death, Violence, Gore, Alcohol, Blood, Classism, and Child death

Moderate: Medical content, Torture, Sexism, Gore, Misogyny, Terminal illness, Drug use, and Physical abuse

Minor: Sexual content

celery's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny lighthearted mysterious sad tense slow-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: Terminal illness, Violence, Animal cruelty, Deportation, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Hate crime, Kidnapping, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Racism, Religious bigotry, Torture, Toxic friendship, Blood, Sexism, Alcohol, Antisemitism, Colonisation, Cursing, Emotional abuse, Gore, Xenophobia, Animal death, Child abuse, Death of parent, Drug use, Murder, Sexual content, Abandonment, Bullying, Child death, Dementia, Genocide, Gaslighting, Medical content, Medical trauma, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual harassment, Vomit, War, Chronic illness, Toxic relationship, Alcoholism, Classism, Death, Drug abuse, Injury/Injury detail, and Addiction

sissizc's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional reflective 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? Yes

4.0

-1 star because the plot picked up at the 30% mark

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Sexism, Fire/Fire injury, Blood, Child death, and Violence

Minor: Drug use

natashalg's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

Exciting read, and I'm looking forward to the next one to answer all my questions and devel deeper into the mysteries of the kingdom! It seems like the politics would be boring, but I actually found it enjoyable. The only downside is I do not think the characters' flaws are examined/explained well enough. It's hard to understand why they do what they do (mainly the Prince), but since this is the first book of a series, I think it just leaves the door open to explore the character development later on. Overall, a good start to a potential excellent series. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Classism, Blood, Alcohol, Chronic illness, and Medical content

Moderate: Drug use, Religious bigotry, Child death, and Mental illness

bethsreading's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious 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? Yes

4.0

Sword Catcher feels different to other high fantasy books I’ve read as its main focus is on the characters and the world’s precarious political situation. While it inevitably does have the shadow of a potential war lingering over the story - something I’m sure we will see more of in the coming books - I really enjoyed the less grandiose elements of the plot and I feel they make it stand apart from others in the genre. At many points, it felt like more of a mystery story than your typical fantasy, which for my tastes, worked really well. 

The main issue I had with this book is that sadly, the first half of it is far too bogged down by world building. I do love how Cassandra Clare can create such vivid and fantasy worlds, and it is really important in a politically focused story to have its history be fully fleshed out, but the level of detail felt unnecessary at times and too dense for the first half of the book. I personally think that the first half of the book needed to be edited down about 80 ish pages as it was quite slow going at first. However, once I hit the 300 page mark, the pace really picked up and I absolutely flew through the rest of book. 

While I did find Lin’s character annoying at times, overall the character’s were interesting, nuanced, and likeable. I really enjoyed my time reading it and I look forward to seeing how the story progresses in future books. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Racism, Alcohol, Murder, and Xenophobia

Moderate: Drug use, War, Animal death, and Vomit

susanatherly's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense slow-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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Genocide, Drug use, Religious bigotry, Sexual content, Toxic friendship, Bullying, Death, Xenophobia, Antisemitism, Child death, Chronic illness, Classism, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Grief, Terminal illness, Violence, and Murder

Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Sexual content, Vomit, and Physical abuse

arrr's review against another edition

mysterious slow-paced

• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes

4.5

It took me a few chapters to get into this book. A lot of initial setting up of characters and world building. But it's very worth it! Hope I get to read more about these characters. 

Physician confronts systemic inequity and bigotry inside and outside her own culture on order to learn what she needs to save as life. 

This struggle is cast against the wasteful leisurely wonderfully queer lives of the royals and the guards tasked with keeping them alive. 

The magic is powerful. I want to explore more of this huge world. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Alcoholism, Religious bigotry, Toxic friendship, Violence, Bullying, Child abuse, Genocide, War, Xenophobia, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Chronic illness, Racial slurs, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Sexism, Blood, Hate crime, Misogyny, Racism, Classism, and Death

elizabeth_lepore's review against another edition

adventurous 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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Child death, and Death

Moderate: Misogyny, Blood, Alcohol, Rape, Medical content, and Sexual content

Minor: Drug use and Injury/Injury detail

maidmarianlib's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced

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

5.0

Rich world, with interesting characters, more on the adult end with content

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Sexual content, Alcoholism, Drug use, Alcohol, and Bullying