Reviews tagging 'Violence'

The Golden Enclaves by Naomi Novik

88 reviews

purplepenning's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Physical abuse, Grief, and Murder

Moderate: Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Drug use, Gore, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Blood, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Minor: Sexual content

uranaishi's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful reflective 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? No

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief

Moderate: Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Drug use, Infidelity, Sexual content, Violence, Vomit, Death of parent, Abandonment, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Minor: Confinement, Homophobia, Racism, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Blood, Medical content, Dementia, Suicide attempt, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, and Alcohol

emmahe's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

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

3.75

Too rushed for the third book of such an incredible trilogy. Would have been better split into two books. Expanding the world and lore so rapidly meant things were lost and confusing. Could have been just as impactful splitting and expanding on history, background, character, etc. 

It’s still a great series but I think this was a worse ending than the first two books deserved. That being said, it’s still far better than a lot of stories I’ve read. I hope i’m in the minority and Id still recommend people read it. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death and Death

Moderate: Child abuse, Torture, Violence, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, and War

schnaucl's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful 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

4.75

Naomi Novak absolutely nailed the ending. 

I loved the reveal about how the larger Enclaves (and portals) were formed and the discussion about how easy it is to do horrible things if you just refuse to really look at what you're doing.  And how terribly realistic it was that people will continue to do the horrible thing because it takes less effort, especially if you can distance yourself from it in some way.  We're not creating more maw-mouths, we're just selling the know how to other people  and binding them to silence as part of the price.

I also loved the twist on Deepthi's prophecy, and the glimpse into how much it cost her.

It was also really nice to see El's classmates showing up for her.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Gore, Torture, and Grief

Minor: Child death, Sexual content, Violence, and Death of parent

ttumbletree's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny 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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Death, Mental illness, Sexual content, Torture, and Violence

relin's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful sad medium-paced

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

5.0

A satisfying ending to the books prior. Getting to see all of the characters you love and care about figure out the final parts of what to do next is incredibly rewarding. This book is a lot of how even if you are the most powerful, the ties and work of the community are what really makes things possible. Would happily reread. Even though it made me cry.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gore, Sexual content, Torture, Grief, and Abandonment

Moderate: Drug use, Panic attacks/disorders, Violence, and Murder

Minor: Child death, Confinement, Drug abuse, Slavery, Trafficking, Pregnancy, Cultural appropriation, Gaslighting, Colonisation, and Classism

readwithria's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful 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? It's complicated

5.0

The Golden Enclaves is a story of aggressive kindness, and being unwilling to take the first wrong step. It perfectly ties up the lessons of The Scholomance and brings with it a feeling of healing and purpose.

I don’t want to go into too much detail about this book, seeing as it’s the third book in a trilogy, but I will say that I love the characters and the story so much. All of the breadcrumbs from the first two books are perfectly placed to set up the plot of the third book, and the conclusion is satisfying without feeling too unnaturally perfect. There is still work to be done, and El will be doing it for a long time. The relationships that she build throughout her years in the Scholomance will support her, and she has finally gotten good at a king for and accepting help.

The Golden Enclaves shows us a world that was built on capitalism being rebuilt, one foundation stone at a time. It offers a new world where the survival of the many isn’t predicated on the sacrifice of the few. It broke my heart and rebuilt it. 5 stars.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Torture, Grief, Murder, and Classism

Moderate: Violence and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Child death and Death

fivecatsinacoat's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional inspiring 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? It's complicated

4.5

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for this advanced review copy.

When I tell you I gasped and had to close my kindle 60% through....

I very much enjoyed this final installment of the Scholomance trilogy. I was concerned the final book wouldn't live up to the others as it's not set in the Scholomance, but it was a fun adventure! The Golden Enclaves was quite different than the prior two, and the world-building wasn't quite as precise, but that didn't distract from my enjoyment of it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Violence, Grief, Death of parent, Gaslighting, War, and Classism

Minor: Bullying