Reviews tagging 'Violence'

Crier's War by Nina Varela

77 reviews

ellewg's review

dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Death, and Violence

Moderate: Death of parent and Emotional abuse

Minor: Sexual content

zahiyyih's review

adventurous hopeful tense medium-paced

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

4.0

A lovable fantasy with well-incorporated dystopian influences! The leading protagonists aren't exaggerated representations of a singular trait or watered down stereotypes that are easy to digest and you just have to take them as they are in the beginning. For some people the classic "forbidden lovers" and "enemies to lovers" tropes are how they would describe this book but I think it's unfair to the story to sum it up as just that. Despite all the flaws (mostly credited to the writer creating a world too big for them to handle), I think it's a wonderfully told story and I had a lot of fun with it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, War, and Blood

starccato's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

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

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Colonisation, Death, Gaslighting, Genocide, Grief, Misogyny, Murder, Sexism, Toxic relationship, and Violence

Moderate: Abandonment, Child abuse, Child death, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Gore, Hate crime, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Alcohol, Confinement, Cultural appropriation, Fire/Fire injury, Infertility, Police brutality, Self harm, Sexual content, and Mental illness

kyliereichert's review

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death

Moderate: Blood, Grief, Murder, and Violence

Minor: Abandonment and War

angstifies's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense

• 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

this book <3

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Death, and Violence

Moderate: Death of parent

Minor: Sexual content

ashleycmms's review

adventurous dark emotional inspiring mysterious medium-paced

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

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Death, Death of parent, Child death, Violence, Fire/Fire injury, Toxic relationship, Blood, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, and Murder

Minor: Sexual content

averyrembish's review

adventurous dark emotional 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? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Death, Grief, Murder, and Violence

Moderate: Animal death, Child death, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, and War

Minor: Alcohol, Drug use, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Police brutality, and Self harm

thewildmageslibrary's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious tense

5.0

Hello, new favorite! I finally read this and am kicking myself for taking so long. I love the interactions between Crier and Ayla, and how they both soften. The Scyre is a mystery and I love all the intrigue! This book has enemies to lovers, revenge, plotting, and magic. What more do you need?

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Emotional abuse, and Death

Moderate: Mental illness and Grief

sapphic_reader's review

adventurous 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

5.0

Rep:
F/F romance 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Death, and Violence

Moderate: Death of parent, Sexual content, and Emotional abuse

Minor: Slavery and War

morganish's review

emotional 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? It's complicated

5.0

Crier's War started off a little slow for me, BUT. The book very quickly overcame my doubts, and I found myself really looking forward to picking it back up every night! It's fantasy of the YA variety, which doesn't deviate too much from a lot of the themes, stylistic choices, and characterization of other YA stories.

Yet even as I've been leaning away from YA fantasy and more toward adult recently, I found myself really absorbed in this one. The prose was straightforward, but sometimes unexpectedly beautiful; the worldbuilding wasn't dense or complicated, and yet the central conceit works well and there's a surprising amount of effective mystery. All the untold secrets yet to be discovered ultimately worked to hook me in. The romance is a kind I like but don't often find executed this effectively: angst-heavy, with lots of pining. It's a true slow burn, with outstanding threads still left hanging by the end of this installment, the first of a duology. Even though I'd heard others say this book was really good, AND even though I was excited by the idea of AI creations in a traditional fantasy setting, I was still surprised how good Crier's War was.

If you like your slow-burn romances to actually feel like something slow and aching and epic, this book probably has what you're looking for. (Especially if you're looking for more sapphic fantasy.) If you like the feel of YA fantasy stories, but sometimes wish the worldbuilding had just a little bit more mystery or intrigue like adult fantasy, this might serve, depending on your tastes.  But if you're just completely done with YA fantasy and all the aspects that come with it, or don't like romances that build across multiple books, OR don't like the enemies-to-lovers trope, this book probably won't do much for you. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Death, Grief, Murder, and Violence

Moderate: Abandonment, Confinement, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Toxic relationship, War, and Xenophobia

Minor: Alcohol, Cultural appropriation, Genocide, and Sexism

A lot of the elements I include about the content warnings are specifically fantastical, like fantastical xenophobia. Most of the other content warnings have some level of fantastic to them as well. It isn't a direct reference to IRL events and doesn't include IRL bigotry, for example.