Reviews tagging 'Cursing'

A Deadly Education by Naomi Novik

23 reviews

pandemonicbaby's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious tense medium-paced

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

5.0

Loved this book! The lore is so rich and intricate, and the cast of characters is so lovable and diverse. Loved every second of being inside this universe!!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Death of parent, Death, Child death, and Body horror

Moderate: Fire/Fire injury, Blood, Gore, and Classism

Minor: Racism, Pregnancy, Animal cruelty, Vomit, Animal death, and Cursing

daybreaker's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny reflective sad 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: Cursing

Moderate: Body horror and Violence

Minor: Injury/Injury detail, Panic attacks/disorders, Death, Fire/Fire injury, and Murder

litliz's review

adventurous challenging dark funny 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Gore, Classism, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Cursing, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Violence, Blood, Body horror, Child death, Dysphoria, Grief, Pregnancy, and Vomit

Minor: Suicide

ryyyaaan's review against another edition

adventurous dark fast-paced

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

4.5

Overall this was a fantastic read. I really had fun with it and it was a great choice for getting back into the habit of reading.

Positives:

• El is a well rounded character who is easy for the reader to like despite her being disliked by other characters.
• The premise and plot is enjoyable and easy to get hooked into.
• The worldbuilding is fantastic. It’s woven into the text so well it never feels like slogging through pages and pages of lore.
• It’s funny at times without taking away from the atmosphere.
• A great stepping point between YA and adult fantasy

Negatives (nit-picking here, the book was great)

• I dislike El’s relationship with Orion towards the end.
  It feels forced to me that she’s starting to have feelings for him already. Or, at all for that matter. They just don’t seem compatible to me. Also, small point, but El mentions wanting kids badly at one point, which feels so out of character for her. Maybe later depending on how she’s developed, but it just didn’t seem right to me.<\spoiler>
• I desperately wish there was any queer rep at all

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Body horror, Death, and Death of parent

Moderate: Classism, Confinement, Cursing, Murder, and Vomit

Minor: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Bullying, Fire/Fire injury, Drug use, and Grief

bethanycrowepowell's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny 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? Yes

4.5

Galadriel Higgins is destined to bring death and chaos to the wizarding world, or so it was foretold. "El" doesn't want to rain destruction, but is finding it harder and harder to avoid in a school that is actively trying to kill her.

Scholomance was built to protect teen wizards from the evil creatures drawn to their magic, but after some major technical failures, it doesn't quite work that way. Instead, students have to be on guard constantly, and their graduation is a gauntlet through where the largest of the monsters gather. When El starts to question whether it can be fixed, she's up against a lethal status quo that not everyone wants to change.

This book launches a trilogy that deconstructs magical school escapism with an eye to societies built around power disparities, full of compellingly complicated characters. El is a cranky but very relatable heroine whose fight against her prophesied destiny as a dark sorceress kept me reading through the whole series in a matter of days.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence and Classism

Moderate: Child death, Cursing, Bullying, Death, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, and Sexual content

Minor: Sexual violence and Rape

icarusandthesun's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny 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? Yes

3.75

i didn't expect a lot going into this book. i thought it was just gonna be another ordinary young adult fantasy that's a little silly and a little over the top.
now, that wasn't quite the case, but i wasn't a hundred percent wrong either.
the main character, el, struck me as a little bit of a deus ex machina with insane killing powers only she has that could get her out of every dangerous situation if only she wanted.
she's also the tiniest bit unlikable, but given her circumstances, i get it. plus, the character development made up for it.

i was fairly disappointed in orion's character though. we had some chunks of interesting back story thrown at us, but the actual reasons for his behavior, singling out el, were simply boring.
i just thought the author could've given orion some more depth and more profound motives because i thought he was quite a unique and relatable person. but perhaps we'll find out more about him in the next book, which the cliffhanger hints at anyway.

the writing was catchy, some descriptions a tad too long, but that's alright. the romance was very curious and i'm totally here for the dynamic.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent

Moderate: Death, Violence, and Cursing

Minor: Fire/Fire injury and Blood

danicakvcs's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious 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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Child death, Death, and Violence

Moderate: Physical abuse and Murder

Minor: Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, Cursing, and Addiction

luciiee's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Injury/Injury detail, Death, Murder, Cursing, and Blood

severelyhopefulcloud's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense slow-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore and Violence

Moderate: Classism, Death of parent, Death, and Cursing

axelboc's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny 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? No

5.0

A bit grim at first, but builds up to a wonderful mix of wittiness, unspoken romance and thrilling action, with clever world building throughout. Difficult to put down. The first of a guaranteed hit series!

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death

Minor: Cursing