Reviews tagging 'Suicidal thoughts'

The Witch King by H.E. Edgmon

34 reviews

paskendus's review against another edition

funny 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? It's complicated

3.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts

theblerdnewsletter's review against another edition

slow-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

This book is terrible. Reading AAVE by a non-Black author in 2022 is completely ridiculous. Are you serious? Ugh. Wyatt’s internal voice is annoying and repetitive. There’s not any significant character development (or real plot development, just lots of teenage angst) and it’s creepy reading about

literal teenagers having sex

. I just skipped that part. I think the

Fae being from another planet is a really cool idea but the execution was abysmal

. Also we’re not going to address Briar & Wyatt’s super toxic relationship? Or the fact that Wyatt needs a lot of therapy. I am sad

Wyatt and Emyr kind of don’t end up together

but also it’s probably a good idea because their relationship is also super toxic. Y’all love each other. Come on. 10/10 wouldn’t recommend. I want my 12 hours back.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Murder, and Abandonment

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Grief, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Blood, Child abuse, Deadnaming, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Bullying, Classism, Death, and Injury/Injury detail

urlocalhethey's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful 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, Child abuse, Colonisation, Death, Deadnaming, Transphobia, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Outing, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Violence, Panic attacks/disorders, Police brutality, Racism, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Vomit, Emotional abuse, Grief, Physical abuse, War, Abandonment, Death of parent, Dysphoria, Gaslighting, and Suicide attempt

kstrammel's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense fast-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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Fire/Fire injury, War, and Death

Moderate: Blood, Death of parent, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Colonisation, Deadnaming, Vomit, Terminal illness, Confinement, Genocide, Suicidal thoughts, Racism, Child abuse, and Transphobia

Minor: Infertility, Miscarriage, and Police brutality

sliceofsav's review against another edition

adventurous funny lighthearted mysterious 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child abuse, Death, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, and Self harm

Minor: Bullying, Sexual content, and Colonisation

onthesamepage's review against another edition

adventurous medium-paced

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

3.0

One of the things I really appreciated about this story is that the author went all out when it comes to diversity. There's a wide range of characters with different genders, sexualities, races, and there's even a (very minor) hijabi fae character. Definitely haven't seen that before, and even though she barely had any page time, I still appreciated that she was included.

I enjoyed Wyatt as a character overall, but he didn't always feel consistent. One moment, he'll profess not to care about something, and 50 pages later, it's suddenly a problem. He's angry at
Emyr one moment, and horny for him the next. Being in his head is a roller coaster, but I didn't mind it for the most part. I enjoyed his interactions with Emyr and his relationship with Briar, which was really sweet. I do think we're never really shown the depth of either relationship though, just told about it, which is unfortunate.

The two weakest parts of this book are the plot and the writing. The initial premise is already pretty shaky: Wyatt strikes a deal with Derek, Emyr's enemy/rival for the throne, to make such a mess of things that everybody will be against Emyr marrying him. And then he proceeds to supposedly cause chaos, but in a way that he's never caught at it, so nobody actually knows he's messing anything up. Wyatt definitely didn't understand the assignment.

There's also no sense of urgency; even big events get swept away under the rug in a very anticlimactic manner that makes one wonder why it was included at all.

The ending doesn't make any sense, even after it gets explained. I still don't understand what exactly happened, or how the explanation we're given matches with the actual events that occurred.

The writing doesn't really leave room for the reader to interpret anything by themselves. Everything is spelled out for you, from how Wyatt feels about what's happening now, to the parallels we're supposed to see between the human world and the faerie world.

There's also a lot of overexaggerating. For example:

It takes a minute for me to realize what he's talking about, and when I do, I desperately regret ever learning how to read.

The story is written in first person POV from Wyatt's perspective, which is common enough for YA. However, lines like:

But I'm not sure I should now. No, I probably shouldn't. Do I really want to--
Oh, it would appear I'm already pulling the deck out of my bag.

make it feel more stream of consciousness, which isn't really my preference when it comes to fantasy. I'm not interested in every single thought Wyatt ever has about everything, but that's kind of what I got. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence

Moderate: Sexual assault, Drug use, and Sexual harassment

Minor: Suicidal thoughts and Child abuse

mazomazli's review against another edition

adventurous 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

3.0

Great ideas poorly done. There’s so much I wanted to love about this but I was so disappointed. I hate to say that I’m glad it’s over so I don’t have to read anything more about you tongues flicking over lips, wings shooting out, more mouth stuff constantly over and over again. I didn’t even mind the meme-y writing, I think that’s actually fun. I just cannot with these descriptions repeating what easily has to be at least 100 times. 

It also feels like the story needed some rearranging and adjustment of length of various scenes. There was so much potential :(

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child abuse, Deadnaming, Death of parent, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Transphobia, and Drug use

Minor: Genocide, Dysphoria, and Infertility

thewildmageslibrary's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny

5.0

This was such a fun book. Wyatt is so dramatic and probably needs a life coach to help with decision making, but I love him. Emyr was a great surprise and idk, he can be my king any day. I love how supportive the main group in this is. Also, the ending - RUDE. Off to buy the sequel. XD

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Transphobia, Fire/Fire injury, Murder, Deadnaming, Death, Death of parent, and Violence

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Police brutality, Colonisation, Racism, Grief, Blood, Dysphoria, Child abuse, Sexual assault, and Sexual harassment

Minor: Drug use, Sexual content, and Infertility

freckled_frog_boi's review against another edition

adventurous funny mysterious tense fast-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

4.25

I loved the book. I loved the vast amount of representation we see, the way fantasy tropes are exposed for it's colonialist background, the anti-establishment evident in many characters. The childhood friends-to-enemies-to-lovers was a slow burn I loved. All very good stuff!

Wyatt is an angry mc (for good reason) but doesn't process that anger in productive ways, so I could get frustrated with him at times. I also recognize he grew up in a very restricted environment and has only a few years in the human world to deconstruct - so wyatt overlooks his white privilege in some of his monologues. He also 

has to be warmed up to the revolutionary ideas of his friends, and i almost come to count on his friends more than him - i guess that’s why the plot twists work so well 

But overall I loved reading it and I think you will too! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Hate crime, Misogyny, Suicidal thoughts, Transphobia, Sexual harassment, Emotional abuse, Violence, Sexual violence, Child abuse, Colonisation, Death of parent, Death, Sexual assault, Sexism, and Murder

bingo_banjo's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional funny inspiring mysterious relaxing 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: Bullying, Child abuse, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Blood, Body horror, Police brutality, Colonisation, Death, Drug use, Murder, Toxic relationship, Deadnaming, Vomit, and Panic attacks/disorders

Moderate: Alcohol, Drug use, Pregnancy, and Terminal illness