Reviews tagging 'Blood'

The Witch King by H.E. Edgmon

46 reviews

bohemianhermit04's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Fire/Fire injury, Murder, Body horror, Child abuse, Death of parent, Violence, Vomit, Blood, and Emotional abuse

Minor: Deadnaming, Genocide, Alcohol, Colonisation, Toxic relationship, Sexual content, and Sexual assault

simplyammee's review

adventurous tense fast-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: Child abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Murder, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Infertility, Suicide, Cursing, Physical abuse, Death, Gore, Grief, and Sexual assault

Moderate: Xenophobia, Deadnaming, Gaslighting, Panic attacks/disorders, Transphobia, and Blood

Check the tw!! The deadnaming & misgendering in this book are done very compassionately

abarnakwn_ourcolourfulpages's review

adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful 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? Yes

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Xenophobia, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Gore, Death of parent, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Deadnaming, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Cursing, and Blood

Moderate: Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Suicide attempt, Suicidal thoughts, Sexism, Child abuse, Slavery, Outing, Miscarriage, and Transphobia

Minor: Sexual content

demawenda's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny lighthearted 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

3.75

Przez pół książki sądziłam, że ta recenzja nie będzie zbyt pochlebna... Książka zdecydowanie skierowana do młodszego niż ja czytelnika(albo to ja jestem za stara ducjem z moim lvl22). Postacie są lekkomyślne i niezbyt "myślące". Szybkie zmiany zdania, które powinny zachodzić stopniowo, dwie postacie się nienawidzą, a w następnym rozdziale mają w pełni kochającą relację, dla mnie to mało realistyczne. Sam świat stworzony bardzo ciekawie, mimo małych niedopowiedzień i dziwnych sformuowań (mówię tu o rogach, które mogą się poruszać i zmieniac barwę? Nie wiem czy to moja interpretacja opisu czy naprawdę takie rzeczy się dzieją). Na samym końcu spotykamy żółte słoneczko Polsatu, ostrzeżenie dla wszystkich czytających przed wyjściem drugiej części w naszym ojczystym języku. Podsumowując, książka nie była zła, naprawdę wciągnęłam mnie gdzieś za połową.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Death of parent, Bullying, Deadnaming, Rape, Death, and Fire/Fire injury

bookishchef's review against another edition

adventurous funny 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

3.25

I wanted to love this so much. 
And part of me does. The characters were great, I loved the representation and I thought Wyatt was a really enjoyable narrator. The writing style was good too...

But the plot was all over the place. The pacing was inconsistent. And the story couldn't seem to focus on literally anything. To the extent that the main plot point of this book doesn't get a resolution by the end. 

I thought Wyatt acted a bit old for his age too. A 17 year old with multiple years of sexual experience and sexual partners? Like... it isn't impossible and I guess some teenagers do mess around a lot but idk.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Fire/Fire injury, Violence, Gore, Death, Death of parent, and Deadnaming

Moderate: Drug use and Transphobia

Minor: Vomit, Sexual assault, Self harm, and Dysphoria

cryptidstar's review against another edition

adventurous emotional tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• 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

Moderate: Murder, Death, Child abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Blood, Deadnaming, Mental illness, Death of parent, and Dysphoria

discarded_dust_jacket's review

dark emotional hopeful mysterious medium-paced

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

3.0

This is a solid YA fantasy, don’t get me wrong. I think it has some strong elements as well as some it could’ve executed better. But overall, I did enjoy reading it. I finished it in a day.

The queer representation was good. I empathized with Wyatt—his self-loathing, his anger, his tendency to lash out instead of facing his emotions, and his selfishness—even when he frustrated me SO MUCH.

I did like a lot of the secondary characters as well, but overall it seemed like the author was so focused on examining Wyatt’s internal struggles that not enough focus was spent on making any of the other characters very nuanced or multi-dimensional. (Tessa’s arc is, I think, meant to involve growth and development, but it comes across more as a clumsy and sudden about face.)

I also didn’t think the author did a good enough job of making us understand why Emyr found a marriage to Wyatt so necessary that he was willing to force him into it under penalty of death. It just didn’t feel fleshed out enough to read as believable, which gave the entire premise of the story a sort-of unmoored quality. (Maybe multiple POVs would have helped here?)

Plus I felt like a lot of the plot development got squished into the last 20% or so of the book, making it read very much like an attempt to quickly tie up lose ends and insert twists where they didn’t feel necessarily natural just to set up the events of the second book. (The big “aha!” moment at the end when the villain is confronted felt very similar to the end of a Scooby-Doo episode: “and I would’ve gotten away with it too, if it weren’t for you meddling kids!”)

Finally, a lot about the way witches in this story are born to (and subsequently rejected by) Fae families seemed to be an allegory for the queer experience, especially when at one point, that similarity is explicitly pointed out on page by Wyatt.

You have the Fae (conservative) businesses refusing service to the witches, then the guard (police) siding with the Fae when they protest/incite violence against witches using language most readers would immediately associate with white supremacists. 

But at the same time, this allegory breaks apart when you consider this magical realm is also supposed to exist WITHIN the current, human world (and that there also exist Fae queer people). If an allegory is meant to be a fictional representation of a real-world people, institution, or concept, how can that allegory exist in a fictional story where the very real thing it’s meant to be representing ALSO exists? So maybe it’s not meant to be allegory at all, I don’t know, but I found my confusion over it very distracting as I was reading.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fire/Fire injury, Bullying, Child abuse, Deadnaming, Blood, Death of parent, Grief, and Murder

Moderate: Sexual assault, Terminal illness, and Suicidal thoughts

Minor: Infertility

tiredreader51's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny mysterious 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? It's complicated

4.25

I really enjoyed this book and love the analogy that it is. Fyi there is a lot of current day lingo/phrasing when the characters talk/text, a lot of it is hilarious though.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Deadnaming, and Transphobia

Moderate: Fire/Fire injury, Death of parent, Sexual assault, and Blood

Minor: Colonisation

kai1313's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful 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

3.5

 Originally rated it a 5 stars after reading, now I rate it a 4 as I read another 5 star read directly after it and started comparing the two experiences. I saw many reviews criticizing the world building, and how it didn’t make sense, or how they didn’t like the main character Wyatt. Personally, I came into it expecting a feel good sappy fantasy with a romance plot, and it provided just that. I didn’t read it for the complex world building and magic system. I read it purely for good vibes and it delivered, which is why I liked it. EDIT: now 3.5 stars after many months. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, War, Xenophobia, Domestic abuse, Hate crime, Police brutality, Abandonment, Colonisation, Homophobia, Murder, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Child abuse, and Violence

zoepagereader's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny inspiring relaxing 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

I was so incredibly close to bailing on this. The few chapters of this book left me in a mix of wanting to read but feeling like everyone word was dragging me through molasses. In the end though, I stuck through it and after about 100 pages, the plot made it worth while.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Blood, Deadnaming, Gore, Hate crime, War, Body horror, Fire/Fire injury, Murder, Sexual assault, Violence, Sexual content, and Sexual violence