Reviews tagging 'Gaslighting'

The Ashes and the Star-Cursed King by Carissa Broadbent

7 reviews

erinkellyreads's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

3.25

Continuing from the first book in this duology, I am again conflicted in my review. I did get more about the gods and Vincent/Oraya's past, which is what I was looking for, but... this dragged. I just never felt the chemistry between Raihn & Oraya and so when they were fighting over what Raihn did (which - valid, girl, I don't know if I could be in the same room with him after that in the beginning) I wasn't super rooting for them to get back together. I found myself skimming pages to get to the good parts. The ending was, in some ways, expected and, in others, unsatisfying. Now the question becomes - do I do what I did to myself with the Hades/Persephone series and push to read the rest in this world to see if it gets better or do I cut my losses on this series? Time will tell. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Blood, Death, Death of parent, Physical abuse, War, Child death, Gaslighting, Gore, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Murder, Slavery, and Bullying

Moderate: Alcohol, Chronic illness, Cursing, Infidelity, Child abuse, Stalking, Fire/Fire injury, Pregnancy, Toxic friendship, Ableism, Confinement, Kidnapping, Sexual content, Body shaming, Colonisation, Classism, Domestic abuse, Terminal illness, Emotional abuse, Excrement, Toxic relationship, and Vomit

sleepyrivermtn's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad 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

4.75

This book is just a great as the first. I will say that it is a little slower than Serpent and the Wings of Night as we are dealing with the consequences of the characters actions in the first book. There is political challenges, emotional struggles, depression, as well as hope. We recognize that the world is not black and white but many shades of grey. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Classism, Murder, Toxic relationship, Sexual content, Grief, Death, Physical abuse, and Suicidal thoughts

firehearttt's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Confinement, Gaslighting, War, Gore, Blood, Death of parent, Death, and Grief

Moderate: Toxic relationship and Sexual content

Minor: Rape and Sexual assault

shadikb's review

adventurous challenging emotional 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

3.0

Dec 31, 2023
Going to come back to the story. Just need a break. 

Update Jan 3, 2024.
I finally finished it.... Here is my review:

I was so waiting for the “Hello, my name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to die.” moment and it never came....... I was disappointed but it was an okay read. The pace from the last book was lost. Became repetitive with the "There she is". It just didn't captivate me the first book. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Emotional abuse, Sexual assault, Rape, Kidnapping, Sexual harassment, War, Violence, Child abuse, Sexual content, Confinement, Death, Gaslighting, Murder, and Toxic relationship

amoiseenko's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark sad tense slow-paced

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

2.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture, Toxic relationship, War, Death, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Slavery, Gaslighting, Genocide, Grief, Gore, Fire/Fire injury, Hate crime, Body horror, Murder, Rape, and Sexual assault

Minor: Child death

spicycronereads's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful mysterious 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? Yes

5.0

Ix’s tits! I loved this book. Oraya’s emotional journey dealing with the events of book 1 and the ongoing revelations in this book was complex and sad and beautiful. The reckoning with the contradictions of someone she thought she knew was hauntingly familiar. The action was well paced and the spicy scenes were…well, spicy. But also lovely in their evolution. Really enjoyed this book on many levels - plot, language, tone, character development. I will definitely be adding more from Carissa Broadbent to my TBR list. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gaslighting, Sexual content, Violence, Blood, and Death of parent

Moderate: Sexual assault, Trafficking, Rape, and Emotional abuse

amanda_reads13's review

emotional tense medium-paced

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

3.0

This immediately follows the events in Book 1 and 1.5. Oraya, revealed to be Vincent's heir, is now a prisoner in her own kingdom. Raihn offers her a secret alliance that will grant her her freedom, but can she truly trust him after what he has done? 

Honestly, I didn't enjoy this one as much as the first. I found it to be very slow and I lost interest quite a bit. It was pretty obvious where the plot was heading, so none of it was really that big of a surprise. 

Oraya spends most of the book trying to hate Raihn for what he has done, but she continues to harbour feelings for him. While Raihn spends most of the book trying to prove that he is not the bad guy Oraya thinks he is. It gets old pretty fast since this makes up like 200+ pages of the book. 

During the second part of the book, we see Oraya and Raihn forge an alliance to take back the kingdom from Septimus and Simon. This part was more fast pace and a bit more interesting, but still very long. 

Tropes: vampires, magic, enemies to lovers (again)

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gaslighting, Grief, Medical trauma, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual content, and Blood