Reviews tagging 'Child death'

War by Laura Thalassa

23 reviews

mattiedancer's review against another edition

adventurous dark 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

3.75

Writing: 3.25⭐️/5 

Alright, so the writing is serviceable. I liked it in the sense that it didn’t get in the way. I did feel like the pacing was a bit off for this one. I noticed a lot more exposition starting to creep in. It felt a bit less polished. Overall, though, it stood out less than her first book in this series (Pestilence) strictly because it felt a bit like a carbon copy in certain sections.

Characters: 3.5⭐️/5

Above I said that the writing felt a bit too familiar. So did the characters. Now, War is completely different than Pestilence. Miriam feels a little too similar to Sara. As the novel picked up, she definitely struck out on her own, gaining her own sense of self. However, by then the similarities were embedded into my brain too much, and it became harder to notice their differences. I did appreciate getting a few more side characters in this one as well, even if some of them lacked a bit of depth.

Plot: 3.75⭐️/5 

The plot is fun – and, you guessed it, overall very similar to Pestilence. All in all, I did enjoy the differences, loving how Miriam pushed against her fate as War’s wife. I loved how he, in his differences from Pestilence, forced her to move in different directions. I will say the end felt a bit too pulled out. Everything felt so over, and for everyone to come back to kill War just felt a bit contrived, as though Thalassa was trying too hard to make the ending similar to Pestilence.

Who Should Read This Book? 

• Fans of ACOTAR and dystopian societies
• Someone looking for a romance with an intriguing plot
• Those who like fantasy/apocalyptic novels that centre on romance
• Readers who like (or don’t mind) a bit of spice, but not just spice
• Those who liked and loved the first book (but maybe take a break between so it’s not too fresh)

Content Warnings? 

Death, murder, murder, sexual content, physical abuse, emotional abuse, kidnapping, fire, fire injury, gore, blood, injury, injury detail, gun violence, violence, animal death, torture, grief, body horror, sexual harassment, sexual assault, war, 

Post-Reading Rating:  3⭐️/5

I didn’t love how the ending came about. Very contrived and pushed towards predictability, when it didn’t have to be.

Final Rating: 3.5⭐️/5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexism, Sexual harassment, Violence, Vomit, Toxic relationship, Colonisation, Animal death, Body horror, Bullying, Child death, Death, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Physical abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Grief, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Torture, War, Blood, Murder, Cursing, Gaslighting, Pregnancy, Self harm, and Toxic friendship

twinklepuff's review against another edition

adventurous dark medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Blood, Vomit, Grief, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Death, Child death, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual content, and Gore

katbenimble's review against another edition

challenging dark sad medium-paced

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

2.0

The hero was better in this one, but the FMC was AN IDIOT.  

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Torture, Suicide attempt, Misogyny, Medical trauma, Kidnapping, Grief, Child death, Animal death, Violence, Toxic relationship, Slavery, Sexual content, Injury/Injury detail, Fire/Fire injury, Death of parent, Blood, War, Sexual violence, Pregnancy, Murder, Medical content, and Gore

emmathebookworm's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional 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? Yes

3.5

This was definitely better than the first book. However, I felt like something was missing. I would’ve liked to see more of War’s POV,  which could’ve really captured his moral struggles throughout the story. It’s a bit slow at times and the end was quite fast, but that doesn’t make the book much less enjoyable.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Confinement, Kidnapping, Physical abuse, Sexism, Sexual assault, Pregnancy, Child death, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Violence, War, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Mental illness, Sexual violence, Torture, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Cursing, Vomit, Alcohol, Fire/Fire injury, and Grief

dontwritedown's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful sad 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

4.25

Better than the last ....but it's starting to get predictable. Horseman comes and foes horseman things, horseman finds woman marked by God for him, woman reluctant to join him, eventually they fall in love, woman dies and Death ressurects her. 

I'm curious how Death's book is going to go, but not looking for to Famine as it appears to be the exact same thing. 

At least the horseman in this version had a personality though sometimes Miriam's was lacking. 

Solid book though.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Animal death, Death of parent, Death, and Child death

kat1105's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional sad 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Animal death, Blood, Body horror, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Gun violence, Grief, Pregnancy, Child death, Death, Rape, Violence, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Miscarriage, Sexual content, Suicide attempt, Toxic relationship, Vomit, and War

alibookedup's review against another edition

adventurous dark 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

4.0

I really enjoyed this more than pestilence!

What I liked”
- “wife”
- “for your soft heart”
- war was a more amusing and attractive male counterpart and I was very here for the Khal drogo vibes (without rape)
- Miriam as a MFC was also more enjoyable - she was less annoying for me personally than sarah. I loved her strength, attitude, and determination. In other words, she was a badass!
- much more interesting backstories delved into with both war and Miriam. I felt the world expanding in really interesting ways. Loved war talking about his brothers and some chapters from his perspective along with Miriam and her grief of losing her family
- faster romance, spicier, and really cute moments. their relationship progression was just the right speed 
- he fell first
-loved that there were more things interacting with war and Miriam like Zara and the Phobos soldiers. Having a community made from war prisoners was really interesting
- wars redemption
- “surrender”
- THE ENDING!!!!

What I didn’t like:
- sometimes I still felt like the author would have Miriam say things to sound cool or hip that felt super out of character. It was really distracting in pestilence and I feel like she reigned it in more this book but there were still sometimes that Miriam said cringey things. Like “he knocked me up real good”. 🫣🫣🫣
- plot sometimes still felt repetitive but way less so than previous book. Because the pacing was way better it was less noticeable 
- there was always some iteration of saying “the horseman”, “my horseman”, etc. it’s honestly just said way too much in both books but I did feel like it was better in this one

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Violence

Moderate: Rape, Child death, and War

bangiebangs's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful reflective sad tense 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

4.5

Really enjoyable, like the first one. That said, the journey to reach a destination of happily ever after is way different here than in Pestilence. This is brutal in a different way, and has some interesting turns. 

Slow burn enemies to lovers, and I deducted half a point only because I felt there were some chapters that could have been merged. I never got bored reading, but some stuff could have been edited better/ made more concise. 

Heed the CNs, this is not mincing words (or deeds). Spice is medium. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pregnancy, Sexual assault, Sexism, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Child death, Death, Gore, Physical abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Genocide, Grief, Suicide attempt, Violence, Body horror, Bullying, War, Gun violence, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Kidnapping, Sexual violence, Medical trauma, and Torture

Moderate: Alcohol, Self harm, Religious bigotry, Pregnancy, Vomit, and Murder

whitney427's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful mysterious sad 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Sexual content, Violence, War, Death, Pregnancy, and Child death

Moderate: Gun violence, Kidnapping, Rape, and Torture

Minor: Slavery and Suicidal thoughts

ireadinbed's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful tense fast-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

4.25

Honestly i was worried about continuing with this series despite the first book being a surprise hit for me. They are really quite dark in tone and frankly the stramy scebes in book one were really bad. 

I am happy to be proven wrong! I would say this book is significantly better than the first in many ways. It has a bit of a slower start but the meat of the story is really hard hitting. 

Im pleasantly surpfised by how different the mmc are. They could easily be clones and instead the author develops them really well. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Sexual violence, Pregnancy, Child death, War, Violence, and Gun violence

Moderate: Vomit