Reviews tagging 'Grief'

Seven Faceless Saints by M.K. Lobb

12 reviews

tired_cicada's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense slow-paced

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

4.0

Listen I am a simple woman. You give me a sad man who is so unbelievably in love with a woman and I will fold every time.

That said, don’t go into this expecting a romance. It’s a mystery through and through. 

It did start off really slow, but picked up eventually. 

The mystery was done well. I managed to guess the killer but in a way that made me feel accomplished for figuring it out. Not in a “oh this was so predictable” kinda way.

Handles delicate situations like death, social injustice, and the ramifications of war (including but not limited to PTSD) with grace. 

This implication that Damian is on the aroace spectrum (Demi) was so nice to see!

Very good! I enjoyed it! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Religious bigotry, and Death of parent

Moderate: Gaslighting, Suicidal thoughts, Death, Abandonment, Dementia, Murder, and Blood

Minor: Sexual content and Torture

criticalmiss's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional 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

4.0

You are in Ombrazia, a fantasy world with Italian leaning. People are descended from saints and you are either blessed and receive the magic of your patron saint or you don’t receive magic at all and become unfavoured.
And to be unfavoured means, you don’t have a voice in the government, you get conscripted without your consent to the war and your murder doesn’t mean anything unless you a disciple of a saint. 
I enjoyed the magic system , and the characters were developed and flawed. A good mystery runs throughout. 
Told in a few 3rd person POV
TW: death, body mutilation, gun violence, poisoning, child death 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death

Moderate: Murder, Violence, Child death, Grief, Blood, Death of parent, and Gun violence

linnea1801's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious sad 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

4.25

Roz is a stabby queen and I love her 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, War, Death, Blood, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Death of parent, Dementia, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Murder, Religious bigotry, Suicidal thoughts, and Classism

kirstenf's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny hopeful 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? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Death, Death of parent, Classism, Murder, Grief, Alcohol, War, Violence, and Suicidal thoughts

Minor: Sexual content

thewildmageslibrary's review against another edition

4.0

This sure started with a bang! I'm definitely on board for the sequel, can't wait to see what happens.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Violence, Blood, Grief, and Death

Moderate: Death of parent

Minor: Suicidal thoughts and Suicide

lqvekanej's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Death, Grief, War, Gore, and Violence

frantically's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.0

I loved the world building in this and I'm always here for a good friends-to-enemies-to-lovers but the characterisation was off at times — there's this obvious goal of making Roz into a morally grey character and it doesn't work at all. I'm not gonna start thinking that a woman's whose a part of the rebellion is morally grey just because of it (no matter how much Damian was convinced of it). There's a lot of telling and little of showing and I just wish I could've been more immersed into the story. I have to say, I absolutely loved the writing style though! Some of the quotes about their relationship...damn, that's a romance writer in the making 😉

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Suicidal thoughts, Gun violence, Violence, War, Death, and Grief

Moderate: Child death, Death of parent, Mental illness, Religious bigotry, and Xenophobia

Minor: Sexual content

thecaffeinatedreader's review against another edition

mysterious medium-paced

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

2.25

The mystery and religious part of it were fun but I just could not get on board with the love story part

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Death of parent, Grief, Gore, Murder, and War

Minor: Suicidal thoughts

moonchild_cos's review against another edition

dark 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Alcoholism, Blood, Violence, Gun violence, Death of parent, Murder, Death, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Grief, Sexual content, War, and Classism

Minor: Confinement, Mental illness, Body horror, Suicidal thoughts, Cursing, and Dementia

lizgriffinwords's review against another edition

adventurous dark 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? Yes

5.0

I am LOVING this book. The vibes and voice are gripping, the characters are flawed and compelling and multi-faceted, and the murder mystery has me hooked. I'm here for the abundance of recent novels (especially YA) where the protagonists wrestle with oppressive religious systems that look eerily similar to real life deconstruction. If you liked This Vicious Grace, pick up Seven Faceless Saints!

Thank you NetGalley and Little, Brown Books for Young Readers for the eARC.

[Edited] If you’re looking for something to fill the Shadow & Bone season 2-shaped hole in your heart, might I recommend SEVEN FACELESS SAINTS? Filled with magic, conviction, murder mystery, and romance, this upper YA novel takes place in an Italian-inspired fantasy city threatened by external war and internal rebellion! (CW: war, parent death)

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Grief, War, and Death of parent