Reviews tagging 'Stalking'

Kingdom of the Wicked by Kerri Maniscalco

13 reviews

thebookaddict's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful mysterious 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

4.0

🇳🇱: een prachtig boek. Ik heb hem in drie dagen uitgelezen en ik moet zeggen dat ik er goed doorheen vloog. Van het moment dat toorn in beeld kwam was ik verkocht, wat een heerlijke man.

ik vond het jammer dat hij zo veranderde op het einde. Al weet je natuurlijk nooit wat de ware aard is van de prinsen....

Ik vond de bijnamen heks en demon erg aandoenlijk, omdat het zo goed paste binnen het verhaal. Het waren koosnaampjes, die de nodige haat bevatte. Er was veel spanning, al vond ik die wat voorspelbaar. Ik kreeg bij dit boek geen vijf sterren gevoel wat ik erg jammer vond, omdat ik dit wel hoopte vanwege de prachtige special edition.  De schrijfwijze is goed. In het begin werd ik wel wat verward door de italiaanse termen en bijnamen. Later heb je door wie ze ermee bedoelen. Ook de personages waren heel goed neergezet, je voelt echt goed met ze mee. De schrijfster zet heel mooi de karakter van de personages neer. Ook laat ze heel goed zien dat je niet iedereen kan vertrouwen. 

 Al met al een leuk fantasie boek en ik kan niet wachten op deel twee.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Medical trauma, Vomit, Panic attacks/disorders, Cursing, Death, Child death, Violence, Grief, Murder, Death of parent, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: War

Minor: Stalking and Torture

theintrovertsbooks's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Death, Blood, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Alcohol, Vomit, Gore, Violence, Murder, Body horror, Hate crime, and Confinement

Minor: Sexual content, Animal death, Torture, Kidnapping, Cursing, Stalking, Self harm, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

vedpears's review against another edition

adventurous 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? No

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Stalking, Body horror, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Death, Murder, Violence, Blood, Grief, and Vomit

Moderate: Excrement, Alcohol, and Sexual content

usjdjfnnffm2737's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious 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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Death, Murder, and Grief

Moderate: Stalking and Violence

r3ader's review

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad 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: Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Death, Murder, Violence, and Grief

Moderate: Hate crime, Kidnapping, Sexual content, and Stalking

Minor: Vomit and Alcohol

clairew97's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Death, Murder, Torture, Grief, Stalking, Blood, Body horror, Child death, Toxic relationship, Violence, Alcohol, and Sexual content

purplehulk713's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny inspiring mysterious sad tense 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

3.75

Not that I didn’t enjoy Kingdom of the Wicked, but I had higher hopes for it from reading its preview. Maniscalco’s writing was sometimes confusing—too ambiguous to be understood upon a first or second reading of the section. It was frustrating. But the magic was bewitching, especially the culture of the streghe and their myths (some true, others false) about the Malvagi (the Wicked) and La Prima Strega (the First Witch). The romance was pretty good, I love a good enemies-to-lovers trope, but I hate how Emilia (like many other YA protagonists) judged Wrath so simply every time she saw a new side of him, and didn’t realize that just because he is one of the Wicked, that does not mean he is heartless or totally evil or whatever. Kerri Maniscalco did do a good job of leaving me wanting more, despite if it was for reasons of ambiguous writing on her part. I’m still confused about the details of the devil’s curse. Envy as a character also seemed rather predictable. Basically, as much as I enjoyed Kingdom of the Wicked, it didn’t wholly satisfy me as a reader.
Beware the Malvagi, fellow streghe…

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Grief, Physical abuse, Cursing, Death, Hate crime, Violence, and Gore

Moderate: Sexism, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Stalking, Panic attacks/disorders, Torture, Sexual assault, Mental illness, Self harm, and Sexual content

leonormsousa's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Grief, Stalking, Blood, Torture, Violence, Gore, Body horror, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, and Murder

sirkeili'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? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

This book took me a while to get through, but overall I found it quite intriguing. Watching Emilia comb through clues with her reluctant sidekick was quite amusing, even if her denial of fact was a tad frustrating. 

The plot really picks up towards the end, and some lore is actually given, albeit a tad predicatable if you are reading the context clues correctly.  

I mean, you're telling me that this-

“No one knows for certain, (...) Some believe it refers to the use of light and dark magic. Few think it means a prince will fall in love with a witch."

-isn't the plot of every enemies to lover's romance, I am supposed to remain oblivious???  I think the fuck not, and I honestly love and respect that it doesn't shy away from the trope, but rather embraces it wholeheartedly.

Overall, this book was a tad slow on the uptake, but it was quite a nice starting point for the series. Emelia's revenge has only just started, and I am eager to see the wrath (yes, I went there) she brings down upon the princes, and those who ultimately have caused Vittoria's death. I am also keen to see what Wrath's part to play will be, as he was little too quiet and unnaturally withdrawn at the end. I know he's strategizing, but how he plans to fulfill his plan is something look forward to watching. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Blood, Body horror, Confinement, Sexual content, Torture, Death, Grief, Mental illness, and Murder

Moderate: Mental illness, Religious bigotry, Confinement, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, Stalking, and Toxic friendship

Minor: Confinement, Drug abuse, Genocide, and Kidnapping

rensreading's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

3.25

there was a plot, but whether we stuck to it or not was another thing. emelia was annoying and also an idiot, not gonna lie. i don’t like her character but i do understand her initial reasoning for trying to solve her sister’s murder. i too would unleash hell if someone ever laid a hand on one of my siblings’ heads. i can only imagine how much more intense that fury would be if it happened to be my twin who was hurt. also nonna telling emelia to deal with the fact that vittoria is gone and move on already is a pretty crappy thing to say. emelia described her twin as her other half and to be expected to keep going after losing that is cruel, especially by someone who had a hand in raising both those halves.

it makes sense why its wrath who she summons. her twin is dead, her grief is choking her daily, and no one is doing anything to try and solve her sister’s murder. summoning rage and fury itself? that’s a given.

emelia’s moods give me a lot of whiplash though. her character didn’t have any substance and she played the damsel-in-distress role so often that i hardly think her capable of figuring out who ate the last cannoli, much less a murder and bringing hell down to its knees.

wrath was a complex character and it was pretty clear who the author’s favorite was. if she had put even half as much of an effort as she put into wrath’s character into emelia, then maybe she would be decent instead of all-around pathetic.

that ending was meh and i could tell

the murderer was antonio

from the moment vittoria scared them in the monastery’s kitchen and he just stepped in front of emelia while holding up his rosary, unfazed.

that was kind of a dead giveaway that he wasn’t the innocent boy next door emeila always thought of him as.

also pride x emelia? as if. she’ll be back in wrath’s arms soon enough. doesn’t help that he’s acting like such a dick though so i guess we’ll see if they even deserve to be together in the next book.

this gets 3.25 stars from me. it had promise but the execution of it all was terrible.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Sexual violence, Sexual harassment, Violence, Blood, Body horror, Cursing, Death, Gore, Grief, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Religious bigotry, Vomit, Stalking, and Confinement

the sexual harassment and violence happens after emelia meets lust, so do with that what you will.