Reviews tagging 'War'

Gild by Raven Kennedy

63 reviews

spaghettii's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense slow-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Sexual harassment, Alcohol, Bullying, Classism, Confinement, Kidnapping, Murder, Misogyny, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Death, Forced institutionalization, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Slavery, Physical abuse, Rape, Trafficking, Violence, War, Cursing, Infertility, and Torture

pagepixie's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional tense fast-paced

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

2.0

This book is HEAVY. It’s honestly emotionally taxing and I wasn’t expecting it. 

I was deeply d saddened by the themes of the book and it made it difficult to get through at certain parts. It’s violent. Mostly towards women. 

However, I was gripped from page one. 

I liked three characters in this book. The MC, Auren, I liked Sail (my baby boy) and Digby. By the end I liked Rissa too. 

Mostly I hate everyone tho lol. 

However! I love the turn this book took at the end! I can’t believe I didn’t guess it earlier! Auren is the one who can turn things to hold and not Midas!  I’m ecstatic! 

I’m also excited to see some real romance bloom between our girl and a man who turkey respects her and loves her for HER.

9/9 EDIT: thinking about it, I need to lower my rating I think this book compared to the others was just not good. The violent themes toward women didn’t sit well with me, and compared to my other 3 star ratings it just doesn’t compare. I’m sorry. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual violence, Slavery, Violence, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, and Trafficking

Moderate: Emotional abuse

Minor: Child abuse, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, and War

hmb86's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Trafficking, and Rape

Moderate: Sexism, Physical abuse, War, Sexual harassment, Toxic friendship, Sexual violence, Violence, and Toxic relationship

Minor: Infertility

viselik's review against another edition

adventurous dark 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

3.25

 The book does have its issues, and I think it you know what you are getting into it's fine. But please read the content warning, this book is definitely not alright for younger readers who don't know what they are getting into!

The first time I read this I did not know it had the content in it that it did due to me skipping over the content warning and I finished the book feeling like I had missed something and felt icky. I only figured it out once I read the content warning that I had accidentally skipped and reread the book that it clicked what had actually happened, it wasn't what I expected and made me like the book a whole lot more than I originally did.

 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual violence, Violence, and Sexual content

Moderate: Child abuse, Abandonment, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Murder, Rape, Self harm, Toxic relationship, War, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Grief, Sexism, Trafficking, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual harassment, and Toxic friendship

booshort's review against another edition

I think I got around 10% in and DNF’d it.

I then VERY VAGUELY skimmed the rest of the book. By that, I mean I searched up summaries, reviews, and recaps and then did not regret sticking this one out.

I think this book has the most serious trigger warnings I’ve read (/skimmed). TW FOR DESCRIPTIVE RAPE SCENE. Ya I’m good with avoiding that thanks. I found the writing very juvenile to an almost mocking degree. It sometimes came off more satirical of a dark fantasy romance, rather than and *actual* dark fantasy romance.

I’ve heard each book gets better; I might continue, I might not. But I know for sure I won’t continue any time soon.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Slavery, Domestic abuse, Gaslighting, Death, Sexual content, Violence, Confinement, Emotional abuse, Gore, Infidelity, Lesbophobia, Misogyny, Murder, Physical abuse, Cursing, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, War, Rape, Sexual harassment, and Toxic relationship

Minor: Body shaming, Child abuse, Blood, Abandonment, Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Death of parent, and Trafficking

frantically's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional reflective fast-paced

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

3.0

Was really loving this in the first half — the romance was just dark enough to be fun and not to be completely disgusted — but the pirate plot in the second half threw me off 😅 Already obsessed with the Commander though — can't really be a dark romance with a blonde love interest, can it?

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Sexual assault, Murder, Rape, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Grief, Violence, and Alcoholism

Moderate: Gore, Adult/minor relationship, and Confinement

Minor: War

filipa_maia's review against another edition

dark sad tense medium-paced

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

3.0

I have mixed feelings about this book.

I do appreciate this other side of the story. This is not King Midas' story (the one that everyone knows), it's someone else's... someone very important that stays in the shadows. Also, I very much enjoyed all this mystery around Auren, there is an aura of secrets involving her that kept me very focus till the end. Solving this mystery is exactly one of the things that is going to make me read the second book.

On a less positive note, this book is very hard to read: maybe I was distracted or maybe the trigger warnings weren't enough... I almost quit reading this book. Several times. I understand that women weren't seen as people, especially these women being King Midas' harem... but there is a less brutal way of describing some scenes. Honestly, the excessive use of some words were not to emphasise the narrative, but just to trigger the reader.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Abandonment, Blood, Bullying, Classism, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Murder, Sexual content, Colonisation, Grief, Confinement, Cursing, Sexual harassment, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Misogyny, Violence, Trafficking, Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, Torture, Slavery, and Sexual violence

Moderate: Infidelity, War, Alcohol, and Death of parent

Minor: Excrement and Vomit

missgarceau's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful sad tense fast-paced

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

4.75

Please check TW’s BEFORE reading!!

Spice: 🔥🔥🔥

I couldn’t put this down from start to finish. 

Although it felt somewhat predictable, I found myself not anticipating major plot twists. 

This is not a “happy” retelling, and deals with dark & difficult topics. Please be advised. 

However, I found the world, characters, and plot absolutely riveting. 

This ends on a cliffhanger, is an unfinished series, but the final book is scheduled to be released this year. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Xenophobia, Sexual content, Blood, War, Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, Murder, Hate crime, Gore, Forced institutionalization, Emotional abuse, Domestic abuse, Classism, Child abuse, Sexual assault, Misogyny, Violence, Trafficking, Torture, Slavery, Sexual violence, Death, Cursing, Confinement, Sexual harassment, Sexism, Physical abuse, Pedophilia, Death of parent, Body shaming, Mental illness, Kidnapping, Infidelity, Gaslighting, and Alcoholism

Moderate: Hate crime, Infidelity, Cursing, Deportation, Gore, Alcohol, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Kidnapping, Mental illness, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Alcoholism, Blood, Bullying, Classism, Confinement, Death of parent, Dysphoria, Emotional abuse, Body horror, Body shaming, Death, Gaslighting, Misogyny, and Physical abuse

jadie_berg's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional tense fast-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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Confinement, Sexual content, Rape, Sexual harassment, Blood, Death, Sexual violence, and Murder

Moderate: Infertility, Infidelity, War, Death of parent, and Fire/Fire injury

bangiebangs's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

3.0

This was dark. Darker than I expected tbh, so heed the CNs - this has a lot of uncomfortable elements. 

The fact that the king's harem are called "saddles", or that this is also the term for any sex worker ("wh*re" is used a lot) isn't the worst, but there are scenes very close to rape, and one that is a quite detailed rape scene).

The one thing that bothers me the most is the relationship between Auren and the king tbh. I'm not on bord with seeing this as anything but exploitative.

In the backstory, we learn that they started their relationship when he rescued her from an abusive situation (sexual trafficking is implied), and they start a relationship when she is 15 and he is "seven years older". Even if the story picks up 10 years later than that, this still makes this something that starts as an adult/minor pairing... so her sexual desire for him... ew.

I found the pacing a little uneven as it takes a long time to set the scene: I was more than 100pp in before I felt this picking up steam or having much of a story- this is an issue throughout. While there are some nice minor twists in there I think this book mainly sets up the second one and does some basic world-building. Also some serious emotional gut-punch moments, so yeah, this one is not exactly uplifting. 

This is also not a romance, dark or otherwise. There is no romance in this book. Maybe the next? But if you're looking for dark romantasy spice... this ain't it.

Be aware that this ends in a cliffhanger. 
Spice level wasn't there for me - there is a lot of sexual content, but the way it's described doesn't really do much for me. Not that every book needs this, but in this one the sex is so often mixed with abuse or dubious (/absent) consent that it's not exactly something I can enjoy.

All in all, a dark but enticing read, though one that will might make you uncomfortable at times. I'll continue with the series and see how it goes.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual harassment, Physical abuse, Sexism, Emotional abuse, Rape, Confinement, Death, Sexual assault, Cursing, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Violence, Blood, Bullying, Misogyny, Slavery, Kidnapping, and Adult/minor relationship

Moderate: War