Reviews tagging 'Sexual violence'

From Blood and Ash by Jennifer L. Armentrout

58 reviews

katyfortner's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious medium-paced

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

4.0

I am not quite sure why this book took me so long to read. I kept picking it up and putting it back down. I started with the audiobook and did not like the initial one I was listening to and decided to just go buy the book and read it and it flew by. I am not the biggest fan of the character name choices, but I still enjoyed the journey. I don't normally read vampire books, but I definitely enjoyed this one.

Now, I know Poppy is supposed to be this innocent, naïve maiden, but she was frustrating me so much. I could not believe how long it took her to figure some stuff out when I had an idea for a good bit of the novel and every hint just kept confirming it for me. Like Hawke being the "Dark One", there were so many slip-ups that she should have seen, but didn't. One of them being the Duke being staked by the cane that he hit her with on multiple occasions and Hawke had legit just heard about it from the Priestess' slip-up and he just so happens to have been gone while the Duke was MIA. Also, Hawke had admitted to Poppy that he had killed the Duke like WTF. Then when Delano said, "If the Prince wanted you dead, you'd already be dead. You should eat." Hawke had just said that no one is to lay a finger on her and she doesn't put 2 and 2 together. My final straw was how he had mentioned rescuing the Prince's brother and he just so happens to also have a missing brother that he has said he would do anything to see again.. GIRL WAKE UP!
Overall, I did enjoy the story and will keep on reading the series to see what happens, especially since Cas just casually throws out the whole marriage proposal situation at the end of the book.

 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Sexual harassment, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, Sexual content, and Death

Moderate: Death of parent

Minor: Pregnancy

macgarae's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional 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

3.0

The plot started off slow then hooked me enough to keep me going, I was liking Poppy’s character so stayed invested, however the quality of the dialogue writing seemed to go from being believable and interesting to completely stilted and repetitive. I saw the twists coming from a mile off - which I don’t mind, to be honest - but the way Hawke’s character changed became so creepy and unsupportable that I couldn’t even be conflicted in shipping them at the end, all I could feel was discomfort and weirded out, for lack of a better phrase. It may be that this is something tackled in the next book as with ACOTAR, but I don’t think I’m invested enough to put the time in. The world building is strong and the driving societal conflicts are layered and clever, so between those and Poppy’s character, I’ve given this 3* ☺️

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Grief, Gaslighting, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Torture, Murder, Death of parent, Death, Sexual assault, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Child death, and Blood

midnacine's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious tense 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

4.5

Re-reading this as an audiobook was such a delight! Stina Nielsen does an impeccable job bringing Poppy and Hawke to life. My only gripe is that there was some inconsistency with the voice choices of different characters, so it was sometimes hard to keep track of who was speaking at specific times. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Physical abuse, Blood, Grief, Sexual content, Death, Violence, Murder, Cursing, Religious bigotry, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Gore, Body horror, Medical content, Kidnapping, Panic attacks/disorders, and Death of parent

Minor: Pregnancy, Gaslighting, Sexism, Fatphobia, Child death, Torture, War, Stalking, Body shaming, Classism, Domestic abuse, and Sexual violence

dubious consent about 75% through due to

Poppy not being fully aware of Hawke/Casteel's identity when she consented to having sex with him

elizabethgiagnacovo's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense medium-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? No

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual violence, Torture, Sexual assault, and Sexual harassment

marisa_n's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense slow-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Cannibalism, Confinement, Death, Forced institutionalization, Gaslighting, Gore, Grief, Kidnapping, Murder, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Death of parent, Child death, Child abuse, and Genocide

Minor: Infidelity, Toxic friendship, and War

mara_holliday's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense medium-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence

Moderate: Sexual harassment and Sexual violence

melissyjo's review against another edition

slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? N/A
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No

This book was abysmally slow. Poppy is annoying and stupid. The love interest (I have forgotten hs name) was unlikeable. Their power dynamic was extremely toxic. It had these weird world building paragraphs that were huge info dumps in between one word dialogue. Grammatical errors everywhere and horribly repetitive dialogue. Saw the twist from a mile a way. Book picks up last 50 pages but it isn't worth it. 

The two people of color in the book are both in servant type roles. One is named TAWNY. Big yikes.

I honestly don't know why this book is so hyped. It was one of the worst books I've ever read. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Kidnapping, Adult/minor relationship, Confinement, and Child abuse

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Sexual content, Misogyny, Adult/minor relationship, Child death, Confinement, Death, and Violence

anapthine's review

adventurous dark emotional mysterious 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? No

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Blood, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Grief, Genocide, Hate crime, Misogyny, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Xenophobia, Sexual content, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Sexism, Sexual violence, Physical abuse, and Gore

Moderate: Kidnapping, Toxic relationship, War, Torture, and Suicidal thoughts

Minor: Medical trauma, Panic attacks/disorders, Stalking, Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Deadnaming, Death of parent, Forced institutionalization, and Mental illness

lecturaliscl's review against another edition

adventurous 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

LOVED IT. 
Poppy has become my new favorite female character by far. 

And Hawke... oh my. 

Strong character development. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content and Sexual violence

sarahsreadinglist's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious 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

3.75

I have mixed feelings about this book. 

On one hand, I find the writing lacking: it reads as an underdeveloped fanfiction-esque amalgamation of fantasy subjects like vampires, werewolves, and zombies. I found other parts of the book frustrating, like how it deals with the ever-common fantasy romance trope of

a teenage girl and centuries-old magical male being falling in love

as well as the issue of informed consent (which was glossed over far too quickly in my opinion). I can recall two explicitly POC (specifically black) characters, both of whom have names relating to being brown/dark in color and are in positions of service to their white friends and main characters.

On the other hand, I still enjoyed the book. Despite my frustrations with the way certain topics were dealt with, I think the author handled some darker issues well. It made me feel giddy and excited like a well-written fanfiction does, and despite my issues with the world building and my amusement with the inclusion of what is essentially vampires/zombies/werewolves, I found myself reading with anticipation. I was eager to learn more about the workings of this fantasy world and see the development of character relationships, however predictable it may have been. I checked out the second and third books in the series as soon as possible from my local library.

TLDR: I thoroughly enjoyed the book even though it left something to be desired.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Violence, Death of parent, Gore, Murder, and Physical abuse