Reviews tagging 'Torture'

Empire of Sand by Tasha Suri

12 reviews

mirifairy's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional 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

5.0


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mandkips's review against another edition

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adventurous 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

4.25


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msradiosilence's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional funny inspiring 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

4.5

Tldr; I love Amun and Mehr, and I really liked how well rounded this book is. 

Read my full review at: https://www.rainyreader.com/single-post/empire-of-sand/

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apierlessbridge's review against another edition

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dark emotional sad tense slow-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

3.5


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gattolinos_nerdy_nook's review against another edition

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dark emotional tense slow-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? It's complicated

4.0

I tend to struggle with slow paced books, but this was worth the pace. It really helped build the atmosphere when reading and it pays off in a number of ways.

I really liked how the book was set out. It was surprisingly not at all what I was expecting when I read the blurb, but I still found myself enjoying it.
There was a lot of build up and tense moments that by the end of the book felt more rewarding when they were resolved. I thought the ending was really well done, and put a smile on my face.

I found that the relationships in this book, whilst not super complex to follow, felt like there was more happening than the standard tropes or stereotypes that we often see in writing. I enjoyed reading that, but it does feel like if this book followed the same characters and was a longer series these relationships would have spanned into a more complex and compelling part of the story.

This book, whilst not what I was expecting, was still a good read. I found the characters interesting and the story intriguing. I cannot wait until I can go to the bookstore and get the sequel. It follows different characters and it seems like a bit of time has passed so I'm interested to see how that will play out.

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kaceyatwood's review against another edition

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adventurous dark hopeful sad medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

I really liked this book but something about the way it was written just didn't hit right for me. It was still a great read and an interesting story. I'm not sure exactly what but something just felt like it was missing from the book. I probably won't reread it but I dont regret reading it either. 

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hannahollihan's review against another edition

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

4.5


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montagnetalarie's review against another edition

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adventurous hopeful inspiring reflective 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

4.0


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griffinthief's review against another edition

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emotional mysterious tense slow-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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_fallinglight_'s review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional hopeful sad tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

Okay I did like this book though it took a big chunk of it to happen. The story takes its time to simmer introducing Mehr's life her mother's abdonment, the strife with her stepmother over her little sister and how she does everything in her power to still be near her, the discrimination of the Amrithi, and how Mehr has learned to survive in a lonely and secluded household. That slows it down a lot and I struggled. But I really liked Mehr as a character, she's strong willed, compassionate, doesn't feel sorry for herself, and has a strong sense of doing what is right. I liked how she is proud of what she's learned as a noblewoman and even though sometimes the uselessness of growing up as one showed up (not knowing how to sew etc) she didn't let it shame her and rather owned it.

Now, the world building, the set up to the Amrithi power and the dreamfire and the daiva, was so rich and unique. I was really in awe of the concept of dreamfire so much I'll admit I had a hard time following the writing in some points because I was so enraptured trying to imagine how it would look like. It's been a long while since I've actively tried to picture something I'm reading in my mind bc usually it's just words but blank in my mind. Once we get to the crux of the story and Amun is introduced the story finally takes way and I immediately started to get attached to him. He's literally dreamy. Now as for the villain, the Maha took a while to creep me out but the writing makes sure he bore into my bones and when he confronted Amun and Mehr about the consummation he finally made my skin crawl and I wanted to throw up. Even though he's beyond human when we first meet him, the ordinariness of his violence was what made him even more sickening.

But back to lighter notes, I really loved how Mehr and Amun's relationship developed and the night they finally become one was so tender and hurting and emotional and a little traumatic bc of how it came to be but they made it their choice. Their own. It hurt but it also bloomed. I have no complaints about the ending and how the conflict was resolved. I saw Kalini killing the Maha the moment he killed Hema and though it wasn't exactly for the right reasons, I'm glad she did it and I was right. The scene with Mehr and Elder was so fantasy excellence. The description of the veil, the dagger, so incredible. And the ending was exactly how I wanted it to be. This book might not suit a lot of people's tastes; it certainly took a lot of me to keep going and not dnf it because it's in a style I don't usually read, more focused on the intricacies of the characters than a driving plot with more action. The writing pace might be off putting and there's a lot of points where it does get a little monotonous and certain phrases and words are repetitive but in the end I'm glad I got to the end and enjoyed a unique tale. I'll definitely be thinking of dreamfire for weeks to come.

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