Reviews tagging 'Violence'

The Vanishing by Karla Nikole

5 reviews

junzoin's review against another edition

3.75

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny lighthearted 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

SPOILERS WILL BE DISCUSSED IN THIS REVIEW!

Right, so, was I expecting to give this book a 3.75? NO! If I’m being entirely honest I was so disappointed with this book, it was underwhelming to the core. As I’ve stated in my previous review for book 1, I wanted more. I wanted more action, more showcasing of Nino’s and Haruka’s TRUE potential I was genuinely waiting for that sweet action packed chapter even if it’s just one chapter.

Like,

Nino’s kidnapping was shocking, sure but I had theories, theories of how Nino will either 1) save himself, we get to see more of his powers. (And while, yes we did get to see his powers and how its mainly defense focused, I swear that’s just a fraction of his powers you can’t fool me and tell me that’s everything he has to offer) Maybe even more character development for Nino and how with this opportunity get to learn more about himself and how his bond with Haruka has impacted him, the changes that he could use. Or, well, 2) Have Haruka, Giovanni and Cellina save him and we get to see more development there but Nino is just left in the dark with no development whatsoever.

Now, there WAS development with both Giovanni and Cellina which I loved, (I’ll go into more detail later) I wanted more, like literally because

You can’t just have Mr. elitist fuck (Lajos) to kidnap Nino, use him as ransom for three days and literally just let him go right after with little to no explanation and appearance with your motives and reasoning for the manuscript, like ????????? OH AND THAT ONE PART MADE ME FUME I SWEAR TO GOD (but I just hate antagonists as a whole) but nonetheless, my point is, the whole Nino gets kidnapped arc SUCKED. No action, very anticlimatic. Like, I was expecting more talk on the history of The Vanishing, how it came to be I really wanted more because as I’ve said before, this book has so much potential yet it was not executed properly.

Next, after

Nino gets sent home. He slowly recovers with the cost of Haruka sacrificing his wellbeing because he’s constantly so paranoid and while this is to show the difficulties and the aftermath of such a traumatizing event, it was stretched out too long. Way. Too. Long. I must admit at one point I was a bit annoyed because it was repetitive but all is well at the end. But even so, I do think going into more detail in Nino’s perspective and how losing this tongue and the healing process and the difficulties that he has to go through than just Haruka’s perspective would’ve been a much better alternative than just Haruka’s paranoid, he won’t sleep which potentially can turn his realm into a nocturnal one because as the realm leader everyone follows the leader’s ‘habits’ so on and so forth. I must admit that I really wanted more of Nino than Haruka during that specific part of the story.

After that

Lajos returns, dunno why he would try to reason with them after a failed attempt once but ok,,,, he gets absolutely FUCKED over by Haruka (I loved that part) and sent to jail. And honestly??? There was so much more potential while Mr. Elitist Fuck was in jail like, he could’ve chosen to escape but he didn’t, he could’ve fed from the first-gen blood, and while, yes, it does impact his powers he’ll get better, he can escape. Chaos ensues and we can have that action packed chapter that I’m sure lots wanted but no, he decides to not take the first-gen blood because he doesn’t believe in compromises and is xenophobic as fuck oh my god it was sooooo annoying but he got what he deserves LOL. But yeah, potential was there, it was definitely not taken. I also wanted more backstory on the one-eared vampire, like, he’s interesting. Can I have some more please? No? Well, shame.

There was so many plot holes in this book, its honestly so so sad but nonetheless, the relationship between Nino and Haruka is still very much, very wholesome and we got to see a lot of development with Nino and Giovanni + Giovanni and Cellina! And if I’m being honest, I’m pretty sure Giovanni and Cellina was the main plot of the book wwwwwwww but I’m not complaining.

I genuinely do hope that the third book will be good, the reviews make it look promising but I don’t understand-

WHY IS IT DR DAVIES AND JUNICHI LIKE??? JUN ONY HAD HIS APPEARANCE IN THE SECOND BOOK,, AND HE’S GETTING A WHOLE ASS BOOK TO HIMSELF????? BETWEEN A HUMAN DOCTOR????

yeah.. I’ll definitely be leaving a review after I’m done with that book. Thank you for reading my lengthy (as always) review and happy reading! <3

Content Warnings

aromarrie's review against another edition

4.5

emotional 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

Content Warnings

lennie_reads's review against another edition

5.0

emotional hopeful mysterious 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: Complicated

This is the second book in the Queer Vampire series and it did NOT disappoint.

I was very kindly given an act back in February but because I'm useless I only got around to reading it in June (sorry about me 🙈)

This book has expanded the POVs to include Giovanni (Nino's brother) and their childhood friend Cellina. We follow Haru & Nino a year after the end of the first book and see them settling into their life together and their roles in the Japanese vampire community.

However, everything is turned upside down when Nino is kidnapped for ransom. Haru can't cope with his duties whilst trying to figure out how to rescue Nino so asks for help from Gio & Cellina. We then get to delve more deeply into their past and see their relationship develop from barely speaking to much more.

I really enjoyed this book, if anything I found it too short! I always want more from Nino & Haru and now I also love Gio & Cellina (and after the end of this book I can't wait for Book 3 and to follow Junichi & Dr Davies story!)

It's very open door (which I love but I know isn't for everyone) but it's also very romantic and sweet with lots of communication and affection, with a bit of fantasy added in.

I really love this unique vampire world that Karla has created and I can't wait to see more from it.

CW: kidnapping, depression, mentions of past miscarriage, mentions of child abuse, death, violence, dismemberment, sexual contentchild

Content Warnings

bdingz's review against another edition

3.75

adventurous 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

Content Warnings

pastelwriter's review against another edition

3.0

adventurous emotional mysterious

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

I have to say... This book did not slap as much as the first one. Although I still found it highly entertaining, I was able to see its flaws far more clearly than in the first book.

First and foremost, the pacing of this novel was all over the place. It felt like things happened both too slowly and too quickly. This was especially obvious to me with the main conflict in this book.

When Nino is “vanished,” the set-up is just so awkward. It literally feels like it comes out of nowhere (even though I knew since book 1 that this plot point would come). He is also reunited with Haru far too quickly to take advantage of the tension their separation could have provided. Furthermore, after Nino and Haru are reunited, Lajos is incapacitated way too easily for it to have felt satisfying. I chalk all of this up to pacing.

In addition to the pacing, the writing style felt more stiff in this novel. Maybe this is because the novel is longer than the first installment, and so it’s just a larger volume of phrases that feel too formal. It reads... I don’t know how to explain it beyond saying that the phrasing doesn’t match the overall tone of the book. This is especially the case in the descriptions. The dialogue in here, as in the first book, is perfection. It makes me laugh so much. But the rest of the writing? I’m not so sure about it.

Still. Rating this any lower than 3 stars is insincere about my general enjoyment of the story.

Mainly, my love for the characters in this series was only deepened with this book and was one of the primary reasons I still had a good time. I literally would lay down my life for Nino and Haru. Both of them have so much baggage they still need to work through, and I loved how we got to see even more character development here. For Nino, it’s all about taking responsibility and growing more confident in himself and his abilities. For Haru, it’s a continued journey of opening up about his desires and needs. It’s also about him learning to embrace that he doesn’t have to be so overprotective of Nino because Nino is powerful in his own right.

In addition, the scenes Haru had with little kids were in and of themselves enough to make this an enjoyable read for me. I love seeing adults who treat children with so much clear love and adoration. It just makes my heart very soft. I seriously need book three to feature MULTIPLE scenes of Haru and Nino with their (hopefully) future child. Otherwise, I’m gonna have to fight the author because I have NEEDS.

Apart from Haru and Nino, I also absolutely loved Cellina and Giovanni. Although their romance was poorly paced, I still adored it. I loved the dynamic between the two of them—these very self-sufficient vampires learning to lean on each other. They both needed each other, and I think that’s beautiful. Though I must admit that Giovanni’s alpha male bs would make me hate him if he was real. Lol.

Finally, the side characters here were absolutely wonderful. Asao continues to be my KING. He is an ICON. I genuinely would love to read all about him. That’s how much I respect and love that vampire. On the other hand, Jun and Ladislao were delightful for their slutty energy. Both these men had me cackling as I read. Ladislao especially had absolutely no chill. I support him getting the sex he so desperately needs. Lol. Jun is more chill, but he still made some comments that just had me laughing so hard.

So, yeah. Did I enjoy this book as much as book one? No. But it still was incredibly entertaining and delivered characters I found incredibly lovable.

Content Warnings

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