Reviews tagging 'Murder'

King's Cage by Victoria Aveyard

20 reviews

lavendarcatt's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious 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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Murder, and Torture

Minor: War and Blood

rainy_reverie's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional 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? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

Ha, this book broke me. 

As the third installment of the Red Queen series, we finally discover the reason why Maven is the way he is (cool motive, still murder) and we get to see just how resourceful Mare Barrow is. We also see get a look into what Evangeline Samos really thinks. 

Despite how absolutely morbid it is, I think this is my favorite book in the Red Queen series

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Kidnapping, Murder, War, and Violence

freyacarol's review against another edition

adventurous dark sad tense slow-paced

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

2.5

The writing flips between good and bad. A lot of the metaphors are repeated and the writer tends to drag out parts where characters are explaining their feelings in an attempt to give them more depth, but it reads as clunky and overdone. That being said, I still do enjoy some of the characters, possibly because we haven't had to hear them explain the same thing over and over again. The main characters have made too many stupid decisions and the love story part of it  feels forced. The main character can't seem to decide whether she's a strong female protagonist or a simpering, helpless mess. 
The plot has some complexity, though it annoys me that a lot of the reasoning behind certain events is because the villain has this weird obsession with the main character that also perhaps could have been explained differently.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Blood, Death, Emotional abuse, Murder, Violence, and War

kinsportch's review

adventurous dark emotional tense medium-paced

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

4.0

King’s cage was definitely a better read than Glass Sword, but does not quite add up to Red Queen. Mare Barrow is consistently an unlikable character focused primarily on herself the majority of the book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Murder, War, Kidnapping, and Torture

Moderate: Confinement, Toxic relationship, and Violence

Minor: Cursing, Lesbophobia, Pregnancy, and Sexual content

emmaopaline's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring mysterious sad 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? It's complicated

1.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Child death, Death, Murder, Racism, Violence, and War

readwithde's review against another edition

adventurous dark 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? It's complicated

4.25

I really enjoyed this book. Having the characters split gave them some extra time for progression (both character and plot).

While I get why Mare would be kept prisoner for so long, I would have preferred more interactions with the court, if not with Maven.

Even bringing in Evangeline's POV chapters earlier would have helped that section fill out a bit more, even if it tipped her family's hand a bit.

Cameron was an interesting POV for the Scarlet Guard/red side of things, which again left much of the political machinations off the page, but at least gave the basics. Even Kilorn would have been a better choice, in my opinion. 

I feel like the final third of the book dragged a bit, at least up until the climax,

the second battle at Corvium.

It just felt like the pacing was off after

Mare was rescued by the Scarlet Guard.

I think there was too much build up in the beginning that didn't leave enough room for the three bigger battles.

Finally,

I know we should want Cal to choose Mare, but I don't think he's wrong to ask Mare to choose him instead. I'm hoping there is a way for compromise in the final book, but I'm happy that each of them are actually dealing with what they want instead of throwing away their convictions, training, or lives.

Overall, this was a strong sequel, and I was surprised by a few things; I'm very excited to read the final book and the short stories.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Violence, and War

Moderate: Confinement, Gaslighting, Gore, Grief, Gun violence, Panic attacks/disorders, and Toxic relationship

Minor: Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Genocide, Infidelity, Kidnapping, Lesbophobia, Medical content, Pregnancy, Racial slurs, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Torture, and Vomit

readwithzoe_'s review against another edition

adventurous emotional sad medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Murder, and Panic attacks/disorders

Moderate: Pregnancy and Torture

Minor: Vomit

trulydevious's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional tense slow-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, War, Violence, and Kidnapping

Moderate: Toxic relationship, Torture, Self harm, Panic attacks/disorders, Murder, and Medical content

Minor: Sexual content, Fire/Fire injury, Pregnancy, Gore, and Child abuse

llsugarspicell's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional sad 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

I really loved this book, it’s better than the previous one.

⛔️ Spoilers ahead ⛔️

I loved Cameron and Evangeline POVs and enjoyed being in their heads for a change. Mare is good but she can’t pick aside just like Cal, she’s desperate and in love-hate relationship with Maven … yes she hates him but at the same time he’s all she can think about and want his attention and get jealous and want to convince herself she doesn’t care about him all the time.
 
Maven’s back story just broke me, i mean i guessed before his mother did something with his brain but I didn’t imagine it to be that bad, she  converted him into a sociopath and i just hated her more.
and can we talk about how the bath tub scene is THE BEST .. I don’t know why but my heart broke into millions and millions pieces after reading that chapter it was so great i felt every emotion … I’m not ready to read how my mavey baby gonna die 😢😭💔

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Genocide, Gore, Grief, Kidnapping, Mental illness, Misogyny, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Police brutality, Pregnancy, Racism, Slavery, Torture, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Violence, and War

Moderate: Vomit

sofiya's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense medium-paced

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

4.5

I’m conflicted by how much I actually like this book vs. how much of it is just curiosity to see how it ends. I never felt bored reading this book and personally feel that the writing gets better with each one in the series. Interesting focus on trust vs. love vs. need  that I like a lot. The ending was a bit rushed in my opinion, but overall I enjoyed this installment the most (so far). Also didn’t mind the different POVs, which I usually find annoying in books (probably because she still focused on Mare as the main character rather than too much splitting). 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gore, Grief, Gun violence, Murder, Torture, and Violence