Reviews tagging 'Blood'

What Lies Beyond the Veil by Harper L. Woods

42 reviews

damechou's review

medium-paced

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

BOY they just let anyone write a book huh
Fun fact: If you took a shot every time someone in the book “sunk their teeth into their bottom lip” you’d die!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gaslighting, Misogyny, Blood, and Domestic abuse

tessjuliarose19's review

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense slow-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gaslighting, Domestic abuse, Toxic relationship, Blood, Child abuse, Death of parent, Death, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, and Sexual content

cady_sass's review

adventurous challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

2.5

Someone said this book is what you would get if you told an AI to write a fantasy romance, and that’s about all I can say. It’s certainly not very good, the dialogue is cringey and unnatural and there’s zero character development. There just… no depth. But I didn’t HATE it. And now I have to read the sequel *sigh* 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gaslighting, Sexism, Sexual harassment, Suicide attempt, Torture, Death of parent, Blood, Body horror, Cursing, Gore, Toxic relationship, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual content, Sexual assault, Murder, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Violence, and War

emmacartlidge's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense slow-paced

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

2.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Death, Violence, Misogyny, Sexism, and Sexual content

Moderate: Gaslighting

Minor: Suicidal thoughts and Toxic relationship

lotecider's review against another edition

dark slow-paced

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

1.75

The plot was okay, a bit predictable but there's nothing wrong with that. The setting of the book and the world the author began to craft was very interesting, something I'd want to continue reading about for its lore.

Over all, though, this book had so much potential but was a really disappointing read. The author's writing style makes it very difficult to stay interested, the relationships are borderline abusive and yet they are romanticised and the plot, although had potential, was underwhelming.

While there's nothing wrong with having elements of stories that are predictable, for the most part the book followed all the standard, cliché tropes a fantasy book needs as if it was ticking items off a checklist. There was a lot of unnecessary repetition, way too much "telling" and not enough "showing".

At times it felt like whenever the author ran out of plot ideas she threw in a sex scene (which were also mediocre at best

aside from the hot public bath scene thay was definitely not for everyone but definitely good

About 3 chapters in I really wanted to DNC the book but only continued reading after convincing myself it would get better. It did get better in the final chapter, but then the book finished :/
 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content

Moderate: Emotional abuse and Blood

the cliff hanger, although predictable, was very good. Despite not at all enjoying the book, i definitely want to read the sequel to find out how the cliffhanger is resolved

chaotic_hyperactive's review

adventurous dark emotional mysterious slow-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? No

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Misogyny, Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, Child abuse, Death of parent, Sexual harassment, and Violence

Moderate: Suicide attempt, Blood, Murder, Gore, Infidelity, Suicidal thoughts, Classism, Grief, and Torture

rmorairty's review

adventurous dark emotional mysterious medium-paced

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

3.5

This was a little slow for me but the ending is a cliffhanger and enough to make me want to read the second book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Blood, Murder, Classism, Sexual assault, and Violence

katvou's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual content, Violence, and Murder

Moderate: Death of parent, Gaslighting, Animal death, Blood, Child death, and Adult/minor relationship

Minor: Rape, Medical content, Physical abuse, Sexual violence, Torture, Chronic illness, Grief, and Emotional abuse

enchanted_reader32's review

dark slow-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

2.0

This book was difficult for me to finish, I'm not gonna lie. It started out mostly decent and ended up being overly sexual. The relationship didn't contribute anything to the plot and a lot of the story went missing because of these parts. (Also, very disfunctional relationship. I would've broken this guys' nose and run like hell at any point during this book.) I kept wondering if people really talk like that and wishing that I hadn't read certain parts. A lot of pages, I just skipped. 

The male MC kept calling his love interest  Little One, which is kind of disturbing as that is something you call your child. In the last few chapters I heard way too many variations of the sentiment "I will not be owned by a man" to a point where I thought the character might have been overly-obsessed. Through some parts of the book, when they made references to drinking blood, they lost me. Overall the trigger warnings didn't lie. 

There were a few good quotes and a few good moments of solid humor or cameraderie. Maybe this book just wasn't for me, but that doesn't mean you won't love it. Different strokes for different folks and all that.
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⚡️Trigger warnings (as listed in the book):

•Religious purity culture
•Verbal and physical abuse
•References to grooming behaviour & assault of a minor by an authority figure
•Ritualistic sacrifice
•Suicidal thoughts & ideation
•Graphic violence
•Graphic sexual content

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Grief, Self harm, Sexual content, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexual violence, Adult/minor relationship, Death, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, and Blood

c45p1n's review

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

k i’m making a list

• this book is literaly acotar’s doppelgänger (derogatory) (in regards to the characters)
• very predictable
• ends on a cliff hanger (is part of a trilogy)
• tropes: fae & faeries, fated mates/soulmates, gods, betrayal, one bed trope (sorta? more of a cling-to-each-other-for-body-heat type of one bed), death is a trope., magic, strangers to lovers, (idk how to describe it but) surviving together, i hate everyone but you (male mc), grumpy x grumpier, again (bc there is so much) character death, um yeah. can’t think of anything else, OH “who did this to you” trope ON BOTH SIDES, yeah that’s abt it
• OH: it felt like a video game in the sense that you had to complete a goal and talk to someone and then just be in stasis for the rest of the story, like just the middle 150 pages were nothingness but the FMC & MMC flirting and traveling with nothing actually happening in that chuck of time. 
• same with the beginning sorta. it was just 1) the veil shattered, 2) XXX & FMC ran away, 3) 50 pages later they meet the MMC, 4) battle against the enemies, 5) the middle where literally nothing plot-heavy happens til chapter 28 
• pretty smutty tbh, not amount-wise but kink-wise
• i’m honestly kinda stumped on what to rate this but i think i’m gonna split it up then find the average and do it from there but you can just use these rates for generality
• plot: 4/10; characters: 7.5/10; smut: 7/10; monologue: 5/10, dialogue: 7/10; world-building: 8/10; fae history explanation: 8/10 (there was a glossary), character likeability: 8/10
• using my 200 dollar calculator, the mean is ≈ 7 so that’s like a 3.25 in my mind
• literally everyone died except the main character and love interest💀
• idk why but kinda reminded me of the hunger games
• read TWs before reading the book fs !!!!!!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic relationship, Blood, Death, Violence, Sexual content, and Cursing

Moderate: Sexism, Injury/Injury detail, Confinement, Child abuse, Misogyny, Sexual harassment, War, Sexual assault, and Medical content

Minor: Death of parent and Religious bigotry