Reviews with content warning for Injury/Injury detail - Redemptor

Reviews tagging 'Injury/Injury detail'

Redemptor by Jordan Ifueko

16 reviews

obscurepages's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional reflective 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

5.0

I just screamed into my pillow, this was absolutely incredible storytelling 😭

Thank goodness I reread Rarybearer bc diving into Redemptor, you're immediately taken into another world. One with more expansive world-building, same beautiful writing style, and new characters. Redemptor is expansive and clever and it just takes you in.

I admit the new set of characters set me off a bit, I feel like this needed a cast of characters just so I can keep up 😭😂 I would have also loved to know more about these new characters better? But I can't really say that soured my opinions of the book, because this book still had good characterization, particularly Tarisai, Dayo, Ai Ling, Sanjeet, as well as other minor characters like Min Ja and Ye Eun. Like Redemptor feels like it's most plot-driven, but the characterizations are still good. The conversations between Tarisai and Dayo? Sanjeet? Ai Ling? Adukeh and Adebimpe? I loved it 😭

Also I have to say, Tarisai makes it to the list of my favorite main characters. As a reader, yoh root for her and you feel her suffering. You feel her guilt, you feel her compassion, you feel her need to be loved and her need to create a world worth living. Some of her decisions I don't agree with (I don't want to spoil that much 😆), but her self-realizations at the end? And her character arc as a whole? I just really love it 🥹

Oh and the plot! Kudos to Jordan Idueko because she is a genius storyteller. I love how reading the whole book is just "I don't know what happens next...wait what", but you find everything irresistible and you enjoy the ride 😂 There's one plot twist that I should have seen coming, but it's so clever. And there's also one plot twist that I predicted! (I felt proud because this book is a rollercoaster okay 😂) Overall, this was just an incredible story. A fitting finish to a great start.

Raybearer and Redemptor are only a duology and yet it feels like I read more than two books. Truly chef's kiss. Proud to say they are now one of my favorites.

Exact rating: 5 just because

CW: death, war, murder, grief, trauma, death of a parent, death of children (sacrifice), enslaved dead children, fatal injuries, limb injuries, discussions of pregnancy/abortion

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eni_iilorak's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective 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

4.0

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h4rm0ny's review against another edition

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adventurous mysterious medium-paced

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

2.5

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aseel_reads's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark 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

3.0

pretty disappointed in this one tbh. i liked the conclusion but the plot was so slow and we kept returning to the same issues for ages until we find made some plot progression but it was so slow. i think this one lacked the depth of plot that the first one had.

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ashlikes's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional hopeful 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

2.0

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kassidyreads's review against another edition

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adventurous 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

3.5

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aharper's review against another edition

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adventurous tense medium-paced

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

4.5

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fromjuliereads's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark hopeful inspiring 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

Fantastic sequel!

I love the characters in this duology and how their flaws and what they are going through in finding themselves is front and center. They are trying to stay true to themselves while making it a better world. And it is fantastic to read about.

I had thought the part with the Underworld might be longer or more integral to the book - it was pretty short for having worked up to it since book 1. But I still loved the story and of course the characters.

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a_libra_library's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional hopeful inspiring 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? N/A

4.0

Content Warnings

brokenbodybitch's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional hopeful fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes

5.0

This book was somehow even better than Raybearer and that was a very easy 5 stars; I do want to preface this one with an added warning that if you have any issues with intrusive thoughts or feelings of not being enough you should go into this book with caution, it may be immaculate, but it also took me 12 days to be able to finish and normally it’s a few days max. However, Jordan Ifueko is very easily an auto-buy after this duology. Also sorry this is a long one...

*SPOILERS PAST THIS POINT YOU’VE BEEN WARNED*

At this point I don’t think I can say a bad thing about the duology, the writing was so detailed and layered that I yet again can’t figure out where to start; the dynamics between Tarisai, her childhood and her mother, and how it continues into this second book or, even what other character to talk about and what I enjoyed about them and their relationship with Tar, Dayo and other council members or… maybe the way intrusive thoughts, self doubt and other terrible thoughts are able to manifest in these more tangible forms in a way that is truly horrific yet I can’t help but give 5 stars because it is genuinely immaculate and spot on.

Jordan Ifueko has truly masted the art of giving enough depth to characters, no matter how much of a focus they are; they are given the perfect amount of history and backstory in the moment or leading up to events, that no matter the character or sequence of events, each character you read about has layers and nuance to them. I genuinely hated certain characters, like as ‘people’ but the depth they are given, make you at minimum have some level of understanding for the situation that they find themselves in, so even if you think someone is a piece of shit you are still some level invested in their trauma or their story of what lead them to this path and why they became that way, which is a talent.

There’s also this depth to the relationships between characters which I really loved reading; the aspects of found family are explored so much more in this book and the discussions of what counts as love are really interesting. You see them not only trying to figure out the balance 1 on 1 but, they are also trying to find their place in the council itself. Most notable relationships I enjoyed the dynamics of were the ones between: Tar & Sanjeet, Tar & Zuri and, Tar and Min Ja. Tar and Sanjeet have this cozy and warm love that radiates the feeling of a hug which contrasts so well with her relationship with Zuri that is a lot more fire-y and abrasive. Tar and Zuri have this dynamic where they will cause the other to burn brighter but they may also burn each other to the ground - a harsher expression, where as Tar & Sanjeet is much more of a supportive, softer kind of love. I also had to add, how much I enjoyed the plot line with Min Ja because it is a very challenging start to their connection and it gets a little rocky for a while but ultimately they end up loving each other and having a very adorable dynamic. A line I love is when Tar goes…

“in the words of my council sister Queen Min Ja,” I whispered back, “that’s what makes me so popular”

I don’t know it was just really sweet how she ended up having such an impactful moment with her after how they started.

I must say though, the ojiji spirits and the abiku are straight up fucking nightmare fuel, they will and have been in my nightmares for a bit…but at the same time I can not help but admire how well it was done. The way these terrifying spirits are written is a painfully accurate analogy for what it is like to have these deep feelings of not being enough, that manifest as intrusive thoughts but in this case, it’s manifesting as these oh so lovely creatures that, I will let you read the descriptions of because I physically shuddered when I read it. The creep factor aside I really do love the way these spirits and her time in the underworld were done, as for me at least, it was a fantastic way to show these awful thoughts, that loop in your head and when they tend get worse, along with generally some of the effects of trauma; but in a less direct way by using these things outside of just mental ‘thought loops’.

I really really love what happened with Tarisai and her mom in the underworld, it was very satisfying to read Tar walking away that final time, and it was like second hand therapeutic tbh. The way Jordan Ifueko shaped the underworld is very interesting yet terrifying; the idea you must walk though your regrets and all these hard things was truly immaculately done. From the scene with the Abiku masking itself Zuri and her only recognizing it because he can’t physically touch her without her asking (that shattered my heart just a bit...), to her animal guide in the underworld, to ‘The Lady’ pretending to help her but leading her to her death, to those fucking stairs of mirrors, that show you versions of yourself and life that tempt you into the mirrors…. Damn is literally all I have to say.

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