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Reviews tagging 'Toxic relationship'
A Kingdom of Flesh and Fire by Jennifer L. Armentrout
17 reviews
hannalizzy's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
informative
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
slow-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? Yes
5.0
Half the book I was screaming at the main character in my head to get over herself and fall in love, and the other half I spent relishing in the SWEET GOODNESS OF HER ADMITTING IT! We get SO much world building in this book that give the characters and relationships so much depth and complexity. Because it’s so freaking long too, I feel like I know every thought that goes through their heads. I fell in love with each character so much more in this book because of that depth we get. And the ending? Jaw. Dropping. The best fantasy book I’ve read so far.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Murder and Violence
Moderate: Blood, Confinement, Death, Gore, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, Racism, Sexual harassment, Torture, and War
Minor: Bullying, Child death, Sexism, and Toxic relationship
kellicat94's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Blood, Bullying, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, and War
Minor: Abandonment, Cannibalism, Domestic abuse, Infidelity, and Pregnancy
theespressoedition's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
While the first in this series didn't give me much to really ponder as I read, reading this one was a different experience. Rather than a quick pace and interesting plot that had me hooked enough to not get too fed up with the things I disliked, this one was slow and the substance wasn't very intriguing, leaving me with lots of time to get irritated with certain things along the way.
1. We get it - Poppy is violent. And she asks a lot of questions. These two things were repeated so many times that I think if you compiled each mention of them, they would comprise at least an eighth of the book.
2. Hawke is Casteel and Casteel is Hawke. And he's horny. Another repetition that drove me nuts. This would be another eighth of the book.
So now we have a quarter of the book just being statements about the characters that are repeated incessantly.
3. Suuuuper slooooow, drawn-out chapters where nothing happens, and then BAM! Majorly steamy sex scenes. It kind of threw me for a loop as I read because it was so back and forth and there didn't seem to be much of a rhythm.
4. Can someone explain to me why JLA likes to save the most interesting part of the plot until the last chapter? She did the same thing in the first book too! I get that there needs to be something to make you want to pick up the next book (and it worked because I totally will), but I just don't understand why this couldn't be brought in earlier or alluded to a bit better to drive up the anticipation.
One thing I did really appreciate was how they acknowledged the fact that their relationship was toxic from the jump. There wasn't any weaseling around the topic. They recognized the toxicity and they worked to communicate better from there on out. It wasn't perfect, but at least they didn't ignore the way they treated each other. While the violence is weirdly glorified, the actual "bully love" portion of it was tamed in this book.
I included the trigger warning for gore, but if you can't handle blood, you need to avoid this one entirely. It is disgustingly bloody and made me queasy on multiple occasions. Yikes!
I'm not the biggest fan of these kinds of books, and that's pretty obvious from this review, but I will say that I like it better than most of the "hyped" YA/NA fantasy series out there. At least it keeps me mostly interested!
1. We get it - Poppy is violent. And she asks a lot of questions. These two things were repeated so many times that I think if you compiled each mention of them, they would comprise at least an eighth of the book.
2. Hawke is Casteel and Casteel is Hawke. And he's horny. Another repetition that drove me nuts. This would be another eighth of the book.
So now we have a quarter of the book just being statements about the characters that are repeated incessantly.
3. Suuuuper slooooow, drawn-out chapters where nothing happens, and then BAM! Majorly steamy sex scenes. It kind of threw me for a loop as I read because it was so back and forth and there didn't seem to be much of a rhythm.
4. Can someone explain to me why JLA likes to save the most interesting part of the plot until the last chapter? She did the same thing in the first book too! I get that there needs to be something to make you want to pick up the next book (and it worked because I totally will), but I just don't understand why this couldn't be brought in earlier or alluded to a bit better to drive up the anticipation.
One thing I did really appreciate was how they acknowledged the fact that their relationship was toxic from the jump. There wasn't any weaseling around the topic. They recognized the toxicity and they worked to communicate better from there on out. It wasn't perfect, but at least they didn't ignore the way they treated each other. While the violence is weirdly glorified, the actual "bully love" portion of it was tamed in this book.
I included the trigger warning for gore, but if you can't handle blood, you need to avoid this one entirely. It is disgustingly bloody and made me queasy on multiple occasions. Yikes!
I'm not the biggest fan of these kinds of books, and that's pretty obvious from this review, but I will say that I like it better than most of the "hyped" YA/NA fantasy series out there. At least it keeps me mostly interested!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Blood, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Sexual content, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, and War
Moderate: Animal cruelty and Cannibalism
dariusmortee's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
This book was…. an experience. I had a lot more trouble getting through this one than I did with the first.
The reason I’m intrigued (hehe) with this book isn’t what drags most in. I like the world building this series has. I enjoy figuring out how this world works.
I am, however, constantly annoyed by Casteel. Poppy is okay and Kieran doesn’t have a personality. This book is such a rollercoaster of good and bad things that I both want to directly continue to the next book and at the same time lay it down for a while. That ending though….. How am I supposed to not read the next one directly after this?
I’m just…..
The reason I’m intrigued (hehe) with this book isn’t what drags most in. I like the world building this series has. I enjoy figuring out how this world works.
I am, however, constantly annoyed by Casteel. Poppy is okay and Kieran doesn’t have a personality. This book is such a rollercoaster of good and bad things that I both want to directly continue to the next book and at the same time lay it down for a while. That ending though….. How am I supposed to not read the next one directly after this?
I’m just…..
Content Warnings
Graphic: Kidnapping, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual content, and Toxic relationship
amivireads's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
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? No
Used to love this series but now see many glaring issues and honestly would rather read more diverse books than this.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, and Violence
sophia_cook's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Poppy is annoying. Something about her bothers me?? I had high hopes for this book after ‘From Blood and Ash’ but sadly I didn’t get what I was hoping for. A little disappointed.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Gore, Sexual content, and Blood
Moderate: Toxic relationship
beatricelo's review against another edition
adventurous
slow-paced
- Diverse cast of characters? No
2.5
I feel like this is what happens when an author tries to publish two 600+ page novels in the same year.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content
Moderate: Toxic relationship
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