Reviews tagging 'Torture'

The Final Strife by Saara El-Arifi

41 reviews

antonique_reads's review against another edition

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Slavery, Blood, Colonisation, Classism, Death of parent, Drug use, Violence, Torture, Grief, Death, Drug abuse, Physical abuse, Murder, Medical trauma, Gore, and Addiction

readingthroughinfinity's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious tense slow-paced

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

3.75

Buddy read with Lauren!

This is a spirited adult fantasy about three women trying to find ways of surviving and changing their fates in a world where blood determines social standing. With inventive world-building and a tournament-style plot, this story really takes off at the half way point (though that does mean that the first half is, unfortunately, slow-paced).

Sylah, Anoor, and Hassa are all interesting characters, but Sylah and Anoor frustrated me at the beginning with their complete lack of interest in anything around them (Sylah) and entitled, naïve outlook on life (Anoor). They did, however, develop and grow significantly throughout the book, making it satisfying to see how far they'd come in the closing chapters. The romance also drew me in, but I just wanted to see more of it! Hopefully we'll get that in book two, though.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture

Moderate: Classism, Drug abuse, Murder, Addiction, Ableism, Blood, Child abuse, Physical abuse, Violence, Child death, Cursing, Sexual content, and Suicidal thoughts

sarahholt's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring 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

5.0

Even the characters I hated, I loved for what they brought to the story. I can't wait to read the rest of this series, it's everything I was looking for in a fantasy series. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug use, Blood, Torture, Racism, and Classism

kirstym25's review against another edition

adventurous dark 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Torture, Violence, and Drug abuse

Moderate: Child abuse

malinhalia's review against another edition

adventurous dark reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Confinement, Drug use, Child abuse, Body shaming, Colonisation, Addiction, Racism, Gore, Death, Drug abuse, and Torture

Moderate: Slavery, Genocide, and Sexual content

cozyscones's review against another edition

challenging 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? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Alcohol, Colonisation, Slavery, Classism, Gore, Sexual content, Death, Drug use, Violence, Blood, Child abuse, Child death, Addiction, Confinement, Police brutality, Self harm, and Suicidal thoughts

Moderate: Body shaming, Torture, and Fatphobia

Minor: Vomit and Excrement

nettleviolet's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark hopeful medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

3.25

I wanted to love this book. It had all the elements to make something truly amazing: themes of climate disruption, colonialism, racism, a queer love story, trials to compete in, written by an amazing Black woman. Unfortunately, the story-telling really fell short for me. 

There were a lot of good things about this book: the magic system was really interesting, the depiction of addiction was very true to life and the ways that the main character turned to addiction to cope with the immense stress of the intensely oppressed life she is facing feels very real. I really liked the mythology and the mystery that was explored about it. 

However, the main premise of the book, that the "chosen one" has missed her opportunity and now must train a princess in her place, feels very unbelievable and left the plot feeling very predictable. It also came with very strange pacing  -- we spend chapters building up to trials, mostly in training sessions, and then the trials themselves, the "big thing", take one chapter alone, and are often over in a couple of pages. And I found the outcome of the trials completely unrealistic, within the world. 

Lastly, there are three main characters: Sylah, Anoor and Hassa, and we learn very little about Hassa whose storyline and character definitely felt the most interesting. Her story, and the story of her people, is the thing that will keep me reading this series. I'm hoping that, with the trials over, the series will continue to build on the world mythos and politics more, which is definitely very enticing. 

Overall, this is not a bad book. It just had SO much potential and I feel it didn't live up to much of it. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Police brutality, Drug abuse, Alcohol, Torture, Slavery, Addiction, and Drug use

Moderate: Murder, Xenophobia, Violence, and Self harm

Minor: Rape

zed_dog's review against another edition

adventurous dark slow-paced

• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

3.25

The concept and worldbuilding in this book are engrossing, but I found the plot and character development dragged. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Racism, Torture, and Confinement

Moderate: Slavery, Police brutality, Sexual content, Classism, Eating disorder, and Emotional abuse

displacedcactus's review against another edition

I really wanted to like this book, but if I'm going to commit to 600+ pages (and possibly two more equally large books to wrap up the trilogy), I need to be really wowed. The first 60 pages were just a real slog and I had a hard time getting into the main character's quest for drugs and drug money.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Torture, Violence, Slavery, Addiction, Drug abuse, and Drug use

There's a public execution by torture, and an entire class of people is subject to having their tongues and hands amputated when they are children.

solenekeleroux's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Drug abuse, Drug use, Torture, Blood, Violence, Classism, Murder, Death, and Colonisation

Moderate: Grief, Child abuse, Alcohol, Body shaming, Racism, Police brutality, and Physical abuse