Reviews tagging 'Death'

Incendiary by Zoraida Córdova

14 reviews

what_karla_reads's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional tense medium-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? No

5.0

5/5 stars
1/5 spice/Fade to black 

Tropes:
Magical system
Forbidden magic
Found family
Revenge quest
Single POV 
Cliffhanger 

Loved the world building and intrigue. The magic system is so interesting but I could tell it was just scratching the surface. My heart broke and then was stitched back together but it's far from healing... I'm excited to see where the story goes. That plot twist had me gasping and running to get the next book ASAP 

Trigger/Content warnings:
Death, torture, murder, violence, injury details 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Murder, Torture, Violence, and Injury/Injury detail

takarakei's review against another edition

adventurous medium-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? Yes

4.0

Interesting world building. Lots of plot twists (which were all fairly predictable but still enjoyable to read). I really felt like there were some pacing issues since there were parts that felt like they dragged on. I also didn’t really feel all that invested in the characters -we didn’t get to spend enough time with any of the side characters for me to form any attachment. Except for Leo whom I love with my whole heart.
I have high hopes for the sequel based on where this one left off I think it could be a very different book so I will be reading.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Torture, and Death

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Violence, and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Child abuse, Child death, and Sexual content

kirstenf's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful sad 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Colonisation, Torture, Confinement, Blood, Hate crime, Grief, Death, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Violence, Suicidal thoughts, Kidnapping, and Murder

Moderate: Child death, Blood, Religious bigotry, War, Medical content, and Emotional abuse

Minor: Sexual content

pages_with_panda's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious tense slow-paced

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

3.0

The pacing felt really off for this book. The first half was very slow and some major plot points were predictable. The writing was very beautiful but it seemed at times that we were getting more poetry than plot, especially with how often we saw the memories of random side characters.  

I wanted to like this book more than I actually did because of the Latine elements and it was very nice to see the diversity of dark-skinned characters, non-verbal characters who sign, and gay characters; but they weren't enough to save the story. The Spanish sprinkled in the story was also nice. 

The second half of the book almost made up for the slow first half. There were some twists & mysteries at the end but there was definitely a huge cliffhanger.

Overall interesting enough to make me read the second book.  

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture, Death, and Blood

Moderate: Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, and Emotional abuse

Minor: Child death, Sexual content, and Child abuse

maple_dove's review against another edition

challenging mysterious tense slow-paced

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

4.0

Initially, I was tempted to DNF Incendiary more than once because I didn’t think it was worthwhile to continue during the middle section of the book. However, after reading the end, I REALLY WANT TO CONTINUE READING! Illusionary (Hollow Crown #2), here I come!

There are certainly some plot twists, but I did manage to see some of them from a mile away. :)

What separates this series from other YA fantasy is that the story of the MC's love interest precedes the book, the love interest is absent for most of the book, and that most of the book is not focused on romance.

Favorite Quotes:

It is difficult to protect anything when all you can do is hide. ⭐️

You are not a girl. You are vengeance in the night.

I submerge myself beneath the surface of the water again and hold my breath, knowing no matter where I am or what I do, I will never escape the heat of flames and the taste of ash. But I no longer want to escape. I want to wield that fire and watch this place burn.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Torture, Murder, Physical abuse, War, Violence, Grief, Suicide, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Blood, and Death

Minor: Sexual content and Death of parent

Verbal abuse (graphic)

booksthatburn's review against another edition

Having trouble getting into it.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Grief, Panic attacks/disorders, Fire/Fire injury, Suicide, Violence, Medical content, and Torture

Minor: Vomit

thenovelmaura's review against another edition

adventurous dark medium-paced

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

2.5

I've heard such good things about this book, Córdova came to talk to our book club and she was really great, and it makes me really sad to write this review about how underwhelmed I was overall. For one thing, I read this book three months ago and I can barely remember any of it. It's kind of imprinted in my mind as one big "rebel going undercover" trope. There was also all this hype around the incredibly shocking twist ending and the ending was not surprising at all, in my opinion. This book was part of a streak of YA fantasy I read last year that didn't make an impression on me, so maybe this is on me and not the book itself. But regardless, I'm not interested in reading the sequel.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood and Death

clarabooksit's review against another edition

adventurous 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? Yes

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Religious bigotry, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Gaslighting, Fire/Fire injury, Death, Blood, and Emotional abuse

Moderate: Self harm

Minor: Sexual content

foreverinastory's review against another edition

adventurous emotional fast-paced

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

4.0

Rep: Latine female MC, mute female side character (tongue cut out), queer BIPOC male side character, BIPOC supporting cast--Latine. 

CWs: Blood, child abuse, colonisation, death, death of parent, emotional abuse, fire/fire injury, grief, injury/injury detail, murder, kidnapping, violence, xenophobia. Moderate: sexual content, torture.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Child abuse, Colonisation, Death, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Kidnapping, Violence, and Xenophobia

Moderate: Sexual content and Torture

mo345's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense fast-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? Yes

3.75

Renata is the most unreliable narrator ever. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Blood, Child abuse, Child death, Colonisation, Confinement, Death of parent, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Genocide, Gaslighting, Grief, Hate crime, Kidnapping, Medical content, Murder, Torture, and Toxic relationship