Reviews tagging 'Animal cruelty'

Once & Future by Cory McCarthy, A.R. Capetta

10 reviews

iamsammie27's review against another edition

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? No

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Violence, and Blood

Moderate: Infidelity, Genocide, and Death of parent

Minor: Animal cruelty and Homophobia

lastcomment314's review against another edition

adventurous 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

It was almost so good. I love me a good gay Arthurian fantasy, and this one had a cool twist with being set in space, and some nice found family vibes, but the overall delivery on this one held it back. Stylistically, it wasn't quite my cuppa tea. There were also certain scenes that seemed forced, and the focus on sex and bodily functions was a bit much for my tastes. To summarize discussion with group I read this with, we don't care about Merlin relieving himself in the crystal cave, we care about the quest to overthrow the unjust, tyrannical king company.

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Genocide, Excrement, Colonisation, Violence, Cursing, Death, War, Classism, Blood, Grief, and Murder

Minor: Alcohol, Excrement, Fire/Fire injury, Death, Torture, Animal death, Animal cruelty, Grief, Death of parent, Racism, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, and Pregnancy

martin27's review

adventurous emotional funny hopeful 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

5.0

An insanely fun sci-fi adventure is does exactly what it claims to be: a queer female King Arthur in space. For those familiar with the Arthurian legend, it might fall short for you if you go in expecting a retelling that remains faithful to the themes of the original, but if you take it for what it actually is (a pretty standard YA sci-fi plot that uses the legends as set dressing), it’s extremely entertaining. Once & Future is also, unsurprisingly, based very heavily on T.H. White’s The Once and Future King more so than anything else. If you can’t stand White’s work then some of the choices in this book will be very hit or miss for you.

The characters are lovely, though how much they actually have in common with their medieval counterparts varies a lot. One of the plot twists near the end is simply that Merlin was wrong about which role

Jordan

fulfills in the legend, and it was in my opinion the weakest plot point. Some of the characters are very strong (Ari and Merlin, for example), but some of them really fall by the wayside at times. I think having even one more good scene with Jordan as the focus would have improved the character significantly.

The relationships are the highlight of the book in my opinion. The friendship between Merlin and Ari is wonderful and such a joy to read, and the fiery romance between Ari and Gwen is captivating. The slow burn romance between

Merlin and Val

is my favorite part of the book.

The world building isn’t super strong but it is interesting most of the time. The hook for the sequel kind of comes out of nowhere, but it does set up an interesting premise and I definitely will be looking at book two.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Genocide, Animal death, Animal cruelty, Blood, War, Infidelity, Violence, and Death

Minor: Sexism, Homophobia, and Racism

I can’t think of anything that’s just implied or alluded to. Everything I tagged occurs on page, but I don’t want to make it sound like the book is a lot heavier than it is. It’s still overall a very hopeful adventure story, it just also talks about a lot of intense themes.

zoepagereader's review

adventurous dark sad tense fast-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? Yes

0.25

This book was BAD. I didn’t even read the last 20 pages of it. I wasn’t even with it from the get go. The is book just had one of those plots where you were just enough invested to not bail but not enough to be excited to read it. I mean this was bad. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty and Animal death

cookiecat73's review against another edition

adventurous dark 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? No

3.75

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Death, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, and Physical abuse

Moderate: Abandonment, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gun violence, Pregnancy, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Violence, and War

Minor: Colonisation, Confinement, Cultural appropriation, Cursing, Dysphoria, Grief, and Self harm

longlost's review

adventurous 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

4.0

this is the superior king arthur mythos adaptation

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture, Murder, Violence, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Death, Genocide, and Death of parent

Moderate: Grief, Confinement, Kidnapping, Racism, Pregnancy, and Cursing

Minor: Sexual content and Rape

iksme's review against another edition

adventurous dark hopeful fast-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

4.75

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, War, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Colonisation, Death of parent, Incest, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual content, Slavery, Torture, and Violence

Moderate: Genocide, Abandonment, Alcohol, Blood, Child death, Cursing, and Grief

Minor: Adult/minor relationship

confusedmuse's review

adventurous hopeful lighthearted tense medium-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

2.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Confinement, Death, Death of parent, Genocide, Grief, Infidelity, Kidnapping, Murder, Toxic relationship, and Violence

Minor: Alcoholism, Blood, and Sexual content

westmin's review

adventurous fast-paced

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

1.0

So. I was already not enjoying this book because of uneven pacing, shoddy worldbuilding, and characters I wasn't too fond of. Then

Ari went and executed someone, like actually full-on ran him through with a sword, and the other characters acted like this was fine

and that locked in my one-star rating. 

Oh, also, writing scenes where characters can overhear a seventeen year-old having sex? Not classy.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Genocide and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, and Violence

valereads's review

adventurous emotional funny hopeful lighthearted fast-paced

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

4.5

When I first heard about this book I was immediately intrigued but wrote it off the second I saw it was sci-fi. Then I read two sci-fi books in a row that I enjoyed and saw a couple of great reviews so decided to give it a chance. I did not regret it.

If you're looking for a critique of this novel you've come to the wrong place. This review is pretty much going to be a list of everything I loved about this book (and reasons you should probably pick it up).

One thing I couldn't not mention about this book is the diversity. So many queer identities are represented in this story and I love how it's just accepted as normal in this world - something I for one desperately needed right now.

This story follows a fun and immediately likeable cast of characters who I just want more from. And yes that means I will be picking up the sequel as soon as I can. I got attached to them quickly. Merlin in particularly was brilliant. I loved reading from his point of view which was usually a lot of fun.

I also love what they did with some elements of the original King Arthur myth. This take of Morgana was particularly good to read about and I love what they ended up doing with her.

Overall this book was a fun read with likeable characters. That's all I really have to say. If you enjoy diverse books, science fantasy or the King Arthur legend I'd recommend giving it a try. And if you're a fan of the CBBC Merlin TV show I could not recommend this to you more.

Content Warnings: discussions of rape, torture, genocide, animal death, graphic violence

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Animal cruelty, Death, Genocide, Torture, and Violence

Moderate: Terminal illness

Minor: Infidelity and Rape