Reviews tagging 'War'

Dark Age by Pierce Brown

46 reviews

litagentsaritza's review against another edition

challenging dark tense slow-paced

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

3.5

This was a slower read but not any less impressive. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Incest, Gore, War, and Violence

carlydanielle987's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense medium-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War

tiana_king's review against another edition

adventurous 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

This book was BRUTAL. Not just because just about everything that could go wrong did. Not just because our heroes were backed into all corners. But because the author thought it would be cute to kill every third character 😭 I feel like I’ve lost so much of my heart. But I must see this series through because it couldn’t have all been for nothing. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical trauma, Child death, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Gore, Kidnapping, Murder, Grief, Drug use, War, Abandonment, Genocide, Blood, Gun violence, Hate crime, Torture, and Violence

Moderate: Outing, Death of parent, Sexual assault, and Sexual content

Minor: Addiction

daylajane's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful 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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Child death, Murder, Pregnancy, Racism, Colonisation, Death, Gaslighting, War, Classism, Injury/Injury detail, Gun violence, Death of parent, Violence, Gore, and Torture

Minor: Rape

cassiealexandra's review against another edition

dark emotional tense slow-paced

4.0

This was slow, arduous work. The jargon and acclimation to the full military force of this book was tough for me. Even the political sections were a little hard to grasp. There were so many subplots that I wasn’t sure were connected for a long time, but eventually did tie together. The writing is still masterful and Brown succeeds in weaving multiple points of view seamlessly and maintaining very distinct voices for each character. As always, the heart and emotions were realistic and deep. The exploration of each character’s psychology was fascinating. The action and found family was just as exciting as the other books in the series. I felt like this was a good exploration of good and evil, the ways in which humans are capable of both. It also had some overarching themes of tribalism and devotion and family that I appreciated.

All this being said, this book was dark and difficult. The depravity and brutality was notable, and the vertigo and whiplash of the plot was dizzying at times. I hate to say it, because it has been my former opinion that nothing is wasted when it comes to Pierce Brown, but I think this could have been shorter. There I said it (forgive me!).

A quote from the acknowledgments about sums it up: “I hope you loved and loathed this story.” YES, YES I DID. 😡

The bottom line: This was painful to read and lives up to its title. But it’s always darker before the dawn, right?

— NOTES —
Genres: science fiction, space opera, military, dystopian
POV: 1st-person, multiple

— MY RATING CONSIDERATIONS —
(all out of 5)

Pace: 4
Enjoyment: 4
Craft: 4
My Gut Feeling: 5

Total Stars: 4.25 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Violence, Child death, and War

kearstenmh's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional sad 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? No

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Torture, Kidnapping, and War

_thunderhead_'s review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• 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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Sexual violence, Animal death, Animal cruelty, Blood, Suicide, Violence, War, Child death, Classism, Gore, Death, and Incest

obtoosegoose's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense medium-paced

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

2.0

The author kept inventing new villains/weapons/histories and only introduced them when he needed them to develop a plot point. It would have been nicer to have foreshadowing and development of these things throughout the book and/or sereis rather than have new things pop up only when they are convenient.
The level of gore and violence in this book is much greater than that of the pervious books in the sereis. Most of the time it is just violence for the sake of violence and does not even contribute to the story line or the moral. So much uncessary violence is in the book that it actually detracts from the shock of certain scenes where violence actually does add value. 
Book was way too long. Plot for thr first 75% of the book is hard to get through and I needed to reference the wiki constantly to keep up with all the new characters being introduced. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, War, Gore, Torture, and Violence

Moderate: Child abuse and Adult/minor relationship

Minor: Homophobia and Incest

missdanielle's review

adventurous challenging dark tense medium-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Violence, War, and Murder

Moderate: Gore, Torture, Death, and Blood

shlee's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad 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? It's complicated

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual violence, Torture, Child death, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Pregnancy, Slavery, Blood, Violence, War, Body horror, Death, Genocide, Colonisation, Confinement, and Gore