Reviews tagging 'Alcoholism'

Forging Silver into Stars by Brigid Kemmerer

18 reviews

rosy_posy's review

adventurous dark emotional hopeful mysterious tense medium-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

5.0

I'm new to Brigid Kemmerer but I was so taken by this book, it was fantastic! I was so entrenched in the plot and wondering which side I should be aligning with. I loved all of the characters and the world she built. The relationships were developed so well, and it made me tear up at points! I will definitely be reading more by Brigid Kemmerer.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fire/Fire injury, Alcoholism, and Domestic abuse

Moderate: Miscarriage, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, and Pregnancy

taryn_g's review against another edition

adventurous challenging hopeful mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Violence, Kidnapping, Injury/Injury detail, Child abuse, and Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Blood, Death, Alcoholism, Animal death, Grief, Miscarriage, War, Death of parent, and Sexual content

Minor: Pregnancy and Vomit

kori_dragon's review against another edition

adventurous 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? It's complicated

4.0

I didn't read the Cursebreaker series before this one. And it's do-able, but you miss a lot of the history and backstory to side characters who play a big part of the plot progression. The three main viewpoints are Jax and Callyn (two Briarlock villagers), and Tycho (who has history that is briefly mentioned). 

I really enjoyed this story and the intrigue about it. Three people who don't know who is on which side, and the villagers who don't know which is the right side.  Each chapter is a different viewpoint, so you get to see their opinions, viewpoints, and reasoning. The story starts slow but draws you in until you don't know what is happening. The last few chapters went fast and took a surprising turn which makes me eager for the next book in this series. 

Jax became my favorite character and I think he evolved the most. Callyn comes across as stubborn at times and not willing to admit they are wrong. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Violence, and Death

Moderate: Miscarriage, Kidnapping, Alcoholism, and Death of parent

Minor: Sexual assault, Animal death, and Sexual content

the_ash37's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

5.0

this book was amazing. i am obsessed. it was so well written and the characters were exciting and loveable. i was hooked onto the story since the start, which rarely happens with books that are this long. i usually lose interest quickly but i was very surprised with how much i loved it. i had never heard of the book before but i saw it in a bookshop and i decided to try it. i hope that this book and all of kemmerers books get more recognition because she is a truly wonderful author. i cant wait to read her other books and fall in love with her characters again. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Child abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Addiction, Death, Gore, Murder, Physical abuse, Sexual content, and Alcoholism

Moderate: Toxic relationship, Miscarriage, Kidnapping, and Animal death

Minor: Child death, Vomit, Pregnancy, and Fire/Fire injury

reading_leaf's review against another edition

I don’t know it’s just got too much yucky power dynamics for me and it’s rather triggering. Also very slow and lacks world building that gives me a want to care. Theres *spoiler*

Romance between characters thats good and I love the representation but it’s just yucky. It has a lot of potential but I just keep reading other books and kinda hate coming back to this book so I just stopped. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic relationship, Sexual harassment, Injury/Injury detail, Ableism, Child abuse, Alcoholism, Sexism, Physical abuse, Death, and Classism

speddle'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? It's complicated

4.5

Surprising romance!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Physical abuse, Violence, Injury/Injury detail, and War

Moderate: Child death, Blood, Death, Alcoholism, Kidnapping, and Grief

Minor: Animal death

bailey63's review against another edition

adventurous dark hopeful mysterious fast-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

I suddenly want to re-read the trilogy.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Blood, Child abuse, Miscarriage, and Violence

Minor: Alcoholism, Fire/Fire injury, and Sexual assault

katvou's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, Death, Addiction, Alcoholism, and Murder

Moderate: Physical abuse, Grief, Kidnapping, Alcohol, and Violence

Minor: Blood, Child death, Pregnancy, Sexual content, Animal death, and Miscarriage

nostarsleftinthesky's review

adventurous emotional funny hopeful lighthearted relaxing tense medium-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

This book. Brigid Kemmerer has never failed to make me cry, scream into my pillow, throw the book across the room, punch my mattress, have to stop reading out of shock and just adore/loathe her characters. 
Jax was such a well rounded and intriguing new member of the cast, Callyn I had mixed feelings about until the very end when I decided I adored her, and of course it was wonderful that Tycho my beloved was given a POV in this story. (I will be extremely mad if he or Jax don't get POVs in the next one.)
I love how the relationships in this story added to the ones already established in the cursebreaker series, and I was glad to see Rhen back to his scheming. Jax and Tycho were so gloriously domestic and Lia Mara's bond with Callyn was really comforting to read.
My only issue(?) with this book was likely the lack of racial diversity. As much as Kemmerer has written some of my favourite characters of all time, only Noah (I think) is a canon POC main in her fantasy work. I would love to see more racial diversity in these stories.
Overall, however, for sure a new favourite.
EDIT - this is also the first book I’ve read in ages which I consistently read 100+ pages each time I picked it up, which is just huge credit to Brigid’s writing.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Injury/Injury detail, Child abuse, and Violence

Moderate: Alcoholism and Toxic relationship

raen99'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? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism and Domestic abuse

Moderate: Miscarriage and Gaslighting