Reviews tagging 'Violence'

Spark of the Everflame by Penn Cole

12 reviews

hazelgirl21's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional mysterious 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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naluminum's review against another edition

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adventurous dark hopeful inspiring tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

This book started by jumping around the timeline a little abruptly. The context for the conflict between the Descended and the Mortals was well presented and a good representation of class differences and how starkly contrasting the priorities on each side are. 
Honestly I felt that Diem was not the main character this story needed. Her actions are often rash and other characters, such as her childhood love interest, imply many times that she is ignorant to how her world works.  As a consequence Diem is a force of chaos, disrupting the lives of the mortals just trying to survive and the Descended prince who was the last person to see her mother before she disappeared. And of course the ruthless prince wants to protect her as soon as he meets her, no matter how suspicious and standoffish Diem behaves towards him (mostly her personality, but also involvement with a rebel group). I will read the sequel because I’m intrigued by this MC who entirely overdramatic and I hope to see her mature or fail at embracing her heritage. 

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edey_books's review against another edition

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adventurous mysterious medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

Really got sucked into this one. Interesting plot, with twists and turns. A good adventure romantasy.

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dkgreads's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

Ooooh, I liked this! I really liked that there was a hint of romance, but the main focus of this installment was on character and world building. There was also action, mystery, and fabulous banter. Definitely looking forward to wherever this series is taking us!

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larajoye's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging emotional mysterious reflective tense slow-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

3.5

Don’t let the 3.5 stars scare you off from this book. It’s fantasy.. the world building and background character development took up most of the book. There were only 2-3 chapters before 75% of the way through the book that really had me invested.. BUT the end of the book is explosive and fantastic. Can’t wait to move on to the second book. 

🌶️🌶️🌶️

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npaquetsmith's review against another edition

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adventurous dark hopeful 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

4.75

I feel like fans of Sarah Maas will love this novel as it seems to be a stellar mix of Throne of Glass and ACOTAR, but with Demi-gods instead of Fae. 

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carolibrary's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0


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nanio's review against another edition

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adventurous dark funny medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? N/A
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

3.75

The book is overall readable. I felt the fmc flipped between moral traits like moods but overall entertaining. 

Quotes 

“I know you too well to try forcing you to talk about your feelings, but you know I’ll be here if you need me, right? Always. No matter what.” 

“But whatever you do or don’t do, sweetheart, do it for yourself. Don’t choose a mediocre life for a mediocre man. Go be exceptional.” 

“If the death of innocents is a cost we’re willing to pay, then we don’t deserve to be powerful” 

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artemis_growl's review

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adventurous mysterious fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0


MOOODS:  
- Fantasy Romance
- Foes to Lovers 
- Slow burn 
- Easy world building 
- Action
- Magic System
- Aliens/Gods/Something???? 
- Stabby Strong Kick A** Vibes
- Looks like they could kill you is acutally a cinnamon roll MMC 
- Rebellion
- Spice 2/5
- Love Triangle 
- Political intrigue 

Trigger Warnings:
Death/violence (against children too), Sexual Harassment, Sexual Content (ch 7). 

Overall spoiler free impression/review: 
Missing mom triggers impending doom/war/rebellion and Diem (FMC) realizing she's not who she thought she was (but like duh...she's the only one that's willfully oblivious). We had a 415 page journey of Diem lying to herself thinking she knows what she feels but doesn't leading to internal turmoil, confusing illogical choices, impulsive stabby actions, consequences, and drama... which I happily and decisively gobbled up with some eye rolls here are there which I mean a natural occurrence when you're way past 19 and you come across a 19 year old for 400+pages. Overall 5 stars, not because it's the best written book in the world, and I predicted what would happen with Diem... but because I had fun and easy time reading it... and vibes. 

World/Magic Building: 
World: Emarion - City of Lumnos. Ruling Class: Descended (I think they're aliens to this world and not spoilers you learn this in the first like 5 pages), and "mortals" are the native species human equivalent of the world. Descended have magic, are stronger, longer living, godly creatures which for some reason you can distinguish by their eyeball colors and hair. Basically descended = British Colonial Empire and mortals are everyone else. Mortals and Descended to intermingle too much and are not allowed to have babies together bc you know the typical "pure blood" power stuff... so Diem knows nothing about the Descended really because momma Diem was being a momma bear and now momma bear is gone and Diem gets to mingle (wink wink) with the Descended. 

<<Spoiler riddled review>>
I devoured this book in 1 day. I just couldn't put it down. It was pretty fast paced and kept me engaged the entire time (even during my occasional eye roll gorrrl what you doing moments. I enjoyed the premise, the action, the world building, and the stabby angry healer FMC (even if maybe not the brightest). I enjoyed that Diem actually has a wholesome family that cares about her and even if Momma Bear Diem probably was/is part of the rebellion and has a ton of secrets keeping Diem in the dark and making her think she basically has some sort of Schizotypical personality disorder (not the best mom moment)...i liked Diem's step-dad and half-brother. She was able to learn the best qualities from her mom and dad and surprisingly everyone is alive...for now...

There are typical ruling class/working class political undertones not unlike British/American colonialism and dehumanizing of others. I did enjoy the politics and world building. I do prefer when it's spread out throughout the book versus info dump/500 pages of world building with all action happening in the last 100 pages (yeah I'm talking to you SJM <3)

Overall I did like the book but I will warn others... the eye roll times I experienced with Diem...I can see that getting annoying for some... some of her actions/behaviors with the rebellion were random and nonsensical...and didn't really feel like they went with her normal personality....she was so eager to please she felt like a different character with them but eh...I still liked the book a lot so 5 stars it is.

Also, I need more Luther in the next book....gives looks like they could kill you is actually a cinnamon roll vibes and Diem haven't decided if she's a looks like they could kill you and will kill you or looks like a cinnamon roll but could kill you vibes....will put it up to the people for a vote... 

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maggies's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional mysterious tense fast-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

5.0

I admittedly did not have super high expectations for this book, but it far surpassed them and then some. The world-building was just complex enough to be interesting and just simple enough to be understandable. The magic system was mysterious and explained at the right times in the right ways. The relationships between Diem and her family and friends were realistic and deep. Any complaints are too minor to warrant typing!

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