Reviews tagging 'Grief'

Spark of the Everflame by Penn Cole

4 reviews

dani_reis's review against another edition

dark medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Classism, Death, Child death, Death of parent, War, Grief, and Genocide

sarah_sedai_blueajah'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? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail and Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Grief, Medical content, and Death

amanda_reads13's review against another edition

lighthearted tense fast-paced

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

3.0

Diem is a healer who lives in a divided world. As a human she is a second class citizen to the Descended, those whose ancestors were Gods. When her mother goes missing she starts to question things more. 

This was a pretty decent romantasy. The world building was good, yet a little inconsistent. The concept of the plot isn't super original, but kept me interested. There were a lot of common plot devices used in this book - divided society, imbalance of power, secret rebel group, secretly powerful FMC, etc...

There is a lot of this discussion about the injustice of a divided society where one side has all the power and the other has none. Diem struggles between her oath to do no harm as a healer and her rage at the treatment of her people.

Diem is a very frustrating character. She is extremely reckless and doesn't think about the consequences of her actions.

It was pretty obvious that she has some magic and was going to be crowned the Queen of Lumnos. There were so many hints throughout the book.

I am interested to see the growth of her character. 

Henri is a character similar to many others in this genre. I didn't have a great feeling about him from the begining. He is Diem's childhood best friends and wants to marry her.

We see very quickly that he wants to have control over her (Think Tamlin).

I had mixed feelings about the second half of the book. I felt like it was too rushed. The romance was not set up well. As the author attempts to speed up the plot line, we miss out on all the buildup and angst of a slow burn. She really needed to spend more time developing the romance for it to make sense and for us to be invested. 

I don't have much of an option of Luther yet, as his character was barely developed in this book. He went from casual conversations with Diem to being wildly protective of her for no reason that was explained. 

Tropes: enemies to potential lovers, childhood friends to lovers, slow burn

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gaslighting, Abandonment, Blood, Grief, and Fire/Fire injury

soniajoy98's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious fast-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

1.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Classism, Cursing, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual harassment, Sexual content, Child death, Grief, Blood, Colonisation, Gore, Medical content, Misogyny, and Violence

Moderate: Genocide, Death of parent, Drug use, War, Toxic relationship, Child abuse, Murder, Physical abuse, Rape, and Sexual assault

Minor: Mental illness, Abortion, Incest, and Pregnancy