Reviews tagging 'Chronic illness'

Godkiller by Hannah Kaner

5 reviews

naddles's review against another edition

adventurous inspiring mysterious 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Death of parent, Body horror, Chronic illness, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, and Grief

ellornaslibrary's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny reflective 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Death, Child death, Fire/Fire injury, Murder, Violence, and War

Moderate: Death of parent, Grief, Animal death, Blood, Chronic illness, Gaslighting, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual content, Child abuse, and Slavery

Minor: Alcohol

This book. . . how do I put into words how much I adore this book. I am baffled that I had not heard about this book sooner given the absolutely amazing disability/chronic pain rep to be found within it. Not just the side characters, no, but the main characters too. I was floored. And it wasn't just one type of disability experience, but people that had different disabled experiences. Found within the pages there's great mental health rep and LGQBTIA+ rep too. On top of this are a variety of well-written characters, including the side characters who feel beautifully fleshed out, and the brilliant unveiling of a fascinating world. I could not stop reading this book and want more. So much so I'm re-reading it this month(April) on audiobook just so I can read the sequel sooner as my ebook hold still has like 7 weeks to go cause people are realizing what I did: this book is amazing. Anyways, while I wanted to write a more involved review, I forgot I hadn't gotten around to it so instead this babbling mess of me gushing at 3am is the best I can do. I'll write something better at a later date.

kjm19's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny inspiring lighthearted mysterious 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

Godkiller is a great display of character driven fantasy that includes so many fun tropes and colourful characters. 

It is possibly the most diverse/inclusive set of core characters that I’ve come across in any novel, let alone a fantasy one, which was really refreshing. Several characters have disabilities that add depth and context to their lives and shows us just how possible it is to be inclusive in the fantasy genre. Authors, take note!

The characters are loveable, funny, and relatable. It’s great to see how relationships blossom between our core characters, I do admit that it happens rather fast, but it’s a fast pace story with high stakes. Of course they will form immediate bonds if they have to. 

There are convenient elements to the plot line, I must admit, like how quickly Skedi changes his mind about things and how his actions are forgiven etc. But fantasy is all about people coming together to join in one an epic adventure, and I feel that this was crafted very well. 

I see how the world is building for a sequel, and I am intrigued to see how the wider context, such as archivists and the role of the King, will play into the future plot. 

Kissen is one of my favourite protagonists of recent reads - she is bold in every way possible. Need I say more. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Murder, Sexual content, Violence, Injury/Injury detail, Abandonment, Child death, Chronic illness, Death, Gore, War, Confinement, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, and Panic attacks/disorders

Godkiller is a great display of character driven fantasy that includes so many fun tropes and colourful characters. We are first introduced to Kissena (goes by the name of Kissen) when her family and their estate is burnt to the ground. Her father sacrifices himself to his lover Osidisen, a water god, to save her life. Montage! We are introduced to Inara, a young girl of noble birth who belongs to the House of Craier. She has this attachment/bond to a small God of white lies, Skediceth (who also becomes a POV character). Their bond is not understood and they wish to break it without killing each other so that they can live their separate lives. Inara has special abilities gifted to her, unwittingly, by Skediceth where she can see people’s true emotions in colour - pretty cool. She is sheltered (hidden away…) for reasons Inara is initially unaware of, and runs off to seek answers for herself and Skedi from none other than our favourite veiga. Ser Elogast completes the lineup of Godkiller’s POV characters and he is a baker who used to be a knight with a close fraternal bond with the now King Arren.

lbelow's review against another edition

adventurous

3.75

It's rare to find disability rep in fantasy, let alone good rep like this book has, so I wanted to like this more. The truth is, this book would have been more compelling if told only from Kissen and Elo's POV. The Inara/Skedi scenes are really just there to set up one pivotal scene and could otherwise have been told from a different POV. Because of this, I found it harder than it should have been to really sink into the book, and it doesn't help that the book is a short one. I never really feel like I get enough of Kissen and Elo's character progression. The end sequence (the last, day 25 pages) are perfectly paced and tense and leave me wondering what will happen next. Yes, this book ends on a bit of a cliffhanger in that they've accomplished their initial goal (sort of) but doing so has opened a whole new can of worms. There's potential here but not as much depth as I wanted. I guess we'll see where this series goes next. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Death of parent, Cursing, and Violence

Minor: Chronic illness

micheala's review against another edition

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

4.25

For some reason when I started reading this book I was convinced that it was a standalone, and I was worried with the pacing. Turns out it's book 1 in a trilogy. 

This book is fairy short (especially for an adult fantasy) at only 288 pages, so the fact that it took til page 92 (32%) to get to the end of the blurb, wasn't my favourite. If your going to have a slow paced book, I personally prefer that it be a much longer book - like 500+ pages. 

I also didn't necessarily love that we have 3.5 POVs (3 main ones and 1 occasional) Like, yes they all felt like they were adding to the story, but again with it being so short, it felt like too much - particularly once they were travelling as a group. 

I did really enjoy the worldbuilding and character progression - we had one character I didn't like in the beginning that grew on me, and another that I liked, then hated, then started to warm back up to by the end.  

I am a little concerned for the second book, in that if it's paced in the same way I don't think we are going to get any plot resolutions. And if we don't get any plot resolutions, then why is it a trilogy and not a duology? Essentially, if the books are going to be smaller than average, you really need to sell me on why there needs to be more smaller books then fewer longer books. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Torture, Violence, Injury/Injury detail, Xenophobia, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Murder, and War

Moderate: Child death, Chronic illness, Cursing, Genocide, Grief, Religious bigotry, Suicide attempt, Trafficking, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Slavery, Death of parent, Eating disorder, and Kidnapping