Reviews tagging 'Animal cruelty'

Malice by John Gwynne

10 reviews

angemelb's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

3.5

Lots of characters to get your head around from the get go. Coming of age for Corban,  young man who is being trained by mystery man.  A Prince,  Nathair, counsel-Evnis, and others who filed with greed/ambition.... tale of kings being superceded and who shall win in the end? Help from strange places/ people/ creatures.... really enjoyed this first book and ate throug  the pages. Can't wait to see what happens next. 

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Content Warnings

Minor: Death, Alcoholism, Animal death, Animal cruelty, Blood, and Bullying

josiah17's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional 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? Yes

4.5

The primary reason this isn't a 5 star read is because of the rough beginning. There's an overload of characters and POVs introduced and it just felt a little overwhelming and chaotic. 

Otherwise, this was an absolutely phenomenal book. And it's a debut novel? Ridiculous. I think Gwynne's writing is slightly more polished in his Bloodsworn books, but his work here is still nothing short of excellent. The world of the Banished Lands that has been crafted is epic in scope, mysterious, mystical, and has an astounding amount of depth with various kingdoms, wildlife, and history. 

The characters are tremendous too. It took me a minute to warm up to Corban as he's thirteen at the start of the book, but by the end he's aged a few more years and he's clearly incredibly mature and well beyond his years. He's on his way to being an all-time favorite protagonist. And I loved the deliberate choice to view the descent of Nathair through the eyes of Veradis. I'm very intrigued by their dynamic going forward. And there are several other very likeable characters with standout moments and plenty of depth.  

And the action. My goodness John Gwynne is definitely the king of writing action sequences. I feel like I can picture every single movement; he writes them so vividly and immerses you right within the moment. 

I'm so excited to continue the series. I'm so excited to keep reading the rest of Gwynne's works. The Faithful and The Fallen will undoubtedly become a top 5 favorite series for me. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence and Gore

Minor: Animal cruelty and Torture

pandaplantain's review against another edition

adventurous dark slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No

1.0

All the characters were indistinguishable from each other. They all blended together in a big, beige stew. And there were so many damn many of them. I had such high hopes for this, but I didn’t enjoy it at all. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Animal cruelty, and Animal death

ripxw's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Animal death, Murder, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Animal cruelty, and Blood

Moderate: Torture, Death, War, and Death of parent

Minor: Alcoholism

fionareads2much's review against another edition

adventurous dark sad slow-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

3.5

Things I liked: most of the men weren't afraid to cry
Strong, badass women 
Corban and Storm
The last 200 pages

Things I didn't like: graphic descriptions of animal harm/death
Too many characters and POVs 
The first 400 pages are soooooo slowwwww 
I don't think the prophecy was explained enough, especially since it was the main plot

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Animal cruelty, and War

kat1105's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious 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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Blood, Child abuse, Misogyny, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Death of parent, Gore, Grief, Emotional abuse, Ableism, Alcohol, Alcoholism, War, Torture, and Violence

darkefyres's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional sad 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? No

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Death of parent, Violence, War, Alcohol, Animal death, Death, Murder, and Gore

Moderate: Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Animal cruelty, and Child death

Minor: Injury/Injury detail, Grief, Physical abuse, and Torture

dogearedbooks's review against another edition

adventurous dark hopeful tense medium-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Death, and Murder

Moderate: Bullying

kylieqrada's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional 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? Yes

5.0

Beautifully Bookish Bethany described this on her channel as a good vs. evil story where both champions think they're fighting for good and it made me pick it up IMMEDIATELY. I am so so glad that I did. The multiple POVs are perfectly calibrated so that I'm always enjoying whatever perspective I'm in, while simultaneously dying to get back to where we left each plot thread. My personal fave character so far is definitely Corban, who reminds me of a way less annoying and problematic Kip from the Lightbringer series. I also love how John Gwynne is able to craft his travel and battle scenes so that I can actually picture it and not get totally lost and just skim read, which happens in epic fantasy more than I'd like to admit. Add in strong, dynamic female characters, epic world-building, and a body diverse cast, and I am LIVING. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Ableism, Addiction, Animal cruelty, Alcoholism, Animal death, Blood, Body horror, Bullying, Child death, Death, Death of parent, Gore, Grief, Kidnapping, Medical content, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Misogyny, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, and Violence

seanml's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious 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

4.5

 600-something pages of pure fantasy goodness. I'll spare you the details so you can experience them all yourself.

Highlights: Jumping back and forth between multiple narrators in differing and exciting situations means you keep reading until you just can't anymore. GIANTS!

Passes the Bechdel test?: Yes!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Murder, Violence, Animal death, Death of parent, and Death

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Physical abuse, Gore, and Torture

Minor: Sexism, Misogyny, and Alcoholism