Reviews tagging 'Blood'

A Strange and Stubborn Endurance by Foz Meadows

58 reviews

esterareads's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful sad

• 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: Rape, Animal death, Sexual assault, Blood, Homophobia, Self harm, and Suicide attempt

sorayah11's review against another edition

emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Animal death, Death, Death of parent, Murder, Sexual assault, and Sexual content

Moderate: Physical abuse, Stalking, Gore, Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Abandonment, Suicide attempt, Homophobia, Blood, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Transphobia, War, and Classism

voidature's review against another edition

emotional

• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Mental illness, Murder, Outing, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Animal death, Homophobia, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Self harm, Suicide attempt, Ableism, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Homophobia, Misogyny, and Religious bigotry

Minor: Vomit and Transphobia

r_a_bell's review

adventurous dark emotional mysterious medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Death of parent, Suicide attempt, Rape, Sexual assault, Blood, Sexual violence, Outing, Animal death, Religious bigotry, Suicidal thoughts, and Homophobia

Moderate: Murder, Vomit, Alcohol, Fire/Fire injury, Stalking, Toxic relationship, and Panic attacks/disorders

hazybee's review

adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

The world building and depth of the characters was amazing! Reading this was like watching a well directed movie: all the pieces were there and when they get slotted into place it simply feels right, not cliche or too simple.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide attempt, Death, Self harm, Rape, Murder, Suicidal thoughts, and Homophobia

Moderate: Alcohol, Vomit, Animal death, Sexual content, Violence, Blood, and Sexism

ehmannky's review

emotional 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

3.0

I think overall this book was fine, but would be better served if people knew going in it was less romantasy (the romance is very much a B-plot in this when I felt it should have been the A-plot) and more political/court intrigue and recovery from trauma. There's also not that much magic in it either. 

I liked the characters and their relationship, and I liked getting to explore a world where queerness is embedded into the society, but the overall mystery and court intrigue did nothing for me. I think many problems could have been solved had the timeline been drawn out and the characters given more time to adjust to things and interactions with more of the palace residents. Like, this is billed as a slowburn, which I suppose it kind of is considering it's over 500 pages, but the story itself takes place over 3 weeks, with the romance taking place over 1 week. Like for the reader this is a slowburn but it's still soooooo fast in-universe. And since it's such a short timeline, I truly did not care even a little bit about the reveal of who was behind the mysteries, because we really had so little interaction with them throughout the story. I cannot believe there was a villain monologue where every step of the plan was spelled out (because again, the book's timeline is so short, and there's not really any space for the characters to actually solve the mystery or learn about this secondary character). I also didn't care for how there's never any down time. Every single chapter ends with some kind of cliffhanger and interruption. Like, it got to the point where Cae and Vel would have a quiet moment and I'd just brace for someone to knock on the door because they never get to have a normal conclusion to a story.

As many reviewers have pointed out, there is an on-the-page rape very quickly and most of the book is Velasin recovering from it. And even though there are trigger warnings, I think it's important to know that this assault and his first suicide attempt take place within the first 50 pages. Like, avoid if that would be triggering. 

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Content Warnings

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

readingbee416's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful 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

3.0

This book was a wild ride. I enjoyed it overall and Caethari is a wonderful cinnamon roll character that deserves the whole world (and Markel, too), but MIND THE TRIGGERS. This book has some very dark bits and the author makes some interesting choices.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Animal death, Blood, Suicide attempt, Homophobia, Death, Sexual assault, Outing, Rape, and Animal cruelty

purplepenning's review

adventurous dark emotional hopeful mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Homophobia, Violence, Rape, Death of parent, Sexual violence, Blood, and Murder

Moderate: Sexism, Abandonment, Gaslighting, Body horror, Sexual content, Injury/Injury detail, Suicide attempt, Classism, Animal death, Grief, Panic attacks/disorders, Ableism, Alcohol, Animal cruelty, Fire/Fire injury, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Misogyny, Outing, Self harm, Vomit, and Xenophobia

Though it's a well-handled journey of healing, a main point of view character experiences significant trauma early in and deals with trauma recovery for much of the book.

kailanlovescats's review

adventurous emotional hopeful lighthearted medium-paced

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

3.5

Overall fun time. A cozy fantasy romance read for me, but some situations may be too high stakes for others. Nothing too extraordinary happens but the romance was cute and the characters were lovable. The "who is trying to kill the main characters?" plot came second and was a little drawn out. But again, cute overall. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Violence, and Sexual content

Moderate: Suicide attempt, Blood, Homophobia, and Emotional abuse

Minor: Toxic relationship, Vomit, and Transphobia

The main character is sexually assaulted by his ex, which results in some lingering trauma throughout the book.

he's forecefully kissed, forced to give a handjob, and forced to use his thighs

jennp28's review

challenging dark emotional 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

5.0

I absolutely loved this story. The mix of intrigue, politics, character and world building, and sweet romance is perfection. This is not usually my go-to genre but I picked it up on recommendation of a reading challenge and am so glad I did! The inclusion of gender and sexuality and their treatment in the various cultures was especially well done and women very well into the story so it didn’t seem preachy or forced. Lots of trigger warnings in this one though so make sure to check those. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Rape, and Sexual assault

Moderate: Animal death, Violence, Suicide attempt, Murder, Blood, and Homophobia

Minor: Transphobia, Confinement, and Vomit