Reviews tagging 'Medical content'

Witchmark by C.L. Polk

25 reviews

luminousbluebells's review against another edition

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug use, Murder, and Emotional abuse

Moderate: War, Medical content, Injury/Injury detail, and Homophobia

thecolouryes's review against another edition

adventurous hopeful medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Classism, Forced institutionalization, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Medical content, War, Death, and Violence

Minor: Drug use, Gaslighting, Death of parent, Alcohol, Addiction, Blood, Slavery, Self harm, Cancer, and Torture

futureofmydays's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Colonisation, Suicide, Mental illness, Terminal illness, Cancer, Confinement, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Suicidal thoughts, Death, Drug use, Forced institutionalization, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Blood, Genocide, Gore, Medical content, Medical trauma, and Grief

Moderate: Alcoholism

leanne_miron's review

adventurous dark mysterious fast-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Xenophobia, Death, Blood, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, and Murder

Moderate: Slavery, Genocide, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, and Suicide

Minor: Medical content

taliatalksbooks's review against another edition

emotional mysterious slow-paced

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

2.0

Witchmark by C. L. Polk felt like three entirely separate stories, which took far too long to weave together for a relatively short book. I think this was written wkth the idea of being a three book series, because it took its time for sure. While I think that the setting is interesting, the slightly antiquated formal language doesn’t really lend itself to the story in any way. I think there are just too many details that are competing for space and the overall story could have been boiled down a bit to the more interesting magical elements. I really want to know more about calling and the implications of having seconds, but I feel like this is overshadowed by an interesting but seemingly irrelevant murder mystery. I think this also could have worked as a stand alone giving the end and some more fine tuning, but I’ll definitely check out the next book in the series to see where it leads. The witchcraft system is interesting enough that I’m hoping for more, but only time will tell. 4/10 stars

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder and Medical content

meganpbell's review against another edition

adventurous dark hopeful mysterious 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? It's complicated

4.75

Magic, mystery, queer romance, and criticism of class privilege suffuse this atmospheric Edwardian-inspired fantasy! In a world at war, a doctor with a hidden past and secret magical abilities allies with an alluring gentleman to investigate the murder of a patient and a pattern of inexplicable killings by the very veterans he heals, only to discover true evil may not reside across enemy lines but in all of that which powers the empire at home.

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Content Warnings

Minor: Kidnapping, Medical content, Colonisation, Classism, Death, Forced institutionalization, Gore, Murder, Homophobia, and War

raptorq's review against another edition

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Classism, Forced institutionalization, and Medical content

Moderate: Murder, Blood, and War

Minor: Violence and Genocide

espiargrant's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious tense fast-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? Yes

4.0

Overall, this book was a good time, though by no means perfect. The writing style was clear and flowed easily, and I liked most of the characters. The world-building seemed well-thought-out, but not explored as much as I would have liked. 

One issue I had with this book was that it kept the reader in the dark about certain things for too long to really have a sense of what to care about. I also felt that the ending was extremely rushed, and I wish that Tristan had had more development. He was absent too often and when he was present, he didn't have much agency in the story, which dampened the romance for me.

That said, this was still a fun, magical story with a cute queer romance, and I'm glad I read it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Classism, Death, Forced institutionalization, Mental illness, War, Medical content, and Murder

Moderate: Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, and Homophobia

Minor: Drug use

ninjamuse's review against another edition

emotional hopeful mysterious medium-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Medical content, Medical trauma, Death, and Murder

Moderate: War, Emotional abuse, Classism, Toxic relationship, Mental illness, Suicide, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Suicidal thoughts, Homophobia, Death of parent, and Grief

criticalgayze's review

I always feel bad about not finishing an undersung and much beloved title, and I feel worse here because it came recommended to me as part of a 12 Friends, 12 Books reading challenge. However, I would feel worse about leaving a lackluster rating that affected the overall average in even a marginal way.

I *need* SFF authors, even the ones given less editing and marketing help, to work on this issue of dumping us into story with little or no world-building. I get this flies in the face of conventional writing wisdom, but SFF is a unique genre that needs that work done desperately if you want your reader to understand stakes, which I really didn’t here. Too much was happening, and I wasn’t sure why or why I should care.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Medical trauma, Mental illness, and Medical content

Minor: Murder, Suicide, and Suicidal thoughts