Reviews tagging 'Child death'

House of Flame and Shadow by Sarah J. Maas

51 reviews

kelsokake's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional hopeful 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? It's complicated

4.0

this is probably my favorite out of all the crescent city books. the first two took a while for me to get into, but i was sucked into this one from the very beginning. 

the character arcs were great, i was tense the whole time and this book just never let up. i surprisingly wasn’t bored at any point during this 800+ page book. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Sexual content, Death, Torture, and Violence

Moderate: Genocide, Injury/Injury detail, Addiction, and Abandonment

Minor: Domestic abuse and Child death

jcrawford31's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense 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? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, War, and Murder

Moderate: Kidnapping, Blood, Death, Misogyny, Child death, and Confinement

bi_n_large's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful tense fast-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Blood, Genocide, Sexual content, Gore, Confinement, Torture, Death of parent, Toxic relationship, and Death

Moderate: Physical abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, and Emotional abuse

Minor: Suicidal thoughts, Child death, Rape, and Sexual violence

lilhappyhermit's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious tense medium-paced

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

5.0

This was worth the wait. I consumed this book as if it was oxygen. With how book 2 ended, I was so intrigued and invested in how this book was going to play out and boy was I pleased. How SJM was able to incorporate all of her series into the plot of this book made me so happy. The whirlwind of this book’s events mixed with the high stakes all of the characters had into the resolution was so beautifully done. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture, Violence, and War

Moderate: Death, Sexual content, Child abuse, and Child death

Minor: Genocide, Sexual assault, and Sexism

lunahale's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful 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? No

5.0

i am extremely unwell and still processing. daynight have my whole heart. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Torture, Gun violence, and Blood

Moderate: Sexism, Child abuse, and Child death

Minor: Sexual assault and Genocide

tiana_king's review

adventurous dark emotional tense medium-paced

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

5.0

This didn’t really go the way I expected. Like at all. The author definitely left the door open for more books. The pacing was great, the characters stayed awesome, and the ending was solid. *spoilers*

My only beef was we didn’t spend near enough time in ACOTAR and the alpha mystic character was pointless

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, Classism, Confinement, Kidnapping, Torture, Blood, Gore, Grief, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Death, Murder, Sexual content, and Violence

Moderate: Child death, Child abuse, and Domestic abuse

Minor: Genocide and Slavery

justbooker's review against another edition

emotional hopeful tense medium-paced

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

2.75

The conflicts between Hunt and Bryce felt unnecessary and, frankly, annoying. Bryce also felt a bit wishy-washy in terms of her goals and overall feelings. One moment

she's Queen, the other she wants to burn it all down, and then she's right back to Queen mode

. There's also Ithan, who I could not have cared less about for most of the book. It felt like he only became truly relevant at the end. I understand what his character development was supposed to be throughout the book and why everything happened with him. However, ever chapter from his perspective felt like a slog. 

On the other hand, I believe this book has the best lore building moments of the series. The information dumps were easy to follow and engaging. With the lore building in the first book, it felt very scattered and needlessly confusing. This books had smooth, consistent lore that felt properly woven between character dialogue. 

As far as characters go, Lidia is probably my favorite. I appreciate the depth and growth that she shows with Ruhn. Every development between her and Ruhn kept me on the edge of my seat, desperately rooting for them. I would love to see

her children

be further developed in the next book. 

Overall, the plot felt alright. I appreciated the loose ends that were tied up. I cheered when Ruhn

got to finally kill his father

, when Lidia

got to kill Pollux

, and just all characters

getting their moment of justice.

The

Asteri conflict

has been resolved, and while there is the oncoming struggle of

setting up a new government

, it feels like everything is alright. The saying "Through love, all things are possible" is repeated time and time again, and this book really drives that theme home. I will not forget the frustrations I had with the book/series, but in the end I enjoyed my time in the world and am glad to have read it. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, War, Murder, Torture, Vomit, Excrement, Death, Death of parent, and Violence

Moderate: Child abuse, Trafficking, Child death, Domestic abuse, Confinement, Misogyny, Kidnapping, Cursing, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Sexism, Alcohol, and Body horror

Minor: Sexual assault, Racism, Classism, Pregnancy, and Rape

hannahmichele5's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful mysterious tense fast-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

5.0

So many questions answered

(the Prison theory girlies were FED)

but soooo many still left unanswered. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Confinement, War, Sexual content, and Blood

Moderate: Torture

Minor: Child death

savvyrosereads's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny inspiring medium-paced

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

5.0

Rating: 5/5 stars 

 

This is the third book in the Crescent City series and I literally can’t say anything more about the plot than that without spoilers. 

 

Let me start by saying that as a newer member of the SJM fandom, this was my first time getting to live through the release of a new SJM novel in real time/on release day, and honestly I think participating in the hype and staying up until ridiculous hours to read absolutely added to the experience. I stayed up until 5am on release day just to finish this, and even though my sleep schedule still hasn’t recovered a week later, I don’t regret it in the slightest. 

 

On to the actual book—I don’t want to post any spoilers so this will be a pretty generic review, but I LOVED this one. It’s absolutely my favorite in the Crescent City series so far, and it solidified certain characters as all-time favorites for me. It also made me more emotional than any book I’ve ever read before, and I sobbed (real, gasping, ugly cry, fill-up-the-sea kind of sobs) for roughly an hour straight through the final 200 pages or so. 

 

If you’re not already reading SJM books, you should fix that! 

 

CW: Lots of violence/war/death/blood/injury/torture; sexual violence

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Torture, Violence, War, Child death, Death, Gore, Sexual violence, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Murder, Sexual assault, Child abuse, and Physical abuse

keikiqueen's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny 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

My most anticipated book of the last two freaking years. s someone who waited and speculated for the realest….. it’s not what I thought it would be. It’s a lot darker, but also had so many happy moments. There was a plaint I was convinced there would be a. Book 4 but she managed to wrap it up in this one. I cried at the end. Also still forever pissed that ******spoilers…… no tog characters appeared by name*****

But the characters and there motivations and everything just ugh. Connor made me cry; my heart bleeds for Ithan always……… Ruhm yes. I think there will be another book cuz too many characters were left unfinished/unanswered.

https://www.reddit.com/r/crescentcitysjm/s/QPzwnnpuYH

Link to bonus chapters if anyone wants or cares

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Misogyny, and Slavery

Moderate: Slavery, Genocide, Forced institutionalization, Gore, Grief, Violence, and Child death

Minor: Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Violence, Misogyny, Police brutality, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Vomit, Confinement, Death of parent, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual content, Slavery, Child death, Colonisation, Gore, War, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Genocide, Gun violence, Infertility, and Murder