Reviews tagging 'Death'

The Starless Crown by James Rollins

9 reviews

ericaco0's review

adventurous dark mysterious reflective 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence

Moderate: Animal death, Physical abuse, Torture, Death, and Body horror

Minor: Cursing and Injury/Injury detail

acmack's review

adventurous fast-paced

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

3.75

If animal deaths are a big trigger for you, then this is definitely not the book for you. A lot of people and critters die, and it kind of feels unnecessary at times. But the overall plot is interesting enough to me that I'll read the second book.  Also, this is one of those books where I just over-write the author and the 14yo female protagonist in what appears to be magic highschool is actually a 24yo in magic college. I don't think a lot of the themes here are for 14yos so I'm not going to envision a 14yo (also I'm now a 34 yo and I desperately want books with older protagonists!)

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death

Moderate: Death, Murder, and Violence

Minor: Child abuse

squids_can_read's review

adventurous 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? No

4.0

The only hospitable part of Urth is the Crown, a slim section of land where all life on Urth lives. But now that life is being threatened by Moonfall. A cast of strange and unique characters have to work to find a way to save Urth but there are forces working against them everywhere. 

The world-building in this book is amazing. The world is expansive and well thought through. The history is interesting and so is the religion. I will say that I am a little confused about how the Crown works but that didn't detract from my enjoyment of the book. 

However, I think this book was lacking in the character department in a strange way. I thought that there were too many characters that we got points of view from. If they were just mentioned I think it would have been better because it would have been easier to keep track of them all. With all of the different characters, I felt that it was really hard to understand any of the characters' motivations. It was hard for me to connect with any of them. 

Overall, this was an extremely interesting fantasy and I'm excited to read more in this world. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, War, Gore, Animal cruelty, Torture, Death of parent, Murder, Blood, Death, Pregnancy, and Bullying

Moderate: Incest

maregred's review

adventurous dark emotional mysterious 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? It's complicated

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Death of parent, Animal death, Gore, and Torture

Moderate: Violence, Slavery, Grief, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, Classism, Stalking, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Infidelity

Minor: Sexual violence, Pregnancy, and Child death

fenemiestolovers's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional sad 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

3.75

 I really enjoyed this book! The world, which is similar yet significantly different from ours, was compelling from the beginning. Rollins asks, what would our world look like if it stopped spinning? It's full of lovable and terrifying creatures who are recognizable yet amplified to be dangerous and fantastical. It was easy to root for the unlikely companions on a journey to save the world from the threat that looms over their heads, and easy to hate the foes who use despicable means to meet despicable ends. That being said, there were characters who floated in between these categories and surprised me throughout. The ONLY reasons I couldn't give it five stars are because 1) the male gaze of the author felt so apparent when describing women's bodies and 2) the author is has a character falling for someone he knows may be his half-sister. For me, incest is NEVER necessary and always gross. I really loved everything else about this book but that did sour it for me quite a bit. I am excited to see where this series goes next, but if this incestual start goes anywhere else, I won't be able to continue. With a serious content warning for what I mentioned above, I would definitely recommend this book! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Blood, Bullying, Death, Death of parent, Classism, Pregnancy, Ableism, Child death, Grief, Misogyny, Murder, Torture, Violence, and War

Moderate: Incest, Injury/Injury detail, and Abortion

Minor: Sexual violence, Vomit, Fatphobia, Sexual content, and Rape

nebulasaurus's review

challenging dark informative tense slow-paced

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

2.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Cursing, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Sexual assault, Blood, Death, Stalking, Violence, Alcohol, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Death of parent, Grief, Murder, Alcoholism, Physical abuse, Religious bigotry, and Abandonment

schnaucl's review

adventurous dark medium-paced

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

4.25

For a while when I was reading this book I thought it was the best fantasy book I'd read in quite a while.   By the time I finished I wasn't quite as enthusiastic, although I still enjoyed it and definitely plan to read the next book in the series.  

I can see what what Rollins was going for with Kanthe's twin brother, and I wish it had been done with more subtlety instead of turning him into an actual sadist who doesn't understand or care his actions would be perceived by the people he will rule or the soldiers he will one day command.  All of the antagonists are rather one dimensional, in fact.  For the most part they're open (at least in their private thoughts) about just wanting power, they don't even try to convince themselves that they want what's best for the country or even their faction (which would coincidentally also mean they become more powerful.  They just want power to be powerful.  It may be an honest motivation, but it's not an interesting one.

The beginning of the book was especially compelling.   The set up with Nyx, her school and family was interesting and richly drawn.  I was definitely the most interested in her story, although Kanthe's story was also compelling.   I was less interested in Rhaif, but perhaps he'll grow on me.   The bats were fascinating, and the jungles were richly drawn.  

I will also say I'm not a huge fan of alternate fantasy spellings (let's add some extra y's to words!).  Fortunately it was mostly, though not entirely, confined to the "quotes" at the beginning of the sections which read like fantasy old English.  

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny, Sexual harassment, Torture, Violence, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Bullying, Death, and Sexual violence

Moderate: Death of parent, Physical abuse, Sexual violence, Bullying, Fire/Fire injury, Pregnancy, Slavery, and Child death

Minor: Alcoholism and War

bookswithjk's review

adventurous challenging 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

So, so good! Having only read one of his other books, I was surprised to see Rollins enter the sci-fi/fantasy genre. The magic system reminded me of Brandon’s Rhythm magic from the Stormlight Archives. The story moves at a rapid pace, jumping from character to character, until they all meet up towards the end. I’m excited to see where the sequel will take is! 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Torture, War, Violence, and Death

sff180's review

adventurous dark tense fast-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Death of parent, Animal death, and Slavery