You need to sign in or sign up before continuing.

Reviews tagging 'Death'

Godsgrave by Jay Kristoff

33 reviews

madison1's review against another edition

Go to review page

challenging dark emotional tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

Expand filter menu Content Warnings

bluejayreads's review against another edition

Go to review page

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

4.5

This is a very different sort of book than what I’ve been reading lately. Most of my recent reads are deep and intense and full of Themes and Meaningful Motifs and are About Important Things – even Sir Terry Pratchett’s books have depth and insight between the witty quips – but this book has none of those. No depths, no themes, just a girl who goes rogue from her assassin church to pursue her own revenge and the people she kills along the way. It’s a piece of mindless fluff for people who like their fluff to be unstoppably violent. 

That’s not to say it’s entirely simplistic. The plot does have a few twists and new revelations, but they’re mainly towards the end. This story is about blood – in the metaphorical sense with Mia trying to avenge her family, but also in the very literal sense. People are injured and die in bloody, gory ways, and usually because Mia got a blade or two into them. 

Mia herself is getting more interesting as a character. Her single-minded dedication to murdering her family’s killers is starting to get in the way at times, and she has to make choices between the revenge she’s been working towards and the friends she’s starting to make. Plus she’s picked up a new unexpected ally who turns out to be a little bit more. Also, she’s female, small, and pretty, so no one expects her to be a good fighter, but she is very very good at violence, and I absolutely adore the trope of the underestimated person being The Best. Every single time Mia was in the arena was a bloody, violent treat. 

This book is most definitely not perfect. There’s an unnecessary sex scene at the beginning (and a few more slightly less unnecessary but still unenjoyable sex scenes later on). Either I misread something or there’s a glaring plot hole in the climax (I was reading this as an audiobook at work, so it’s very possible I just misread something). Just like book one, it was very overwritten, but I didn’t mind nearly as much as an audiobook – the “bard telling about past events” idea works better narrated than read, I think. The world is a bit of a mess, with a few cool details (a city carved out of the bones of a dead giant, a world with three suns so it’s almost never night, people like Mia who can work with shadows) and the majority of the world painted with broad brushstrokes of jarringly different flavors – Ancient Greek predominated in this book because of the gladiator thing, but I also got some hints of Spanish and Arthurian England too. And of course, there are absolutely over-the-top gratuitous levels of violence. This series is hands-down the most violent thing I’ve ever read. 

But it was very easy to catch up on the gist of what happened previously (a good thing since I read book one over a year ago), the characters are nuanced enough, and the plot kept me interested. This is not a book you’re supposed to think a lot about. Like I said, it’s fluff for people who prefer their fluff to be bloody and violent. I did enjoy it, and I’ll probably read book three – sometimes it’s nice to read a book that’s just enjoyable and doesn’t ask you to think too much. 
Expand filter menu Content Warnings

steviewonder's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous dark 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? Yes

3.75

Expand filter menu Content Warnings

axreads's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious tense 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? Yes

5.0

That was absolutely stunning. I was afraid to be disappointed because i really loved the "school" ambiance of book 1 but Godsgrave got me just as crazy. More blood, more violence, more treasons, more revelations, more questions, more fears and jubilance. I felt powerful, weak, mysterious, devastated. Well, it's been a dense, epic and exhausting reading but here I am, begging for book 3 to be in my hands right now.
Expand filter menu Content Warnings

szelmq's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous dark emotional tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.75

Expand filter menu Content Warnings

vespertine_moth's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense 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? Yes

4.5

Expand filter menu Content Warnings

thecourtofreading's review against another edition

Go to review page

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

4.25

"because the voices in your head that say otherwise are just fear talking. never listen to fear. fear is a coward."
Expand filter menu Content Warnings

sleepytessa's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious 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

4.5

Expand filter menu Content Warnings

oliverreeds's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous dark 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
i want to give this five stars because the writing is incredible, but i can't because of the sexualization of minors. these kids are sixteen and seventeen and are being written about in a very sexualized manner that is uncomfortable. there are sex scenes between minors and this book was definitely intended to be consumed by the older end of the young adult group.
Expand filter menu Content Warnings

alexwhy's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-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? Yes

3.0

This is just so clearly written by a man.
Expand filter menu Content Warnings