Reviews tagging 'Violence'

The King of Crows by Libba Bray

14 reviews

ashdawn's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious sad 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

While still good, and a logical ending to The Diviners series, this was definitely my least favorite book of the series. It felt like it lost some of the relationship aspect between the characters for a large portion of the book, and was probably 200 pages longer than it needed to be. 

That being said, still good. The portrayal of the Great Mississippi Flood of 1927 was incredible (and brought attention to an event I wasn't aware/had never heard taught before). Theta's healing was AMAZING, I loved her whole character arch so much!

The diversity in characters and perspectives was great. But, with that diversity plus their settings, there are a TON of big issues that could be triggering. Overall, I feel like the author handled/discussed them well, while also doing so in a way that makes sense in the 1920s setting.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Racial slurs, Murder, Racism, Torture, Toxic relationship, Suicide, Sexism, and Physical abuse

Moderate: Death of parent, Child death, Domestic abuse, Stalking, Hate crime, and Fire/Fire injury

enchantressreads's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious sad 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? Yes

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Racism, Death, Violence, Animal death, and Animal cruelty

Moderate: Torture, War, Child death, Blood, Gore, Domestic abuse, Antisemitism, and Xenophobia

Minor: Bullying

eugenics

avadear's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional informative inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense fast-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

4.75

so amazing! i think the most important thing to note is that this author was very informed on what she was writing and did a really great job of writing this series. i feel represented in it and i’m sure other marginalized  people will as well. other than that it was so wonderful to read so interesting, well written, awesome. i loved this series! it would make a great show/movie series honestly.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Child death, Death, Slavery, and Violence

Minor: War

k_galloway's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective tense fast-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? No

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Religious bigotry, Body horror, War, Violence, Sexism, Toxic relationship, Xenophobia, Gore, and Grief

Moderate: Sexual assault, Physical abuse, Racism, Kidnapping, Torture, and Medical trauma

writethruchaos's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional reflective 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? Yes

4.5

Such a good conclusion to the series! The characters have come so far and their growth doesn't stop with this book!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence

Moderate: Racism and Antisemitism

Theta references her sexual trauma and abuse by her ex-husband. A child is killed brutally and it is described in heavy detail. In this book, the characters are chased by the KKK and we meet black minor characters that are having to deal with racial trauma and oppression. The book takes place during the rise of Nazi Germany so the Jewish characters are targeted by the antagonists.

therainbowshelf's review

adventurous dark emotional funny sad tense slow-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

4.0

A fitting conclusion to this fun series! I loved the characters throughout (yes, even Evie, who I know some people hate). I don't usually read ghost stories/horror, but this one worked for me. Loved the queer rep (this is the first series I read with an explicitly ace character). The stuff with Isaiah felt a little cheapened in the end (so did the thing with Sam near the beginning), and there were just a few too many ambiance-building mini stories about the dead eating random people. There could have probably been about half of those and they would have achieved the desired effect without becoming a little repetitive. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Terminal illness, Torture, Kidnapping, Racism, Religious bigotry, Sexism, Child death, Chronic illness, Death, Gaslighting, Animal death, Blood, Confinement, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Gore, Grief, Hate crime, Mental illness, Toxic relationship, Violence, and Xenophobia

Moderate: Gun violence, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Cancer, Classism, Homophobia, and Physical abuse

Minor: Suicide and Colonisation

Seizure, drowning, Klu Klux Klan

ellanarose's review against another edition

dark hopeful 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fire/Fire injury, Hate crime, Racism, Animal death, Antisemitism, Gun violence, Child death, Classism, Colonisation, Death, Sexual content, and Grief

Moderate: Violence, Xenophobia, and War

Minor: Ableism

aprlshowers's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful inspiring tense slow-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

5.0

This is easily one of my favorite books. Bray does an excellent job of bringing together the previous books and concluding eachcof the plot lines. But more than that, the overarching theme of never forgetting the sins of the past, the ghost that is ever present in US history is brought home in this book. As a practicing historian, this book means so much to me and I cry every time I read it. It helps that I love each of the characters. I wish more people knew about this series. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism and Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, and Confinement

Minor: Domestic abuse, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Animal cruelty, Emotional abuse, Sexual content, Animal death, Body horror, and Death

larareads's review

adventurous dark emotional funny 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Child death, Classism, Colonisation, Death, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Homophobia, Lesbophobia, Murder, Racism, and Violence

Minor: Sexual content and Slavery

peytonktracy's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful mysterious sad 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

Wow, this series has been a *journey.* The finale of this one wandered into a territory I definitely could not have expected from when I started this series back in May. It went from a couple of kids with some singular supernatural powers in a battered museum of the occult to a found family battling the self-proclaimed king of the land of the dead and reckoning with the legacy of the United States.

Overall, I'm pretty satisfied with this last book. I liked the character growth throughout, their roles in the ongoing battle for good. I liked that they were all able to work together while individually motivated by their own aspirations and fears. While all the still large cast of characters got bigger (rather than smaller) over the course of this book, the author did a good job of not letting the narrative get too chaotic. I was able to keep track of everyone for the most part. The author also did a fairly good job of tying up most of the loose threads by the end of the book, though I felt like some of them didn't get the due attention I thought they might have gotten, or perhaps even deserved to receive. Without going into details, I felt this story went a little off the rails (did not expect to spend time with a traveling circus, let's put it that way), and I also feel like the fight against the big bad... was barely a fight against the big bad. I think I expected it to be much more difficult than it was, but it also felt fitting as was so, I guess it worked out?! It was a fairly good if occasionally perplexing finale. 

As a series, I enjoyed these four books overall. The characters are diverse in so, so many ways that will never not be appreciated for me. I loved how the big bad grew and grew with every book, and the world and characters grew with the challenges. While the reckoning with the beautiful ideals and the horrific history of the United States was perhaps overdone at times, the number of angles and perspectives that were incorporated into this fixated examination was intriguing enough that it was easy to forgive for perhaps even the fixated honesty in it. And it's a creative idea overall - I certainly haven't read anything like it. And these characters are definitely going to stick with me past this series. And if that's not successful storytelling, I don't know what is!

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child death, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Racism, and Violence

Minor: Acephobia/Arophobia, Animal death, Domestic abuse, Gaslighting, Genocide, Homophobia, Religious bigotry, Sexual content, Slavery, Toxic friendship, and Xenophobia

The KKK is regularly mentioned in this book. Most of these tags are allusions to these topics, not a primary feature of the plot.