Reviews tagging 'Animal death'

King of Battle and Blood by Scarlett St. Clair

9 reviews

simpledifficulties's review against another edition

dark tense medium-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? It's complicated

4.0

18+
(I cannot stress enough how 18+ this book is.)

I've seen some other reviews and I totally get that this book isn't for everyone. The romance is incredibly fast-paced, like love-at-first-sight kind of fast-paced. The plot, on the other hand, is very slow-paced. If you're looking for something action-packed, this just isn't for you. If you're looking for a character-driven fantasy romance with the promise of action in later books, pick this one up.

While the novel touches upon larger conflicts to be developed throughout the rest of the series, it acts more as an introduction to those conflicts than anything else. Some hints of a larger conflict are sprinkled throughout, but don't come to the forefront until the last 50 pages or so. The main conflict involves Isolde's acceptance of herself as she adjusts to life in a new kingdom and learns some hard truths about what she thought she knew. Oh, and the fact that she's falling for the enemy We follow her as she explores her new home by trying traditional foods, visiting the local market, and reading old journals in the library among other things.  There are very few epic battles and we don't get much information about the big bad until very near the end. We mostly see Adrian and Isolde living their "normal" lives, and this is exactly what I was looking for in a novel.

I do have some complaints, though:

While I'm not one to shy away from explicit content, in this book sex is literally around every corner. Isolde will go for a walk outside and run into a couple having sex, or enter the library and find the librarian having sex. This type of discovery happens several times throughout the ~400 pages and doesn't serve any purpose other than to indicate which characters are coupled.

St. Clair names all the horses. Seriously. And I love that. We have Midnight, and Shadow, and Elli, and Snow. Then St. Clair kills Midnight and Snow, and Shadow runs off never to be seen again. To be honest, it's not even clear to me Elli's fate. Why name the horses only to kill them pages later?

I have more, but to be honest I can't think of any at the moment, so I'll add them when I do.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content

Moderate: Death of parent, Animal death, and Fire/Fire injury

mycutykoala's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful mysterious sad 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? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Death, Fire/Fire injury, and Sexual content

Moderate: Death, Gore, Grief, Misogyny, Murder, Torture, Death of parent, Blood, and Violence

Minor: Alcohol, Physical abuse, Animal death, Child death, and Slavery

doubletherazzle's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Loveable characters? Yes

3.75

The beginning was a bit rough, but once the story fell into a groove I enjoyed the mystery and fantasy of the story telling and will definitely read the next book. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Death of parent, Cursing, Sexual content, Death, Murder, and Violence

Minor: Animal death, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Infidelity, Slavery, Sexism, and Racism

brianneh's review against another edition

dark medium-paced

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content, Death, Violence, and War

Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Murder, and Sexual harassment

Minor: Animal death

karapillar's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense 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? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Sexual violence, Violence, Blood, Genocide, Murder, Death of parent, Sexual content, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Animal death, Child death, Gore, Grief, and Sexism

Moderate: Abandonment, Kidnapping, Racism, Stalking, Vomit, War, Domestic abuse, Infertility, Physical abuse, and Cursing

Minor: Infidelity, Alcohol, Xenophobia, Torture, Slavery, and Religious bigotry

csmall73's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional reflective 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

4.75

I was definitely not prepared for the sex content. While not far from reality for someone who is dealing with everything that Isolde is it was quite prevalent throughout. There is a lot of trauma, mystery, blood and violence. Not for the light of heart. Isolde is quite reactive, stabby and arrogant at times. Adrian is cold collected and logical unless it involves her then he submits almost without hesitation. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Mental illness, Death, War, Fire/Fire injury, Violence, Miscarriage, Animal death, Vomit, Panic attacks/disorders, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Sexual content, and Gore

midnacine's review against another edition

adventurous dark 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? Yes

5.0

I really wanted to include a specific quote in my review for this book, but I'm having trouble finding it and I'm an impatient bitch, so we're just not including it.

Maybe I'm just really into trashy romance novels recently but I fucking loved this book. It feels like this is what a condensed version of JLA's From Blood and Ash would have been without

Casteel's deception plot

. I love that series so it makes sense I would love this too.

It was interesting coming to this after having read A Touch of Darkness because the writing style was so much different and engaging. To me it seems like Scarlett St. Clair really found her voice in this story, and I can't wait to read the second one in December!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Sexual content, Child death, Death, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Violence, and War

Moderate: Body horror, Animal death, Genocide, Sexism, Medical content, Misogyny, Grief, Cursing, and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Body shaming, Fatphobia, Vomit, Racism, Slavery, Alcohol, and Infidelity

bedtimesandbooks's review against another edition

hopeful mysterious 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Bullying, Colonisation, Cursing, Death of parent, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Murder, War, Vomit, and Torture

Moderate: Animal cruelty and Animal death

Minor: Domestic abuse

golden_like_dior's review

adventurous challenging emotional inspiring 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Death, Death of parent, Grief, Murder, Violence, and War

Moderate: Abandonment, Ableism, Alcohol, Animal death, Cursing, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Sexual harassment, Sexual assault, and Sexual content