Reviews tagging 'Blood'

Lovely War by Julie Berry

30 reviews

internationalreads's review against another edition

adventurous emotional sad tense fast-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Hate crime, Sexual harassment, Blood, War, Panic attacks/disorders, Mental illness, Grief, Fire/Fire injury, Violence, Racism, Medical content, Injury/Injury detail, Gun violence, Death, Sexual violence, and Murder

rafafinhass's review against another edition

emotional hopeful reflective 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? No

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Torture, War, Death, Racial slurs, and Grief

Moderate: Violence, Blood, Sexual assault, Sexism, and Mental illness

Minor: Panic attacks/disorders

cameronreads's review against another edition

4.0

If you ever read a fiction book about war, let it be this one. The story telling was so clever and interesting, and the book truly captures the horrors of war and racism as well as the wonders of love and music. I did in fact cry. 
Also, the narration of the audiobook was wonderful, with a different narrator for each God. I’d recommend if you like audiobooks!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Sexism, Murder, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Racism, Sexual assault, War, Grief, Violence, Gun violence, and Hate crime

Minor: Death of parent, Medical content, Vomit, and Alcohol

padawan17's review

emotional 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

5.0

I don't like romances. I usually find them boring and infuriating. But this one is an exception. I adore this book. I love every character, I love that is narrated by Greek gods, I love that it is a romance, but Berry grapples with other issues too. Racism in the 1910s, war, death, grief, it's all there, but it's so hopeful. I cried many times. Do yourself a favor and read this. For me, it's better every time I reread it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Panic attacks/disorders, War, Racial slurs, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual assault, Mental illness, Death, and Racism

Moderate: Sexual harassment

Minor: Blood, Bullying, and Cursing

mme_carton's review against another edition

emotional 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? No

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual assault, Blood, Body horror, Death, Death of parent, Genocide, Gore, Grief, Gun violence, Infidelity, Murder, Xenophobia, Vomit, Medical content, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Sexual harassment, War, Racism, Racial slurs, Sexism, and Violence

Moderate: Police brutality, Abandonment, and Rape

ididsomereading's review against another edition

dark emotional 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Violence, Sexual assault, Racial slurs, Mental illness, Injury/Injury detail, Gun violence, Grief, Fire/Fire injury, Death, Classism, Blood, War, Hate crime, and Slavery

sxrxh_lenx's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional 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, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, and War

nebraskanwriter's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful informative inspiring sad 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? It's complicated

2.0

I really wanted to like this story more. But this book is SO long and I felt like the gods being a part of the story, in theory sounds really interesting, but the way Berry goes about it by having Aphrodite be on trial made the story convoluted, for me at least. I don’t get why there had to be alternating timelines, one from the first World War wherein we have our four mortal main characters and one timeline from the second World War when Aphrodite is on trial, it just felt disjointed to me. Why have the second timeline at all? Just tell the first timeline from the POV of the gods, no need for Aphrodite to be on trial in a separate time period, it just made no sense to me and I feel like made the book more longwinded then it needed to be.

I did love the build up of the two couple’s relationships, how Berry covers what many people went through during the war in these four main characters. However, the ending felt so rushed. We have almost 500 pages of build up to find out what happened to them in like 5 pages at the end of the book, summarized very briefly by the gods.

I loved the journey, the fleshing out of the characters, peeling back the grim layers of war and not shying away from the army’s racism but rather shining a light on it. I loved the history, the feelings of first love and second chances after one had maybe lost their first love. That I loved, it’s just a shame the ending was so rushed kind of helter-skelter like otherwise I probably would have rated it higher.

Berry definitely did her research for this book, I will say that for sure. There is a historical note in the back where she sites many books and a bibliography as well. So that was not a miss, the care in which she took to tell multiple sides of the war (both without and within) must be acknowledged. 

But pacing was this book’s downfall, too long and convoluted to get to such a lackluster ending… 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Classism, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Gun violence, Medical content, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, War, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Pregnancy, Violence, Abandonment, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Blood, Bullying, Confinement, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Grief, Death, and Hate crime

mreinert's review against another edition

emotional hopeful 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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: War, Racism, and Blood

lealikestoread's review against another edition

dark emotional sad 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? Yes

4.5

I really really enjoyed reading this book. it was the perfect mix of cute romance but also serious topics and sad scenes. I also liked to greek gods and the part they play. 
definitely worth the read. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Hate crime, Racism, Blood, Fire/Fire injury, Mental illness, Murder, and Panic attacks/disorders