Reviews tagging 'Animal cruelty'

Seasparrow by Kristin Cashore

35 reviews

imds's review against another edition

• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Body horror, Classism, Confinement, Emotional abuse, Violence, Abandonment, Vomit, Child abuse, Grief, Sexual violence, Death, Death of parent, Kidnapping, Child death, Trafficking, Bullying, Suicide attempt, Pedophilia, Drug use, Pregnancy, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, and Panic attacks/disorders

lizziaha's review against another edition

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.25

My main qualm with this book is that survival stories just aren’t really my thing. Luckily for me, there were other parts to this book. I particularly loved Hava’s relationships with Jacky, Linny, and Giddon. Something about the way that Hava is always expecting to be ignored or rejected and then someone (usually Giddon or Linny and sometimes Bitterblue) comes along and proves her wrong is so compelling. I love that even though there’s a broad cast of characters, each one feels distinct, and their personalities are complex, even if they don’t play a huge role in the book.  The blue foxes are such a wonderful addition to the story and the way the audiobook narrator voiced them just made them so adorable. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Abandonment, Murder, Animal cruelty, Death, Injury/Injury detail, and Death of parent

Moderate: Kidnapping, Blood, Gore, Trafficking, Drug use, Sexual assault, Child abuse, Grief, Homophobia, and Rape

Minor: Sexism, Misogyny, Torture, and Classism

dragongirl271's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective 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? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Animal death, Death, and Animal cruelty

Minor: Death of parent, Sexual assault, and Domestic abuse

geekmom's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful reflective sad 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

4.25

I continue to appreciate Cashore’s ability to thoughtfully explore trauma and let us see the various ways it can affect the characters in this world.

and since there doesn’t seem to be anything like therapy available to them, the next best thing is surely a telepathic fox, or two, or eight…!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Animal cruelty, Injury/Injury detail, and Violence

Moderate: Rape and Medical trauma

bri_morgan's review against another edition

adventurous emotional reflective 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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Death, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Addiction, Grief, Animal death, and Confinement

keikyu's review against another edition

adventurous emotional reflective slow-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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Grief, Physical abuse, and Animal cruelty

elskabee's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny 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

5.0

 I want to thank Kristin Cashore. Mildly TMI, I have chronically dry eyes due to allergies. I'm talking eyelids feeling like sandpaper, eyedrops only working for like one singular minute before they're dry again, desert level dry eyes. So this book was exactly the kind of relief I needed since I was tearing up on a near constant basis 

  Every. Single. 'my girl' had me misty 

 

This is a relatively plotless book, but that's a good thing because the time spent on character development was more than enough to hold my attention. Hava is proof that a good, well-written character is not necessarily a likeable character (though I loved her), as she struggles to interact with others in conventional ways and often expects the worst intentions even without evidence. But of course she isn't mean and rude for no reason, the events in her life preceding this book make hating her even in her brattiest moments impossible. People see the good in her that she struggles to see in herself, and her journey to connect genuinely with those around her is heartbreaking and heartwarming simultaneously.

Also WOW the entirety of part two was so tense and incredibly done! I don't want to spoil anything, so I'll just say that I love survival stories and Cashore always does them so well!

This series is an all time favourite, literally nothing will ever top it, and this is possibly my favourite book in the series so far! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death and Animal cruelty

Moderate: Death of parent and Grief

erimore's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad fast-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

5.0

I’ve been in love with the Graceling books since I first read them in high school. Always so happy to go back into this world and this book doesn’t disappoint. I hadn’t thought much about Hava before this book and now I can’t stop thinking about her. Hava takes us through the struggles of grief and anger that comes from trauma (and piled on trauma) and that understanding it isn’t linear. Such cute and lovely moments among the struggles.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder and Grief

Moderate: Vomit, Animal cruelty, War, Sexual assault, and Rape

princessofpages's review against another edition

adventurous emotional reflective slow-paced

4.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death of parent

Minor: Grief, Animal cruelty, Torture, and Sexual violence

sonshinelibrarian's review

5.0

Wow. This was just as good and just as rough as Bitterblue. Cashore continues to deal with the trauma and PTSD and emotional baggage and damage caused by King Leck, this time with Hava. In a lot of ways Hava seems younger than her 20 (21?) years, but it's so clear the ways her growth has been hindered by everything she's gone through. And Cashore lets her grow without glossing over anything. Hava literally has to relearn how to think about herself and about others, to find a way to move forward while realizing and acknowledging that the past will always affect her in some ways. I pretty much cried straight through the last third of this book. I'm ready to cry just writing this review.

Trigger warnings abound for this book, but Cashore handles everything with a sense of hope that keeps it from getting too dark. This book destroyed me in the best possible way and, like with Bitterblue, I'll be thinking about it for years to come.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Animal cruelty, and Grief

Moderate: Rape, Murder, Abandonment, and Emotional abuse

Minor: Child abuse and Pedophilia