Reviews tagging 'Torture'

Ruinsong by Julia Ember

32 reviews

karapillar's review against another edition

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I’m just not into it. I might pick it up again later.
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venti's review against another edition

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dark emotional medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.75

just eh 

also i thought the social commentary of a rebellion for the oppressed upper class was a little funny. like this would be far more interesting if it was from elene’s pov and/or was the story of how she overthrew the government to torture rich people. pure comedy 

also the tulip at the end feels like a sequel hook but if it isn’t it feels weirdly reductive to the whole conclusion of the story? like i got the vibe it was from
elene and was to show she still had her powers and could potentially be evil again (ooh scary) but like why did we need that? the story was fine with her just being in prison. we could gather from the idea that the expelled mages using magic that she had a possibility to use magic again, that was already established, and cadence literally says so herself. so the tulip feels a little unnecessary to me.
maybe i’m reading too much into it tho lol. also the romance was boring 
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tonguesandteeth's review against another edition

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

3.5

Good book, I took a break from reading around the middle-end of the book. Nice wlw representation, especially from a wlw author. Loved the fantasy aspects. 
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eclectic_hellscape's review

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fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.0

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owlieali's review against another edition

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

4.0

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motherbeetle's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

This book is deeply fucked up in ways I did not expect. It was so good! It had my attention from the start and I struggled to put it down to do other things. The world is compelling & I could not stop thinking about this book. The ending was a bit confusing but I’m satisfied with how it all came together. 
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kolbier's review

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dark emotional tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated

4.0

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piperclover's review

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Way too dark. Its so detailed in its grotesque human evil. I almost wish the mc was in on the horror instead of being this manipulated child, it makes it even harder to stomach. 
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qraveline's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark hopeful tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • 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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letrickster's review against another edition

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

2.75

It was fine? I'm not a huge YA person so that definitely affected my opinion but it really just didn't do it for me. The romance and the ending were incredibly rushed and it all felt like it got resolved way too neatly and easily. Despite this, it was also incredibly slow. I really enjoyed the first quarter or so of the book. I think the tension was set up well and the scenes were suitably unsettling. Then things slowed down pretty hard, and very little happened. As it wore on I just got very bored, I almost dnfed but I managed to skim through to the end, although it didn't much improve my opinion. I really wish the middle section
when Cadence and Remi are together at the palace was longer and had some more intrigue. It felt like it was only a few days, which in my mind, didn't feel like enough time for any of the things that happened to occur. Remi was threatened, but I feel like she didn't really end up being used against Cadence at all. The stakes just felt really low.


I wanted to romance to be good, and I felt like it would've been if it had more time to develop, but it felt really unearned. 

The characters were just fine, they're teenagers so I can excuse a lot of their choices behaviour based on that, but I just ended up not really caring about them. I liked Cadence a lot at the beginning, but idk by the end I was just kinda done.

I really wish I liked it more, I wanted to, I think it's decent YA but it just Really did not do it for me.
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