Reviews with content warning for Death of parent - Gods & Monsters

Reviews tagging 'Death of parent'

Gods & Monsters by Shelby Mahurin

18 reviews

selestre's review against another edition

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adventurous 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? N/A

3.75

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mixed_emoticon's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful mysterious 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? It's complicated

5.0

TLDR Review for Gods & Monsters

5/5 stars

Made me cry, so instant 5.

Highlights:
📚 Book 3 in a Trilogy
🪟 multiple character perspectives
🇫🇷 French Setting
💔 Grief
🌱 Hope
🙅 Denile
🌀 Secrets, lies, and truth
🧑‍🤝‍🧑 Family
🔥 Oh no. (Big spoiler thing)
🔗 Forced Proximity (again)
🩸 Graphic violence
🕊️ Peace

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theintrovertsbooks's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional 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

3.75

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bzliz's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

I’m kind of bummed about this one because so many people say it is better than book 2 but I don’t think that’s true unfortunately.

Lou starts this book possessed by Nicholina and it takes the crew a while to realize it and devise a plan to exorcise her from Lou’s body. They’re still on the hunt to eliminate Morgane too so they’ve got a lot on their plate. Célie joins up with the crew with some much-needed money and civility that eases their journey more than once. Just when Lou is freed from her possession, Reid protects her from her mother by making Morgane forget her at the cost of his own memories of her and they have to find a way to stop Morgane while Lou and Reid find their way back together.

Ultimately, way too much of the book ends up with Lou possessed or Reid with memory loss and I don’t think it helped the story. There’s enough going on without those back to back hurdles. We also could have cut the mermaid plot line completely. I really like Célie’s addition to the crew and her desire to be more than what she was born into. Jean Luc is generally less likable but his inclusion showed that it isn’t impossible to change for the better. The final battle was pure chaos and so many characters that I barely remembered kept popping up which made it hard to focus on what was actually happening.

I did have a teary moment during the epilogue because

they saved a seat at the wedding for sweet baby Ansel and he got to see his friends be happy and healing and then he got to go be with his parents in the afterlife and it hurt my heart in the best way.

Content warnings:
Blood, death, injury, violence (on page):

Lots of violence, injuries, etc because of the nature of the plot. Blood witches are involved so there is plenty of blood flowing.

Fire/fire injury (on page):

Coco’s grief causes an unceasing hellfire that can’t be put out until she works through her grief. Lou and Reid are sentenced to burn to death and almost do but are rescued by their crew just in time.

Confinement (on page):

Lou and Reid are kept in a cage following their failed attempt to infiltrate the city.

Death of parent (on page):

Coco’s mother must die for her aunt to die; Morgane gets her comeuppance after a big speech about how she couldn’t really love Lou.

Sexual content (on page):

Mostly fade to black scenes between Lou & Reid. Very mild.

Grief (on page):

Everyone is still reeling from Ansel’s death but mostly Coco because her grief causes an unending hellfire that destroys parts of Cesarine.

Alcohol (on page):

Scene of Lou, Reid, Jean Luc & Beau getting drunk together and playing truth or dare. They have hangovers after.

Cannibalism (off page):

Discussion of La Voison and Nicholina eating human hearts.

Torture (off page):

King Auguste definitely green-lights torture via rat even if it isn’t explicitly said.

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queer_bookwyrm's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional 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? No

4.0

4 ⭐ CW: Violence, descriptions of blood and gore, gruesome deaths, self harm, death of a parent, sexual content, cursing

"Hope isn't the sickness. It's the cure."

Gods & Monsters by Shelby Mahurin is the third and final installment of the Serpent & Dove Series. I'm glad to have finally finished this series, but I don't think overall it quite lived up to the hype. I found the whole middle of this to be quite slow and unnecessary, but the ending really picked up the rating for me. I think part of my problem with this is that I waited so long between reading Blood and Honey and this one, that I forgot most of what happened and who the characters were, so I wasn't in the same headspace when I read this one. Spoilers ahead.

We pick up with Lou, Reid, Beau, and Coco after that nasty cliffhanger. Lou and Coco are heavily grieving as they also try to figure out how to kill Morgane. We find out that Nicholina, Queen of the Creeps, has possessed Lou, so the gang brings her to L'Eau Mélancolique to exorcise her. Nothing goes as expected of course, but they are saved by Angelica and The Oracle. In the process, Reid has pulled a thread that makes him and Lou's mother forget she exists. Reid trying to get his memory back and erasing all his character development is basically the whole middle of the book, which was kind of annoying.

As always, Beau is a treasure and Coco is fierce if in denial about her feelings for him. Célie was an unexpected favorite of mine in this book! She has a lot of development, and is very endearing. She even kind of grew on the rest of the group. She is delicate and strong and brave, all while being the perfect lady.

The last battle really save this for me. Having everyone we've met throughout the series in one place was nice. I think Lou's whole story is about self sacrifice. Isla says she isn't extraordinary, but no ordinary person takes pain onto themselves for others so they don't have to be in pain. It really showed a strength of character for Lou.

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kat1105's review against another edition

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dark emotional funny 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

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taliatalksbooks's review

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adventurous emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted 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? No

4.5

Gods & Monsters by Shelby Mahurin was a lovely and fulfilling end to her Serpent & Dove series. I am 100% in love with these characters. All of them. There isn’t a single character I don’t like (that I’m not supposed to). I don’t want to give away anything since this is the finale, but it’s 100% worth the read. It’s fun, spicy, heartbreaking, and comedic. Truly a page-turner from start to finish. If you haven’t started this series, I’m begging you to go get a copy!

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