Reviews tagging 'Gore'

House of Flame and Shadow by Sarah J. Maas

126 reviews

ashleynp24's review

adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful mysterious 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

4.75

Loved the book, I wish the ACOTAR characters had a bit more time in the books but I’m glad that Nesta was the main character in the crossover. I felt that everything kind of got summed up really nicely. Lidia probably turned out to be my favorite character, and the hint she’s related to Brannon, and therefore Aelin was wild. I do want to know what happened with Sathia and where Ariadne was considering she appears at the end and that’s the last of that chapter.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Cannibalism, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual content, Violence, War, Child abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Slavery, Blood, Body horror, Classism, Vomit, Death, Gore, Genocide, Gun violence, Hate crime, Physical abuse, and Torture

hematthews's review

adventurous challenging dark 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? No

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Sexual content, Violence, War, Body horror, Gore, Confinement, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Murder, Physical abuse, and Torture

Moderate: Hate crime

deskeepsreading's review

adventurous mysterious

• Diverse cast of characters? No

2.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Grief, War, Violence, Gore, Physical abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Murder, and Torture

shellind75's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful inspiring tense fast-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Emotional abuse, Torture, Colonisation, Sexual assault, Forced institutionalization, Genocide, Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, Sexism, Confinement, Murder, Domestic abuse, Excrement, Slavery, Gore, Grief, Gaslighting, War, Gun violence, and Sexual content

cheyannejeanette's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional fast-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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Death, Gore, Physical abuse, Torture, Toxic relationship, and War

Moderate: Child death, Sexual content, and Blood

Minor: Drug use and Kidnapping

elthechameleon's review

adventurous dark slow-paced

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

3.5

This was messy. I really hope this isn’t the end of the stories from Midgard because all of this felt far too rushed. It would have made much more sense if this was the penultimate book because everything felt far too easy, almost like a character collecting all the awards before easily conquering a final boss in an OG platformer video game. 

There were no stakes. 

I loved the way the book ended and started, but a lot of plotlines didn’t need to exist or continue, and the characters made some choices throughout the journey that felt really at odds with who I thought they were. It feels like SJM wanted a clear exit from Lunathion and easily transition back to ACOTAR, which is sad because I had really started to love it.

Also, why have a crossover at all if it’s so small and doesn’t actually lead to them teaming up in any meaningful way?

I wanted and hoped for better with this book. I felt like I read 16 books in the Maasverse only to be let down by odd choices, fast pacing, weird focus on troubled characters (Ithan), and inappropriate flirting during fight scenes (Ruhn). 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture, Colonisation, Gore, and Violence

literary_laur's review

adventurous 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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Gore, Sexual content, Kidnapping, Torture, Blood, Sexism, Violence, Murder, and Death

josxphinchen's review

dark funny tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

0.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Cursing, Death, Sexism, Torture, Excrement, Misogyny, Body horror, Cannibalism, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Sexual violence, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Kidnapping, Medical trauma, Fire/Fire injury, Sexual content, Gaslighting, Gore, Physical abuse, Slavery, Violence, Vomit, and War

melissat's review

adventurous dark mysterious tense slow-paced

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

2.0

Woof. Okay, I've loved SJM for 10 years. But this book was a slog. 

Going from how much I loved Crescent City 1, and how I was starting to get annoyed with Bryce and Hunt in book 2, I thought 3 would have a lot of room for redemption. Instead it was almost 1000 pages of self-flagellation from the male characters, and gaslighting and narcissism from Bryce. Internal and external dialogues, infodumping (but not about anything interesting), and more of Bryce being incessantly full of attitude that really grated on my nerves by about halfway through.

I wish the editors had been allowed to do their jobs and cut so many unnecessary POVs and chapters. The characters all acted in toxic ways under the guise of "doing it for love". Meanwhile, what they were doing was just abuse and control. I essentially hate-read this til the end. 

I really hope that we get better character arcs and plot for the next ACOTAR book, otherwise I'll be so sad!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Torture, Violence, Blood, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Genocide, and War

Moderate: Toxic relationship and Child abuse

Minor: Addiction

rhiannon_burden's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

4.0

I enjoyed this book at the root of it but Bryce was absolutely insufferable for the most part, she spent half the book complaining about the fae being selfish and callous and then proceeded to do exactly the same. She is essentially a hypocrite and I have no idea how Hunt puts up with her considering how horrible she was to him throughout. But despite what appears to be the popular opinion I enjoyed Ithan and Tharions stories as they had intricacies that others were lacking. There are some clear set ups for the next book namely the return of Ariadne at the end but otherwise the story felt finished as most ends were tied up.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Sexism, Fire/Fire injury, Sexual content, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Confinement, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Violence, Gore, Kidnapping, Sexual assault, Excrement, Genocide, War, Grief, Gun violence, Torture, Animal death, Blood, Cursing, Death, Misogyny, Racism, Rape, and Slavery