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Reviews tagging 'Sexual assault'

Born of Blood and Ash by Jennifer L. Armentrout

77 reviews

adventurous dark emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

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dark emotional tense slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: No
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

The politics of this book is bonkers to me. I'm supposed to believe that the good guys are the ones who declare that there needs to be a single-party system and anyone who won't swear allegiance to them they'll murder and then install one of their lackeys on the seat of government for each sub-country? What kind of fascist USSR bullshit is this? And after Sera commits literal atrocities the lesson she takes away from it is, I should never have tried to be a better person, I should have leaned all the way into being a murderous unhinged monster from the start?? Wtf? Yeah, Kolis is worse, but that's not saying much. A jar of expired mayonnaise would make a better ruler than Kolis—it doesn't mean that Sera and Nyktos are actually good. This book made me deeply dislike Sera, which is a shame, because I had been enjoying Sera/Ash more than Poppy/Cas. It was also deeply unpleasant to read about her dealing with her trauma, I think even more so than reading the actual trauma occuring in the last book. Btw, why'd you have to retcon her abuse to include fingering now Jennifer?? Just to twist the knife? It would have made a better point about her assault not being "nothing" if you didn't include touching genitals but showed that this is assault regardless. I was also stressed out the whole time about the effect Sera's PTSD/depression would be having on her babies, and pissed off that once she learned she was pregnant she refused to stop fighting to protect them. I am getting so tired of "badass" female characters who are only badass because they're aggressive, violent, and reckless. I want a female character to be badass because she is smart, calculating, and controlled! Show me the power in restraint! Anyway, Attes and Holland are wonderful and nearly everyone else is annoying to me at this point. I'm going to stick with the series because I've come this far, but man am I pissed at how much potential this series had and how far it went off the rails.

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
dark emotional 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

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
dark emotional 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

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
adventurous tense slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Plot
Strong character development: No
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
adventurous dark emotional sad 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

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
adventurous slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Plot
Strong character development: No
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

That was a SLOG! Really struggled to get through this and keep with the story. 
Armentrout made Sera’s anxiety a character in the story who repeated the same lines through...concentrate on my breathing...hold...breath went no where. YAWN it made this such a hard read and it lacked the pace and action the rest of the series has had. I would say 85% of this book is talking over the same thing again and again alongside the character of anxiety. I get what Armentrout is trying to say that anxiety can and is consuming, it robs you of being able to function but it lost it's power with how repetitive she made it. 
The last 10% of the book is where all the action happens (maybe a spattering half way). Actually disappointed as I loved Sera and Ash over Poppy and Casteel...let's hope the next book has more pace and action than this one.

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
adventurous dark emotional 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

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adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful tense medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

A bit slow at times (it’s very long), but I enjoyed it. I love the story of Ash and Sera. 

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