Reviews tagging 'Grief'

Year of the Reaper by Makiia Lucier

22 reviews

misterwisp's review

challenging emotional hopeful 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? It's complicated

4.0

It's a satisfying fast paced read with good characters. It was compelling enough to stay up for. Plague is part of the story so you might expect this to be really dark but it came across more as melancholy but not in a depressing way. There is somehow a hopeful centre to it all that felt genuine and not naive. It's good! You should read it :)

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Violence, Confinement, War, Abandonment, Medical content, and Grief

Minor: Murder, Animal death, Torture, and Pregnancy

maregred's review

adventurous dark hopeful mysterious 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Confinement, Death, Death of parent, Torture, Medical trauma, and Xenophobia

Moderate: Fire/Fire injury, War, Violence, Grief, and Xenophobia

Minor: Vomit, Homophobia, Blood, Abandonment, and Mental illness

kirstenf's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious sad medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Grief, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Violence, Terminal illness, Medical trauma, Child death, Blood, Confinement, and Animal death

Moderate: War

Minor: Addiction

sarahbythebook's review

adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

4.5

I really, really enjoyed this book. I appreciate the author's interest in history, and I personally enjoyed reading this despite the recent-ness of COVID. 

The loss of half a star is from wanting there to be about 50 more pages tying up the ending. It felt very rushed and even some parts were left unexplained. <spoilers>I wanted to know so much more about him seeing the ghosts. Why him? Why not Jehan if she survived the plague? Why could Izaro see a ghost he couldn't? So many loose threads with that one specific plot line. Still a fantastic read, and I can't wait to dig into more by this author!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Animal death

Moderate: Grief and Medical trauma

Minor: Vomit and War

Don't read this if stuff about widespread illness is upsetting to you at this time

mirificmoxie's review

adventurous mysterious 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Animal death, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, Death, Medical trauma, and Blood

Minor: Infertility, Child death, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Kidnapping, Confinement, and Drug use

bookfan1414's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Confinement, Gore, Infertility, Trafficking, Death, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, Abandonment, Torture, and Violence

andromeda_1998's review against another edition

adventurous dark sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

This book was one of my favorite  books I’ve found in my fairyloot boxes. I liked reading this a lot. This is one of those books that grabs you and een you start this book, you just have to finish it. It was a very fun read.

Characters
Cas/Cassia was a really sweet but broken character. I really liked him for a male lead. Throughout the book you get more glimpses of the past and well this boy deserved a better life. Reading about his trauma and the way he tries to find his own happiness is sad and hopeful ad the same time.

Luna is also a fun character. I love the scene in which they meet! There friendship feels very natural and I love the way it is written.

Worldbuilding
Makiia Lucier kept the world basic, understandable and she explained just enough for it to work. The story is short and more worldbuilding would not have worked for this book. It’s very well done.

Story
The story has some darker elements, which I like. I like it when fantasy books include these darker elements and I feel like they belong in this story. I have questions about the choice to give Cas the power or curse to see ghost. We don’t really get information that explains why he can see them and I feel like it wasn’t really necessary for the story. I liked the element but I would have preferred more of an explanation.

Writing
The storytelling is amazingly done. The writings is beautiful but not over complicated. It’s a book that most people can read without problems. Which is good! 

I would recommend this book to ya readers and especially the readers that are just starting to read in English. This story works for everyone but remember to always check the triggerwarnings first. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Abandonment, Confinement, Death, Animal death, Blood, Body horror, Physical abuse, Infertility, and Grief

gingercat99's review

adventurous dark emotional mysterious medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Slavery, Medical trauma, Fire/Fire injury, Animal death, Torture, and Violence

Minor: Forced institutionalization, Grief, and Abandonment

elmewhy's review against another edition

adventurous dark 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

4.25

~ 4 Stars ~ 29th January 2022

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. I don't often read from a male perspective in YA books but I thought it was really well written. Although I don't mind, I'm glad that romance isn't the main theme here as it would have taken away from the basis of the plot.
The grief and death we saw through our tortured souled MC was heartbreaking and the character development was great. The twist was enjoyable, and the endings for the characters were wonderful - I'm sad its a standalone as I would like to be with the characters more but it felt finished.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief and Death

Minor: Animal death

kestrel's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

 I loved this book so much! It's an overall well-crafted story with characters that feel real, and with a very cozy atmosphere despite the horrible things that happened in the past and the new danger in the present. While I can think of possible additions that could have made the book perfect (like perhaps a few pages more with the main antagonist), I feel so emotionally connected with this story that I don't care. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, Body horror, Confinement, Death, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Medical content, Medical trauma, Murder, Slavery, Torture, and Violence

Moderate: Alcohol, Death of parent, Infertility, and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Child death, Vomit, and War