Reviews tagging 'Abandonment'

Serpent & Dove by Shelby Mahurin

33 reviews

victoriacp769's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny hopeful medium-paced

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

4.0

I think this is a great book, not the best one I read, but it’s good and I love this type of stories. Something I will say is that it was really difficult for me to read at the beginning, cause I found the first part of the book really slow and not much was happening.. but then in the second part of the book all the things you where holding on to starts happening, all the spicyness, the challenges, the mistery, everything. It really starts being entertaining and captivating. Also, in the third part of the book it continues on being that way, which is good, but something I did notice is that the author started rushing everything in the last chapters. In the last chapters there is tooo many things going on and too many plot twist and in a certain way it can be good but for me it was really rushed and uneven considering all the other chapters of the book. Also, the end was wayyy too open, I know that maybe she wanted to do that so that more readers would want to reach to the sequel, but personally I think it was a really confusing ending. 
Anyways, the book is good, really good, but the writing was not the best.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Abandonment, Blood, Body horror, Death, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Self harm, and Animal death

prof_pelon's review

adventurous 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

Moderate: Blood, Child abuse, Genocide, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexism, Violence, Abandonment, Child death, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Forced institutionalization, Gaslighting, Gore, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Religious bigotry, Sexual content, and Torture

emmahe's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny mysterious medium-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Gore, Religious bigotry, Violence, Torture, Abandonment, Murder, Medical content, Kidnapping, Fire/Fire injury, and Cursing

Moderate: Child abuse, Vomit, Sexual content, and Animal death

Minor: Child death

kaitlynnnng's review against another edition

adventurous dark slow-paced

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

2.5

Some of the dialogue at the beginning  was cringey and awkward, but that went away.

The ending clearly sets up Blood & Honey, but is satisfying enough for Serpent & Dove to be a stand-alone book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Self harm, Sexual content, Death, Religious bigotry, and Violence

Moderate: Cursing, Abandonment, and Suicide

Minor: Vomit, Animal death, and Child abuse

zabeishumanish's review

adventurous mysterious reflective slow-paced

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

4.0

Never have I been so simultaneously delighted and frustrated to read the rest of a series. I love the characters in this book. I don’t think I fully understand the plot, but the characters are strong enough in any situation that knowing the storyline isn’t completely necessary. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Religious bigotry, Abandonment, Blood, Body horror, Cursing, Death, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Sexual content, and Violence

lizzyluck's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny lighthearted fast-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Hate crime, Misogyny, Religious bigotry, Sexism, and Xenophobia

Moderate: Abandonment, Blood, Child abuse, Colonisation, Confinement, Kidnapping, Murder, Sexual content, and Violence

Minor: Vomit

croisan's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Abandonment, and Cursing

corvidprince's review against another edition

adventurous dark hopeful medium-paced

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

4.25

I've heard mixed opinions about this book from other people, but I'm glad I gave it a shot because I loved it. I did find some of the dialogue kind of cheesy, but overall the character interactions weren't awful. I found the magic system interesting, and as someone who loves complicated magic systems, this book's magic system is a favorite. I can't wait to delve into it more in the next book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Child abuse, Religious bigotry, and Abandonment

mariereads_'s review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional 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

I was no one's sacrifice. Not then. Not now. Not ever. 

Exhilirating. Gripping. Intense.

I've had a bit of a book slump for more than a year and it's only been this month that I've had the courage to start reading again. 

Serpent and Dove was one of the best books that got me out of my reading slump. 

I love the exquisite and detailed world-building that Shelby Mahurin has created. It transports the reader to 17th century France and you could actually feel and experience that you were witnessing magic and mystery unfold.

This enemies-to-lovers, off-page marriage, daggers-to-throat relationship between Reid and Lou was off the charts! The balance between their vulnerability both as a couple and as individuals, and the turmoil, secrecy, and fear that they both are dealing with speaks to me on so many levels!!

I cried my eyes out when

Reid found out Lou was a witch and he said 'You are not my wife.' It broke my heart so much knowing that Lou already found a home in him but a part of her couldn't blame his reaction to the truth especially since she kept it from him because he was a Chasseur

 

More than that, I loved how Lou built strength to face her mother and take a hold of her fate. It's such a fascinating and empowering thing that one can make a path and fate of their own and not succumb to what was "phropecised" 

The side characters were also very lovable! Throughout the book, Coco and Ansel has claimed a soft spot in my heart for them. Even Jean Luc despite being a total jerk, I'm rooting for his character development, if there is any, in the next books.

Some of the plot twists are shocking and surprising while others were heavily foreshadowed that I knew when to anticipate them or just guessed it outright.

Suffice to say, this initial installment of the series has me hooked and eager to buy the second book so I can journey with Lou and Reid throughout the series.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Genocide, Murder, Misogyny, and Religious bigotry

Moderate: Abandonment, Grief, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Cursing, Child abuse, and Child death

jub's review against another edition

adventurous fast-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny, Religious bigotry, Blood, and Kidnapping

Moderate: Abandonment