Reviews tagging 'Death of parent'

Gods of Jade and Shadow by Silvia Moreno-Garcia

33 reviews

ran_sophia's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful informative reflective 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? N/A

5.0

The book is very beautifully interwoven with Mexican myths and legends.  I liked the story a lot.  It was beautifully written and the storytelling style was absolutely amazing.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Death, Violence, Classism, and Suicide

Moderate: Bullying and Religious bigotry

Minor: Racism, Death of parent, and Misogyny

giulianalb99's review against another edition

adventurous funny hopeful lighthearted slow-paced

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

2.0

Lo siento pero dnf. Estaba al 57% y aún no estaba pasando absolutamente nada, así que no voy a perder mi tiempo leyendo esto.

La trama tenía bastante potencial y al ser ambientado en México me llamó bastante la atención pero ir a más de la mitad del libro y que me aburra totalmente hace que no me apetezca leerlo en absoluto. Es MUY lento y uff… No es para mí. Demasiada descripción innecesaria y el romance entre una persona de no sé cuántos años con una adolescente de verdad que no me llama en absoluto, más bien me irrita🤷🏻‍♀️.



(Si alguien se lo ha leído al completo y me dice lo que pasa al final pues guay, pero tampoco me quita el sueño).

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Gaslighting, Adult/minor relationship, Bullying, Death of parent, Misogyny, and Sexism

allisonmspiers's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Suicide, and Death

Moderate: Stalking, Confinement, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Physical abuse, Gore, Sexual harassment, Murder, Classism, Child abuse, Bullying, Sexism, Misogyny, and Emotional abuse

Minor: Colonisation, Ableism, Death of parent, Torture, Grief, Sexual content, and Racism

emi's review against another edition

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? It's complicated

4.0

a charming story, whose depth elevates it beyond modern myth. fun to read, hints of a romance, straddling 1920s Mexico/America and Xibalba, the land of death. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Blood, Terminal illness, and Death

Minor: Death of parent

heatherjchin's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective tense fast-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? It's complicated

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic relationship, Murder, War, Blood, Suicide, Violence, Injury/Injury detail, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Bullying, and Death

Moderate: Gore, Emotional abuse, and Gaslighting

Minor: Kidnapping, Death of parent, Colonisation, Self harm, and Grief

vegabela's review against another edition

adventurous dark reflective medium-paced

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

3.25

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death of parent, Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Bullying, Classism, Colonisation, and Emotional abuse

emily_mh's review against another edition

adventurous emotional reflective slow-paced

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

3.5

Unfortunately I didn't super enjoy my time with this one. This is a quest narrative but it didn't do the job as one for me. I think the beauty of a quest narrative is that you don't really know where it's going - as a reader you have knowledge of an end point and an initial plan, but something will throw the hero off course to keep you on your toes. However, the narrative followed the initial plan in a really linear and repetitive way, with only minor obstacles for Casiopea and Hun-Kamé (until the end). 

I did like the narrative voice as I found it unique and it had a fairytale-like quality to it. However, it came at the cost of feeling distanced from Casiopea and her inner-world. A final thing I didn't like about the book was how quickly Casiopea and Hun-Kamé fell in love. Even though we are told this happened slowly, they had only known each other for a few weeks so I just didn't find this believable.

So I was especially frustrated that they were both so close to throwing in the towel because of this love.

Also, I really don't like the immortal/mortal trope especially as Casiopea is only 18. 

Despite these negatives, there were a lot of positives too! I really enjoyed the opposing development of Casiopea and Hun Kamé, how they were switching from mortal to immortal or vice versa, and how they learned more about their initial state through the other's journey. I really liked where Casiopea ended up overall, too. Speaking of the ending, the last 50 pages were really fantastic - gripping and satisfying. And I really loved reading and learning about Mayan mythology too, like the duality of Xibalba that was cleverly reflected in so many other parts of the narrative. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide and Death

Moderate: Cursing, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Animal death, Murder, and Violence

Minor: Terminal illness, Pregnancy, Confinement, Racism, Alcohol, Forced institutionalization, Drug use, Gun violence, Colonisation, Slavery, Deportation, Animal cruelty, Domestic abuse, Religious bigotry, Classism, Gore, Emotional abuse, Body horror, Physical abuse, Death of parent, War, Child abuse, Racial slurs, Hate crime, Self harm, Body shaming, Ableism, Sexism, Misogyny, and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: illness, colourism, ethnic racism, volcano, self-injury, insects, hurricane, earthquake

ginadapooh's review

adventurous mysterious 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: Bullying, Classism, Death, Animal death, Domestic abuse, Toxic relationship, Blood, Sexism, Death of parent, and Gaslighting

saltycoffee's review

adventurous emotional 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? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Classism, Physical abuse, Suicide, and Xenophobia

Minor: Death of parent

nicnevin's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious 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? It's complicated

4.25

A mesmerising blend of myth and magic set in 1920s Mexico. It felt alive, bold and vivid depictions of different places both real and not. 

Sometimes I struggled with the main character in terms of her own agency but it blooms near the end. It did not end how I thought bit felt the better for it. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Gore, Grief, Torture, Animal cruelty, Blood, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Animal death, Bullying, Alcohol, Child abuse, Cursing, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Suicide, Suicide attempt, and Violence