Reviews with content warning for Death - Svart storm

Reviews tagging 'Death'

Svart storm by Rebecca Yarros

909 reviews

abby_can_read's review against another edition

4.0

adventurous 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

📖
I had a good time reading this book. While I struggled with parts of the plot and pacing, Yarros' writing style has a way of keeping me engaged and interested.

Content Warnings

aseel_reads's review against another edition

2.75

adventurous dark medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

I appreciate the author fixing some basic works building problems

if they are in a war, why are they fine killing off cadets during school? And the naming of their land as the continent

I also liked the expansion of the world building

seeing the other islands, how they react to dragons, also the religious side of the world. Intrigued as to why violet was dedicated to a temple? At least it explains her hair

The writing was quite mid and if I could tell that the author used too many similes, then there was a lot and it was annoying. A lot of deaths/almost deaths occured and then moved on quite quickly and I didn't like the random povs at the end. It was confusing.

Plus I disliked any of the lovey moments of violet looking at xaden, I could not care less about their relationship

Content Warnings

drarig96's review against another edition

4.5

adventurous dark emotional hopeful mysterious sad 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: Complicated

Ok, so I cried a lot with this one. But I loved it.

Violet keeps on growing. She tries to stay positive but life is full of surprises, some of them pretty bad. I love that she is shaping into a great warrior and that she isn't depicted as so fragile anymore.
Xaden, ah, Xaden... Can we praise how he treats Violet? I also am happy we get to know more about him.
I want to know what's going on with Andarna. That's a side plot I can't wait to explore more. I want answers.
Saw some aspects of the ending come, but some details leave me confused, just like Violet.

I have high expectations for the next tome and will be waiting with impatience like a lot of people out there.

Content Warnings

savorthepages's review against another edition

5.0

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

Content Warnings

passportofprose168's review against another edition

3.5

adventurous 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

I have a lot of thoughts about this book, so this is going to be a long review!

The short version
I liked Onyx Storm more than Iron Flame and I do intend to continue reading this series. I keep getting drawn back to each subsequent book thanks to the cliffhanger endings and my insatiable curiosity!

The long version

PRAISES

This book moves at a faster pace than Iron Flame and is mercifully about 100 pages shorter.
Violet is back - I don't know who that whiny, insecure girl was in Iron Flame, but that wasn't the Violent Sorrengail we all came to love in Fourth Wing. I loved seeing her gain confidence and step into the role of leader. I was so happy to see her asserting her authority in political negotiations and using her intelligence to outsmart her opponents.
Violet's squadmates calling her out on how repetitive her arguments with Xaden are - she really needed to hear that!
Violet and Xaden are finally starting to trust each other more, so I didn't have to suffer through another book full of them arguing about keeping secrets from each other
Mira - what a queen, what an icon! More of Mira in future books please!
I'm also sensing a potential romance between her and Drake - that would be fun to explore in future books, given that she kneed him in the groin when they were first introduced.
Ridoc - I adore his sass! This guy is Basgiath's version of the Weasley twins (minus the twins part) and is constantly bringing much needed comic relief in this tense war environment. I also liked how we got a couple of scenes showcasing his more serious side - it gave his character more depth.
Tairn - how can a character be so terrifying, grumpy and loveable at the same time? I'd happily read an entire book just about Tairn's life prior to bonding with Violet.
Aaric - what an honourable young man! Few people would walk away from their wealth and privilege and risk their lives to fight in a brutal war.
Dain - I was very pleased to see Dain's character growth in this book. In Iron Flame, he had big shoes to fill after taking on Xaden's former position as wingleader. It felt like he was trying too hard to be just like Xaden (and failing), and he was struggling to find his feet. In Onyx Storm, you can see he is much more confident in himself and it feels like he's finally stepped out of Xaden's shadow. While I wouldn't say
his redemption arc is complete,
he is a lot more likeable in this book. Also, there were some major hints about a potential
romance between Dain and Sloane - there are some strong parallels between their interactions in Onyx Storm and Xayden and Violet in Fourth Wing and I ship this so hard! My prediction is that they will at least kiss by the end of book 4, with Sloane making the first move, given how Dain is such a stickler for the rules.

CRITICISMS

This book was extremely confusing at times. Throughout the book (most notably early on), several names are just casually mentioned and I was left wondering who these people were and if we had already met them before. Another issue I had was the constant switching between calling characters by their first names and surnames (or during battle, referring to the dragons they were bonded to, rather than the actual person). This disrupted my reading flow, as I was constantly having to refer to the cheat sheet at the front. There were also some chapters that confused me, because the setting seemed to change so abruptly. One moment they're flying, then at Riorson House, then back at Basgiath, then in battle - very disorientating!
The spicy scenes in this book were practically copy and paste - I found myself just skipping through them after a while because I was so sick of reading the same thing over and over again.
Literally every time Xaden walks into a room, we have to listen to Violet's internal monologue about how attractive he is and how badly she wants him. The endless repetition was annoying.

Content Warnings

hwilson1105's review against another edition

3.5

adventurous challenging dark tense fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Content Warnings

loyalbadger's review against another edition

4.0

adventurous dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

A little repetitive in its depiction of the romantic relationship between the primary characters.

Content Warnings

mrsd2008's review against another edition

4.75

adventurous dark emotional 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

Content Warnings

cupcake_kamisama's review against another edition

4.5

adventurous dark emotional medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

The third volume of this series has tried to get more serious without compromising on the fun, but it felt unnecessarily stretched out, likely because of needing to make it through at least a few more books. It's still pretty pacey and still, overall, quite fun. But there are only so many times that we can read how insanely hot/beautiful/angsty Xaden is without it becoming too much. And so many events in this book, and even chapters, felt like unnecessary filler that didn't lead anywhere and didn't add anything to the overall story. I wish that the story was allowed to get wrapped up sooner because I feel like that would bring back the quick pacing and constantly upped stakes that actually matter that we loved in the first two books.

Content Warnings

therebelcos's review against another edition

4.25

adventurous challenging emotional tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

Content Warnings

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