Reviews tagging 'War'

Vespertine by Margaret Rogerson

27 reviews

judassilver's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful mysterious 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? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Fire/Fire injury, War, Child abuse, Self harm, Death, Blood, and Confinement

Moderate: Child death, Torture, Grief, Religious bigotry, and Vomit

Minor: Suicide and Pandemic/Epidemic

crystalisreading's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful mysterious

• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Self harm, Panic attacks/disorders, Death, Blood, Violence, War, and Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Forced institutionalization, Confinement, Grief, Mental illness, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Medical trauma, and Medical content

Minor: Bullying, Animal cruelty, and Suicide

cedartonk's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Self harm, and Violence

Moderate: Eating disorder, Death, Forced institutionalization, Vomit, Injury/Injury detail, Suicidal thoughts, and War

eviethebookworm's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional 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? N/A

4.25

Margaret Rogerson has created a dark and gritty world that reminds me of The Merciful Crow by Margaret Owens. 

Artemisia, who I have nicknamed Artie in my head, is fantastically introverted and intelligent. Her relationship with the revenant is reminiscent of a begrudging elder taking on an apprentice against their better judgment. 

If you’re looking for a fantasy novel that addresses religious themes, this book is the answer to your prayers. It’s not dismissive of those with faith. However, Rogerson hasn’t shied away from issues that come up when dealing with belief systems and the people who follow them. 

I can’t wait to see if there’s more to Artie’s story. Fingers crossed Rogerson writes another Vespertine novel sometime soon.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Self harm, Fire/Fire injury, Confinement, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Moderate: War and Torture

Minor: Suicide

sonygaystation's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.5

The character growth in this book was so *chef’s kiss*!!! Also the revenant has my whole heart

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Violence, War, Abandonment, Child abuse, Religious bigotry, Confinement, and Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Blood and Death

Minor: Child death, Grief, Gore, Suicide, and Body horror

charloforce's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious medium-paced

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

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical content, Mental illness, Body horror, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Domestic abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Self harm, Abandonment, Death, Violence, Bullying, and Medical trauma

Moderate: Murder and Torture

Minor: War

asiamd's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad tense fast-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? Yes

5.0

This book was sooooo good. I loved the main character and her revenant!! The way the author added depth and feelings to every character that came on the page was amazing. I really adore books that allow for villians to also be victims of pain and fear and I felt like this book did a great job of incorporating that wit a kind of anti-hero in the revenant as well as all the other spirits throughout the book. I really liked the different take on religion as well, while it was really similar to Christianity(?) with the blind belief of the people, the praying, and the saints, Rogerson also made it unique in the book by adding a more ghostlike twists that in my opinion added way more humanity to what the spirits were. Overall I really enjoyed this book and read it in one day 🤭 so 10/10

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, Self harm, Panic attacks/disorders, Confinement, Death, and Forced institutionalization

Moderate: Abandonment, Pandemic/Epidemic, and Violence

Minor: War, Suicide, and Vomit

aas's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional 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? Yes

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Bullying, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Genocide, Gore, Blood, Confinement, Abandonment, Body horror, Violence, War, Grief, and Murder

rachelgreenreads's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious tense medium-paced

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

5.0

This was such a great story. The MC is a badass, neurodivergent and disabled nun, who allies with powerful spirit to uncover a vast magical plot, as well as the obscured history of the powers that be in her world. Rogerson writes power and humanity really well, while also making you love her complex and imperfect characters. Similarly to Sorcery of Thorns, she has her characters question what has been deemed wholly evil in her characters’ worlds, and if such a thing even exists. She artfully complicates concepts of good and evil, through characters and archetypes which are both fantastical and easy to relate to. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Violence and War

Minor: Vomit, Medical content, and Suicide

marsh_mall0w's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny 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? Yes

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Death, Confinement, Fire/Fire injury, and Self harm

Moderate: War, Panic attacks/disorders, Religious bigotry, Child abuse, Gaslighting, and Vomit

Minor: Gore