Reviews tagging 'Injury/Injury detail'

Vespertine by Margaret Rogerson

30 reviews

clairew97's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense fast-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? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Ableism, Injury/Injury detail, Suicide, Abandonment, Body horror, Animal death, Blood, Fire/Fire injury, Panic attacks/disorders, and Violence

beautifulpaxielreads'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? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Murder, Physical abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, Blood, Child abuse, Mental illness, Violence, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Medical content, Torture, Religious bigotry, and Animal cruelty

Moderate: War, Self harm, Ableism, and Vomit

Minor: Bullying and Suicide

Descriptions of human bodies being used as vessels for spirits (or possessed), torture by magical means, use of human bones as relics for spirits, necromancy, anxiety. Author also states (https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3883340977?book_show_action=true&from_review_page=1) the book includes instances of disordered eating

nrogers_1030's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Fire/Fire injury, War, and Violence

Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Death, Emotional abuse, Animal cruelty, Bullying, and Blood

Minor: Suicide

shrimpasta's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

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

5.0

the writing, the character interactions, the plot, bits of humor thrown here and there. vespertine is just chef's kiss  has left me in SHAMBLES. yes. thats EXACTLY how i felt after finishing it. definitely left me wanting more. can somebody please give me the second book rn?!? 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Abandonment, Fire/Fire injury, Self harm, Panic attacks/disorders, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Animal cruelty, Injury/Injury detail, and Physical abuse

aseel_reads's review against another edition

dark mysterious slow-paced

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

3.5

i really enjoyed the two main characters of this story (artemisa and the revenant) - their relationship was lovely and full of sarcasm. not sure if the artemisa is coded for autism or trauma behaviours, its a bit confusing. the world is really interesting (thank god for the page of the order of spirits) but the plot was a little slow in pacing and the plot twist was so obvious, even i picked it up and i wasn't trying at all. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Fire/Fire injury, Bullying, Confinement, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Blood, and Child abuse

plumpaperbacks's review

emotional mysterious slow-paced

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

3.5

[Buddy read with Shar 🖤]

I was so excited to read this, and in the first half, I honestly thought it would end up a new favorite. The story had similar vibes to my favorite series—His Fair Assassin—and the protagonist had so much in common with Sybella—one of the HFA protagonists and my absolute favorite character. I loved Artemisia and her revenant, and I thought the world-building, specifically the orders of spirits and how they could be bound with relics, was fascinating and well-done. I also loved seeing Artemisia come out of her shell more in the second half of the book, and realize that she does, in fact, have friends.

So what went wrong?

The pacing was dreadfully slow; in the first half I didn’t mind so much, because I was getting to know the characters and the world. But when I passed the 50% mark, I became aware of just how little had happened, and as I kept reading, still, hardly anything happened. I thought the antagonist was poorly written and didn’t really have any motivation to do what they did, and when the final hand was dealt, the true antagonist revealed, even though I didn’t see it coming, I wasn’t impressed. The last quarter of the book felt very anticlimactic, despite the stakes being at their highest yet.

One thing in this book’s favor, though, is that Artemisia is asexual, something I haven’t seen in many fantasies. There was no romance, and instead, the focus was on platonic relationships and her own character growth. It was refreshing, and I liked it.

Overall, despite finding this somewhat disappointing, I would recommend it. Rogerson spun a good story, and I do plan to read more from her in the future.

Representation 

• aromantic asexual protagonist

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Injury/Injury detail, and Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Child abuse and Confinement

Minor: Body horror

Main character was severely burned as a child (prior to story) and has scars on both hands. Things tagged moderate happened prior to story; main character was neglected and at one point locked in a shed for an extended period of time, as a child.

siannas_second_library's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious medium-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fire/Fire injury, Death, Violence, and Self harm

Moderate: Blood, War, Suicidal thoughts, Panic attacks/disorders, Mental illness, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Vomit and Eating disorder

elke_go_read's review against another edition

adventurous dark medium-paced

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

3.5

I was attracted to this as a fan of the Fair Assassin trilogy by Robin LaFevers and this did fit that bill - dark, atmospheric, with spirits and dangerous situations in a medieval-ish era with a strong heroine. But I had trouble getting through it which I think was just my mood. If the plot sounds good to you, go for it! 
I have seen other reviews state this is the start of a series but it felt self-contained and while it maybe can continue, this story is wrapped up just fine. No cliffhanger.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Injury/Injury detail and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Death

jenna36's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional 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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fire/Fire injury and Self harm

Moderate: Blood, Death, Eating disorder, Injury/Injury detail, Panic attacks/disorders, Violence, and Child abuse

Minor: Suicide

foreverinastory's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional 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

5.0

Agh this was so fun! I'm really glad this is a series!

Rep: White aroace (author confirmed) female MC with scarred hands, anxiety and possibly neurodivergent, BIPOC male side character.

CWs: Abandonment, body horror (possession by spirits), past mentions of child abuse, confinement, death, fire and fire injury, injury/injury detail, mental illness (anxiety), murder, panic attacks, violence. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Body horror, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, and Violence