Reviews tagging 'Death of parent'

Master of One by Dani Bennett, Jaida Jones

10 reviews

_kayla_marie_'s review

dark emotional sad tense slow-paced

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

3.0

Slower than slow burn. The main character is consistently and asshole and unlikeable

I kept reading hoping this book would get better and it took roughly 400 pages to get good. That's the only reason I gave it 3 stars, otherwise I would have given it 2.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Blood, Body horror, Confinement, Torture, Slavery, Physical abuse, Child abuse, Death, and Death of parent

Moderate: Chronic illness, War, Genocide, Injury/Injury detail, and Gore

ailsaod's review against another edition

adventurous dark medium-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

4.0

 This book was surprisingly good - I do not usually read YA or books about fairies and I only really picked this up because it was available at the library and I needed something to read on the train. I think the main reason I liked this book is that this book doesn't describe fairies in the mainstream fashion - these fairies do tick some of the usual boxes (think a bit like Tolkien elves) but there is an added eldritch element that I really enjoyed. The settings are described vividly and this only makes it more effective when creepy magic things happen. This book is what you would get if you combined Indiana Jones and the snow white film Mirror Mirror (2012), make of that what you will!

The one downside is that the book just sort of ends. There is no proper resolution, just a dip in the action and then it stops which is rather unsatisfying when there is so far no sequel announced!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Police brutality, and Murder

Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Torture, Suicide, Confinement, and Child death

Minor: War, Genocide, and Death of parent

magpi3's review against another edition

adventurous hopeful inspiring 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

5.0

This is such a fun read, I loved every chapter of it.

The worldbuilding was excellent and revealed such a rich and complex world which is matched by the character development and the descriptions used to make them even better. There was an extended break during my reading but I was able to pick it back up easily and was able to return to the story without hesitation.

I'm baffled that this book hasn't gotten more attention and praise as it is deserving of both.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Blood, Body horror, Chronic illness, Grief, Torture, War, and Classism

Minor: Death of parent

therainbowshelf's review against another edition

adventurous tense slow-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

I picked this up because of Rainbowcrate Book Box and I enjoyed it quite a bit (Rainbowcrate included a silverware set for this book and a silverware set in the book is an actual character!). I love the chosen ones trope, and it was fun seeing everything start off with a theif forced to break into an ancient ruin. There's some unaddressed ableism in here related to one of the main characters, which I was hoping to see more discussion about but that didn't come up. I don't think I enjoyed the audiobook as much as I would have enjoyed reading this one for myself.

📘The Gist 📘: A thief under duress by a wizard breaks into an ancient ruin and wakes a sleeping fae who starts them on a quest to find 6 chosen ones linked to a powerful weapon. 

📒Representation📒: BIPOC mc, disabled mc, mlm mc, mtf sc

💕 For readers looking for 💕: adventure, chosen one trope, fun dialogue, entertaining situations between layers of tension, quirky metal animal companions

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Ableism, Torture, Police brutality, Murder, Genocide, and Confinement

Moderate: Grief, Death, Death of parent, and Child death

Sibling death

emily_mh's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious medium-paced

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

4.0

There are lots of things I liked about this one. The plot got going right away - by the literal 60th page I was deep in an Indian Jones type mission along with the main character, Rags. I liked the writing style and loved the concept of the Great Parable and the direction this gave the story. The magic - mirrorcraft - was unique and fascinating and was deeply intwined in the plot. Finally, for the most part, the main romance was written well.

There were, however, some kind of important things I didn't like. The middle section of this book was BLOATED. The pacing was incredibly slow, which was a huge disappointment after the firecracker start. This book really didn't need 500+ pages to tell its story. I would have liked the characters to feel a little more rounded, especially given the time we spend with them. The side romances felt a little contrived. Finally, and perhaps most jarringly, this was written as a standalone but does not feel like one. Everything felt so unfinished by the end that I felt like I had another two books to go. I understand that the authors have more ideas for more books in this world, but I think this should have been the first in a planned series from the get go. 

Overall though the book was fine and I look forward to what the two authors bring out in the future.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Death, Violence, Murder, Blood, Cursing, Child death, Physical abuse, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Infertility, Ableism, Body shaming, Torture, Death of parent, Gore, Body horror, Grief, Domestic abuse, Child abuse, and Slavery

Minor: Fire/Fire injury, Rape, Confinement, Alcoholism, Vomit, Cannibalism, Excrement, Drug use, Animal death, War, Pregnancy, Chronic illness, Alcohol, Suicidal thoughts, Kidnapping, Sexual content, and Sexual harassment

paigemandia's review

adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful 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

if i do not get a sequel to this book i will scream!!!! please i am manifesting it so intensely i need more of this motley crew 😭😭😭😭 i really really enjoyed this one!! the syntax and writing style took a while for me to get used to because it was a lot of fragmented sentences and super short sentences so i wasn’t quite vibing with that. but i loved the main characters so much—especially rags, tal, and inis. ugh inis is so powerful i adore her. HOWEVER why TF did i not get a tal pov PLEASE i am begging you give me a tal pov as a little treat. i deserve it. anyways this is literally not a review i finished this book 3 seconds ago and im just emotional and rambling. but yes i loved the plot, it was VERY fast paced so if you don’t like down-time in books, this is a perfect one for you. the chapters are also insanely short. um yeah id die for rags and tal in about a millisecond i love them so much and i need more of them!!!!!! i wanna see rags find his little beastie friend and there’s just so many loose ends that are perfect for a sequel. so please. also CHECK THE PRONUNCIATION GUIDE IN THE BACK BEFORE READING bc i was saying literally every single name wrong in my head and it was too late to turn back when i saw the pronunciation guide 😪😪

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Content Warnings

Minor: Blood, Cursing, Death, Death of parent, Gore, Grief, Suicidal thoughts, and Violence

aardwyrm's review

adventurous tense fast-paced

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

3.5

There's a good book in here, but it's 200 pages shorter with an actual ending. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture, Child death, Death of parent, Death, Gore, and Violence

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts and Child abuse

pauliina_thebookaholicdreamer's review against another edition

adventurous funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted fast-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent and Violence

Moderate: Grief

madamepincers's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny 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? It's complicated

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Blood, Body horror, Violence, Torture, Slavery, Murder, Gore, Emotional abuse, Death, Bullying, and Body shaming

Moderate: Child abuse, Child death, and Death of parent

spiritedfaraway's review against another edition

adventurous funny mysterious medium-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? N/A

4.0

This book is what you get when you mix dark humor, a quest, advanced machinery, magic and a queer slowburn warrior prince/pragmatic thief romance together and I absolutely adored it! It also doesn't hurt that there is lots of diversity in the cast of main characters.

"They only problem was that Rag's couldn't think of any story or rhyme where a human shook hands with a fae and came out on top."

I will say that Rags' point of view was my favorite. Rags is my grumpy son and he needs to be protected at all costs, okay? I have such a soft spot for grumpy and sarcastic characters and the people that love them. Which brings me to my brand new OTP: Shining Talon and Rags! All the scenes with them were *chef's kiss* and I would scream in joy if we got Shining Talon's point of view in the next book!

The only thing about this book that wasn't my favorite was how I probably would have enjoyed this more if it was just from a couple point of views, instead of five. Which isn't to say I hated the other point of views, I just wasn't as engaged in them as I was with Rags'. But that's totally a me thing.

Overall, I found this to be an amazingly fun beginning and I can’t wait to get my hands on the sequel. Because I seriously need more Rags and Shining Talon and the fact that there isn’t any fanfic for them is a shame lol

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Blood, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Grief, Kidnapping, Medical trauma, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Police brutality, Torture, and Violence

Moderate: Ableism, Body horror, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Infertility, Medical content, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Trafficking, and Xenophobia

Minor: Child death and Infertility