Reviews tagging 'Slavery'

Lady Smoke by Laura Sebastian

8 reviews

mariyah_reads's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious sad tense slow-paced

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

4.25

Blaise annoys me. I didn't really like Soren in the first book but I'm actually growing to like the whole dynamic between him and Theo.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexism, War, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Murder, Classism, Domestic abuse, Child abuse, Death, Hate crime, Death of parent, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexual harassment, Colonisation, Kidnapping, Confinement, Genocide, Grief, Sexual assault, Slavery, Torture, and Violence

Moderate: Racism, Xenophobia, Rape, and Toxic friendship

sweetchocolatez's review against another edition

adventurous 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? It's complicated

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Xenophobia, Sexism, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Slavery, Child death, Classism, Torture, and Blood

Moderate: Misogyny, Fire/Fire injury, War, Death, Toxic friendship, Rape, and Medical content

Minor: Grief and Vomit

prunechips's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful inspiring 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

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Colonisation, Racism, Physical abuse, War, Violence, Murder, and Slavery

Moderate: Death

tiana_king's review against another edition

dark 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

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Colonisation, Death, Mental illness, Classism, Injury/Injury detail, Fire/Fire injury, and War

Moderate: Genocide, Slavery, and Suicidal thoughts

Minor: Adult/minor relationship and Rape

liviamello's review

adventurous fast-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

3.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Slavery

Moderate: Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Homophobia and Rape

kassidyreads's review

dark emotional tense 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

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Colonisation, Racism, Slavery, Death, and War

Moderate: Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Rape

savanhahope's review against another edition

adventurous dark hopeful inspiring tense 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? It's complicated

5.0

So far this is my favorite book of the trilogy. I'm excited to see where the third installment goes. 

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Blood, Body horror, Child death, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Death, Death of parent, Genocide, Murder, Slavery, Violence, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Vomit, Torture, Pedophilia, and Homophobia

Because it's YA most things aren't described in too much detail but just a heads up that it is there

queer_bookwyrm's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious tense 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? No

4.0

 Lady Smoke by Laura Sebastian is the second book in the Ash Princess trilogy. We continue to follow Theo and her friends after their escape on Dragonsbane's ship. 

This book continues its examination of power and greed, and continuously points out the privilege of the ruling ruling class. We see it in Sta'Crivero, an opulent city with technology, where they only value beautiful things. The citizens of this city see the Astrean and other refugees as cursed, and keep them behind walls instead of helping them. 

We also see their privilege when Theo meets with the King and everyone present presses Theo to tell them all about the tragedy she has experienced. I really appreciated this part of the book, because it exposes how much people want tragedy porn. They say they want to know these things out of compassion, but it's just entertainment when you will never know such suffering. Our world is dealing with that right now. News stories, articles, think pieces, tv shows; they all center tragedy as entertainment. 

I loved the growth of our cast of characters in this book! I love their dynamics, especially Art. Theo is coming into her own and coming to terms with the fact that she will not be the Queen of Peace that her mother was. "But you are the Queen of Flame and Fury, Theodosia, and you will set their world on fire."

There is plenty of court intrigue and random queer side characters, which is nice. Been a while since I shipped anyone, but I ship Erik and Heron so hard! 

I love the concept of these books and can't wait to finish up the series with Ember Queen! 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Child death, Confinement, Death, Murder, Slavery, Torture, and Vomit

Minor: Rape