Reviews tagging 'Injury/Injury detail'

Bitterblue by Kristin Cashore

21 reviews

lwooters's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful mysterious sad medium-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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Grief, Kidnapping, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Animal death, Animal cruelty, Suicide, Medical trauma, Child abuse, and Death of parent

Minor: Child abuse, Child death, Sexual violence, Physical abuse, and Rape

talonsontypewriters's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Classism, Emotional abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, Violence, Death, and Murder

Moderate: Sexual assault, Torture, Body horror, Domestic abuse, Sexual violence, Animal cruelty, Police brutality, Kidnapping, Sexual harassment, Child abuse, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Gore, Medical content, Medical trauma, Suicide, and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Pedophilia, Animal death, Rape, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Incest, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Child death, Self harm, Vomit, Xenophobia, Homophobia, and War

Human and animal experimentation. Strangulation/suffocation. Mind control, overriding/alteration of will (mostly discussed/aftermath). Abuse and sexual violence, including of children, are described frankly, but not extremely actively or graphically depicted on-page.

aseel_reads's review against another edition

adventurous slow-paced

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

4.0

I liked the depth this book gave to the world but it was quite slow and way too long

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Content Warnings

Minor: Alcoholism, Blood, Death of parent, Murder, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Child abuse, Child death, Mental illness, Death, Domestic abuse, Confinement, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Medical content, Torture, and Violence

sonshinelibrarian's review against another edition

5.0

Ugh. This book. It is SO dark and so good. I loved Bitterblue in Graceling, so I was so excited to have her be the main character of her own book and she did not disappoint. I also loved seeing some of the other characters again. But dealing with the after effects of a ruler like Leck would be utterly devastating and this book does not shy away from those things at all, but it doesn't do it for no purpose. I loved the overarching theme about dealing with trauma and how to move forward while realizing that you have to acknowledge the past. 

This is definitely one of those kinds of books that could be difficult and even triggering for some people to read, so while this is definitely my favorite of the three so far, take your own past experiences into consideration when deciding whether to read this book.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Murder, Suicidal thoughts, Emotional abuse, Grief, Pedophilia, Self harm, Suicide, Child abuse, Child death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, and Violence

Minor: Animal cruelty

battybookworm's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional inspiring sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

Rereading these books has truly been a delight. I am now unsure if I ever actually finished it previously but either way, this book had me til the very end this time! It’s such a useful book on recovery and how one can hold onto hope after devastating happenings occur. Cashore weaves past characters in beautifully and engages each in a way that makes their character fuller and more interesting.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Suicide attempt, Suicide, Suicidal thoughts, Rape, Toxic relationship, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Physical abuse, Murder, Mental illness, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Slavery, Sexual content, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Police brutality, Injury/Injury detail, Dementia, Animal death, Body horror, Blood, Child death, Child abuse, Classism, Colonisation, Death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Gaslighting, and Gore

This book, like it’s predecessors, discusses very dark topics. If you’ve read Graceling and Fire, this focuses heavily on the repercussions of decisions in those novels as well as what happened and happens after King Leck’s reign.

the abuse of people (particularly children) and animals as well as their deaths/bones are discussed frequently and in great detail through journal entry style or medical analysis. There’s some implication of danger towards Bitterblue as a child, but otherwise there’s no pedophelia/incest in the novel.

There are many character deaths and violent scenes.

cepbreed's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious 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

4.5

Shocking. I read this book with my mind spinning and mouth agape. I was intimidated by the length but now can understand the necessity of those pages. I do not want to say too much for the sake of anyone who dislikes spoilers, but the hours it takes to finish this book are well worth it. Cashore seemed to me like a mediocre author upon my introduction to the series but with each book I am further proved wrong. The complexity of this narrative is astounding. I came to really love Bitterblue and my love for other previously established characters grew more. I have to be honest and say that I really hold no love for Saf.

In fact I was waiting on Bitterblue and Giddon to fall in love, yes the age difference is one thing but I thought the way they connected was much more meaningful. Alas, I need to be satisfied with their camaraderie and that singular forehead kiss.

Leck can rot in hell.

 Song:

• Writer In the Dark - Lorde 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Medical content, Medical trauma, Rape, Self harm, Toxic relationship, Violence, Torture, Gaslighting, Infidelity, Kidnapping, Domestic abuse, Gore, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Animal cruelty, Death, Mental illness, Misogyny, Sexism, Sexual assault, Suicide attempt, Animal death, Blood, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Death of parent, Physical abuse, Body horror, Child abuse, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, and Suicide

Moderate: Addiction, Alcohol, and Alcoholism

Minor: Confinement and War

wanderonwards's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Grief, and Suicide

Moderate: Death, Animal cruelty, Child death, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, and Rape

therobinjoyce's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

A great continuation to the Graceling series by Kristin Cashore. I’ll admit, it was a lot harder to get into than Graceling but not as much so as Fire.

It was fantastic to be reunited with Bitterblue, Po, Katsa, Giddon, Raffin, Helda, and to also get a glimpse into some of the characters we got to know throughout Fire once more.

It was a fantastic YA fantasy and this one was filled with far more political intrigue and court politics but it was amazingly done and we still had a harrowing and gritty adventure through this fantasy realm once more. 

Bitterblue’s character has matured so much as have some of the others, but it was wonderful to follow her as an adolescent making her mark on her world and trying to rule. The whole cast of new characters that were introduced were also great and I loved so many of them. 

Just a fantastic follow up to the series. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Violence, Torture, Gaslighting, Blood, Self harm, Physical abuse, Emotional abuse, Domestic abuse, Child abuse, Suicide, and Murder

Moderate: Death of parent, Animal cruelty, Sexual violence, Rape, Injury/Injury detail, and Pedophilia

Minor: Kidnapping

elle_dee's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious 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? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Blood, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Gore, Grief, Homophobia, Incest, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Medical content, Medical trauma, Misogyny, Murder, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Torture, Violence, and War

melplays9000's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious reflective 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

4.5

This was a solidly good book! I really loved how this installment tied together parts of the previous 2 books while still having a totally unique plot of its own which was separate from that. I loved seeing Bitterblue’s growth as a character throughout this book and I felt her journey in the book really was different from what this series has previously been in the best way. I also appreciate that Kristin Cashore does not shy away from the more unheard of topics in YA, for example periods and birth control. This was also present in this book and I think this is an excellent example of how these topics can be brought into a book without being the main focus. 

One thing that was a little too much for my small brain was just the amount of character. Each of them had their own subplot with their own motives all happening at the exact same time and I just felt very lost in certain moments and feel I may have missed some of the reveals just because of how much was going on. 

Overall this book was everything I hoped it would be. It, without problem, kept me entertained the entire time that I was reading it and I appreciate everything it did for me. 4.5 stars.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Medical content, Mental illness, Murder, Self harm, and Suicide

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Child abuse, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, Torture, and Violence

Minor: Death of parent and Fire/Fire injury