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el_wheel's review against another edition
- 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
4.75
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Blood, Grief, Murder, Self harm, Sexual assault, Suicide, Child abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Alcoholism, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Violence, Mental illness, Death, and Panic attacks/disorders
Moderate: Torture, Rape, and Pedophilia
qrschulte's review against another edition
- 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
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Body horror, Child abuse, Classism, Murder, Pedophilia, Self harm, Sexual violence, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Kidnapping, Medical content, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Death, Domestic abuse, Mental illness, Suicide, Torture, and Violence
Moderate: Alcoholism, Dysphoria, Blood, Child death, Animal death, Alcohol, Fire/Fire injury, and Gore
Minor: Pregnancy, Vomit, War, Death of parent, Panic attacks/disorders, and Suicidal thoughts
imds's review against another edition
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
3.25
Graphic: Medical trauma, Panic attacks/disorders, Ableism, Body horror, Classism, Domestic abuse, Death of parent, Gore, Kidnapping, Murder, Self harm, Suicide, Trafficking, Violence, Animal death, Child abuse, Child death, Alcoholism, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Confinement, Gaslighting, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Abandonment, Animal cruelty, Injury/Injury detail, and Torture
kingorgan's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
Graphic: Suicide, Suicide attempt, and Suicidal thoughts
Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Child death, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Body horror, Child abuse, Death, Death of parent, Torture, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Rape, Physical abuse, and Panic attacks/disorders
Minor: Homophobia and Medical trauma
thoseoldcrows23's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Grief, Panic attacks/disorders, Torture, Alcoholism, Gaslighting, Suicide attempt, Violence, Mental illness, Murder, Suicide, Blood, Classism, Confinement, Death, Death of parent, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Animal death, Sexual assault, Pedophilia, Rape, and Sexual violence
Minor: Homophobia and Sexual content
jordyn_alexx's review against another edition
- 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 was longer than I remembered, but that was welcome. It was certainly familiar, but there were also less finer details that I remembered than I would’ve thought. I’m happy I reread it.
I’d forgotten how endearing Death was and how nice it was to witness the start of Bitterblue and Giddon’s friendship. I found myself not quite frustrated, but wishing Bitterblue did certain things differently.
Edit: Reread April 2021
With this reread I think I was seeing things from new perspective. It's hard to understand how things have progressed within the timeframe, but at the same time, I imagine it's realistic. After reading Winterkeep, it's nice to be reminded of how things developed in this book.
~
This was not my favorite of the Graceling books, but I still loved it. I connected really well with the characters and I was left wishing she'd write more.
Graphic: Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, and Suicide
Moderate: Domestic abuse, Kidnapping, Torture, Death of parent, Trafficking, Panic attacks/disorders, Murder, Physical abuse, and Violence
Minor: Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Pedophilia, Violence, Animal cruelty, Child death, Death, Sexual assault, Animal death, Child abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Alcohol, and Physical abuse
readingrat's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
Graphic: Sexual assault, Self harm, Suicide, Death, Physical abuse, and Torture
Moderate: Death of parent, Panic attacks/disorders, Fire/Fire injury, Domestic abuse, Grief, Gaslighting, Emotional abuse, Blood, Sexual violence, Rape, and Violence
Minor: Trafficking, Addiction, Animal death, Animal cruelty, and Alcoholism
queer_bookwyrm's review against another edition
- 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
Bitterblue by Kristin Cashore is book 3 in the Graceling Realm series. As much as I liked this book, it was so much darker than the previous two books. Definitely check content warnings before reading. Cashore has a fantastic way of world building slowly through a story. The way she's able to expand and follow different timelines and keep everything straight is a feat unto itself.
We follow Bitterblue 8 years after the events of Graceling and almost 49 years after the events in Fire. Bitterblue is now Queen of Monsea, but is kept sheltered and ignorant about her subjects and her queendom. As she learns how much she doesn't know, she discovers the lingering pain of Leck's influence has caused someone to kill truthseekers who want to know what happened during Leck's reign. Bitterblue finds the task of remembering and honoring the past and moving forward so as not to trigger people unnecessarily, to be almost insurmountable.
There is a lot of plot that happens in this book, as well as plot set up for the other books. I love the characters that Cashore creates! I loved seeing Po and Katsa again along with some new names, like Giddon (what a softie), and Death (pronounced to rhyme with teeth) the librarian who our curmudgeonly librarian with a Grace I wouldn't mind having. So much happened in this book, that I can't talk about it all without spoilers.
I love that Cashore makes it explicit in her books that women have the choice to not bear children. In Graceling, Katsa takes medicine that makes it so she will never be pregnant, and Bitterblue takes herbs to prevent pregnancy. She also gives a background sapphic couple and Achillean couple. Cashore also casually includes background characters with disabilities. She does acknowledge at the end of the book that she made a mistake writing Po losing his sight at the end of book one. She admits that she wasn't thinking about disability politics at the time and wasn't aware she was stumbling into "curing" Po's visual disability with his Grace, and apologizes for it.
So excited to get to Winterkeep and where Cashore will take us next!
Graphic: Domestic abuse, Pedophilia, Torture, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicide, Medical trauma, and Violence
Minor: Self harm, Rape, Animal cruelty, Sexual assault, and Child abuse
siglerbooknook's review against another edition
- 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
Graphic: Self harm, Suicide, Sexual violence, and Suicidal thoughts
Moderate: Rape, Violence, Suicide attempt, Fire/Fire injury, Emotional abuse, Domestic abuse, Death of parent, Homophobia, Grief, and Gaslighting
Minor: Medical content, Child death, Blood, Medical trauma, Classism, Child abuse, Addiction, Pedophilia, Panic attacks/disorders, Outing, Mental illness, Kidnapping, Pregnancy, Physical abuse, Animal cruelty, and Alcoholism
cepbreed's review against another edition
- 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
Song:
- Writer In the Dark - Lorde
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