Reviews tagging 'Torture'

Bitterblue by Kristin Cashore

62 reviews

el_wheel's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional inspiring mysterious 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? Yes

4.75

Wow this one really gutted me in a way that there other didn't. It's such an important story but also so fricking difficult to read at times. I cried through the whole, like, last 5th. I actually liked the confusion throughout because it helped me to connect more with Butterblue.

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Content Warnings

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

genevievefv's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious reflective sad 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

The world building of Kristin Cashore is truly incredible and that’s what bumped this up from 3.75 to 4 stars.  I liked the writing of Graceling better but I truly appreciate the explanation and exploration of Leck, Monsea and Bitterblue. It’s truly an epic story, if imperfect and hard to follow at some points. 

Also reading this for the first time at 26 but first knowing the series as a YA…. It is DARK

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence

Moderate: Sexual assault, Self harm, Rape, Torture, Child abuse, Blood, and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: War

strubbries's review against another edition

The beginning of this book is painful to read. It’s so slow for me, and i like slow reads! but i think after the first two books, this one was just so different and dragged on. too many questions and the rate at which they were getting answered was not a good balance. once i suspected that

Giddon and her would get together

i asked reddit if it would happen, and once that was confirmed, i honestly decided to stop reading because fuck

with my whole entire heart i hate that man and how he downplayed Katsa ‘having a grudge’

. so i spoiled the ending and discoveries so i didn’t have to read the rest. and honestly, im still a bit confused at it. i get it but i dont? i think a talk about this with someone who also read it would be amazing because there were so many moving parts to Leck’s reign and story that could be picked apart.
Now, i skipped pages to get the info i wanted on my kindle, and i ended up reading like 50 pages toward the very end. and oh my goodness, the ongoing trauma that Bitterblue experiences, wow. she did not catch a break at all. it was like boom boom boom

Theil kills himself, Rood hangs himself, new foreign people come along, etc etc

!!! i was tearing up and crying at many parts there because the amount of emotional weight that that girl is carrying throughout the whole fucking book. So; in the end, i liked the first two books a lot. though i didn’t finish this book, i know what happens and its still a bit of a thinker even when you have the puzzle pieces-ha, get it? I do not plan to read the last two books 🤷‍♀️

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief

Moderate: Animal death, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, Child death, Emotional abuse, Domestic abuse, Rape, Medical trauma, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Child abuse, Animal cruelty, Mental illness, Murder, Pedophilia, Suicide attempt, and Torture

Minor: Vomit, Medical content, and Fire/Fire injury

fabmom_24's review against another edition

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Self harm, Child abuse, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Child death, Emotional abuse, Rape, Animal cruelty, Pedophilia, Torture, and Suicide

imchelsi's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious 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? N/A

4.0

This story pulled me in in a way the first two did not and I really enjoyed it. The world building was impeccable and i loved getting to know Queen Bitterblue who was my favorite character in the first book. Be aware that there are some very heavy topics.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Suicide, and Self harm

Minor: Child abuse, Torture, Sexual assault, Rape, and Suicidal thoughts

bri_reads9's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious medium-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Medical content, Death, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Torture, Murder, and Rape

Minor: Animal cruelty

emilycfox's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful sad 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? It's complicated

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Murder, Rape, Animal cruelty, Gaslighting, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Stalking, Toxic relationship, Violence, and Torture

Extremely abusive father, extreme gaslighting

littleskylights's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Grief, Suicide, and Mental illness

Moderate: Rape, Violence, and Torture

Minor: Self harm

Deals extensively with recovery from trauma and abuse

caitander's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.25

This one is a lot darker than the other ones in the series so far. It deals with really intense topics surrounding the characters trauma and is very political. There’s a lot of discovery happening in this story, both about information and being lied to and Bitterblue’s discovery of herself. I enjoyed her journey and seeing how her strength in this book reflects back to her experiences in Graceling. The world is so rich and it’s so interesting to learn more about

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide attempt, Pedophilia, Medical trauma, Gaslighting, Death of parent, Self harm, Torture, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual violence, Physical abuse, Death, Emotional abuse, Animal cruelty, Murder, Suicide, Violence, Child abuse, Sexual assault, Rape, Domestic abuse, and Animal death

qrschulte's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious 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? Yes

5.0

AHHHH! I didn’t want to put this down! I just NEEDED to know all the secrets! And there were some very lovable secondary characters added ❤️

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Content Warnings

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