Reviews tagging 'Medical content'

Bitterblue by Kristin Cashore

15 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

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

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

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

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

siglerbooknook's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

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

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

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