Reviews tagging 'Kidnapping'

Bitterblue by Kristin Cashore

17 reviews

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

imds's review against another edition

• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated

3.25

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Content Warnings

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

jordyn_alexx's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny inspiring mysterious reflective 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

Reread August 2023:
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.

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Content Warnings

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

katherineguild35's review against another edition

adventurous 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? Yes

3.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Violence, Torture, Rape, Pedophilia, Murder, Death, Kidnapping, Grief, Suicide, Trafficking, Sexual assault, Mental illness, Physical abuse, and Medical trauma

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

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