Reviews tagging 'Medical trauma'

Bitterblue by Kristin Cashore

24 reviews

bencaroline's review against another edition

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide

Moderate: Gaslighting, Medical trauma, Murder, Violence, Abandonment, Sexual violence, Suicide, Torture, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Slavery, Animal cruelty, Domestic abuse, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Rape, War, Self harm, Sexual assault, Trafficking, and Death of parent

Minor: Alcohol and Vomit

queer_bookwyrm's review against another edition

adventurous dark 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? No

4.0

4 ⭐ CW: violence, torture, murder, domestic violence, PTSD/anxiety, rape mention, child sexual abuse mention, suicide, self-harm mention, animal cruelty mention

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! 

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Content Warnings

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

g_c_geeks's review

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

5.0

Ok so maybe there’s some issues with pacing but it did not bother me. I loved reading about all the political and social structures within the world, and loved spending time with these characters. 
It was a really good continuation of Graceling and Fire and built upon what happened years later. I really enjoyed it. 
I think about this world all the time and will have a place in my heart forever. 
Keep in mind though that you find out some very dark and disturbing confirmation of what Leck has done. 
I’m going to read Winterkeep (the fourth book in the series) for the first time and am very curious on what Cashore will continue to develop. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Murder, Torture, and Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Child death, Medical trauma, Suicide, Self harm, Child abuse, Sexual assault, War, Mental illness, Gaslighting, Death of parent, Death, and Adult/minor relationship

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

beebeewin's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional 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? It's complicated

4.5

Review from 2024: I was originally not a fan of this novel as at the beginning it is very slow. Kristin Cashore does take a lot of time to build the isolation of our lead character and her growth into being a queen, but I feel like that dragged a little. Also, I think the romance at the beginning takes away from the really dark and intense topics Cashore was trying to discuss. I think the love interest,

Sapphire

, is an interesting character but I feel it would almost be better to not have the romance blossom until the end.  I think the ending is truly where this book shined. As I discussed in my 2012 review, the ending is a little bit more nebulous than the other books in this series, but that is the beauty. There is so much Bitterblue is dealing with as a character, and it would be disingenuous to pretend that it was all resolved by this end of the novel. Instead, Cashore beautifully shows the process it would take for a kingdom and individuals to be rebuilt. The emotional resonance is felt, and especially the way

Fire is tied into the story is so fucking perfect. We know Fire had a similar complicated relationship with her father, which makes their conversations and relationship so poetic.

I also now how the ability to say there are sequels so this ending feels less definite and more of a new beginning with Leck firmly in the past, as it feels like the arc of his role in this story will fade into memory with this story. The expansion of the world excites me and I am ready to read the next novel. 

Review from 2012: 4 stars I really liked this book but for some reason I feel the story is uncompleted! This is the last book in the trilogy and in a way I feel lost. More so then at the end of the previous two books. I hope maybe another book will be written but I doubt it. This book was well written and suspenseful. There were so many mysteries solved and crimes committed. I loved how entirely everything was interconnected. So many surprises. I thoroughly enjoyed this book and all the characters in it!!!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical trauma, Self harm, and Suicide

Moderate: Rape

lumberelk's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective slow-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual violence, Physical abuse, Violence, and Blood

Moderate: Rape, Medical trauma, Suicide, and Mental illness

Minor: Vomit

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

alexander_pendragon'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? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Self harm, Emotional abuse, and Grief

Moderate: Rape, Sexual assault, Medical trauma, Torture, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Mental illness, Injury/Injury detail, Incest, Gaslighting, Fire/Fire injury, Child abuse, Child death, Animal cruelty, and Alcoholism