Reviews tagging 'Suicide attempt'

Bitterblue by Kristin Cashore

18 reviews

emmah_1845's review against another edition

adventurous dark hopeful 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

I really liked this book! At first it was a little slow, but once the mysteries were brought up, it was very enjoyable! I loved how even though the readers had ideas about what happened before the events of the story, the reveals are really satisfying and make a bunch of sense. I think the author has gotten better at writing with each book and I love to see who the characters became. I also love how the book was centered around fixing a kingdom after the death of the king and how after all of these years, his existence still lingers.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Murder, Emotional abuse, Grief, Death, Sexual assault, Animal cruelty, Child abuse, Death of parent, and Suicide

Moderate: Suicide attempt and Suicidal thoughts

Minor: Rape

noetical's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional 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

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Sexual content, Suicide, Murder, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Pedophilia, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Rape, Violence, Alcoholism, Blood, Child death, Gore, Death, and Death of parent

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 🤷‍♀️

---

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

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

---

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

shinysylveon's review against another edition

mysterious reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

1.75

If I were to break down the structure of this book into 6 parts, for me this amounted to 1 part mystery, 1 part romance, 1 part self-discovery, and 3 parts epilogue for Graceling and Fire.

The entire premise of this book is Bitterblue navigating being Queen in the aftermath of her father’s tyrannical reign. How do you rule a kingdom where everyone is suffering from PTSD?

On paper, the concept seems cool. Instead of just a paragraph or a few pages summarizing “what happened after”, you get a full book. The problem with that is it’s boring. It felt like there was too much happening and therefore nothing got the focus it really deserved. But on that same note, it also felt like nothing was really happening? It’s very bizarre to describe. 

It just didn’t feel like Bitterblue’s book, or her story. It felt like an epilogue to Katsa’s and Leck’s story. It felt like a side character fumbling around trying to figure out how to be a main character, while the actual main character is off having another adventure. Bitterblue was more intriguing as a child in Graceling, and even in the flashbacks than she is in present day. 

Po was still fun in this for the most part. Katsa, however, was extremely annoying and immature. Though to be fair, immaturity is part of her character, it is just more acutely apparent without the aid of her internal monologue cushioning it. It also didn’t help that the Audiobook narrator gave her this weird Scottish accent that no one else has and that Katsa didn’t have in the original audiobook.

This was definitely riding off the coattails of the other two books. The parts about Leck and discovering all the horrible things he did were extremely interesting. Everything else? Meh. My original rating of 3 stars was super generous, changing it to 2 (which is still generous). Here’s hoping the next one is better. 

---

Content Warnings

Minor: Animal cruelty, Physical abuse, Suicide attempt, Gaslighting, Self harm, Torture, and Suicide

kingorgan's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious 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

---

Content Warnings

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

adventurous emotional mysterious 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

3.0

When I initially read the series as a teen this was my least favorite book, and upon reread that remains true. We'll start with the negatives so that we can end on a high note: 

My primary complaint back in the day was that I hated Saf as a character. Now I find myself feeling softer toward him, but I find Bitterblue much more frustrating than before. She's a very well written character who authentically feels like an 18 year old who has experienced great trauma but also grown up with great privilege; however, that combination makes her an incredibly irritating lead a lot of the time. She comes across as selfish very often (especially in her relationship to Po), and I found myself wanting to physically shake her multiple times over the course of the book. The other problem I have is regarding the length and pacing. Effectively, the story has a mystery plot engine with two different throughlines running parallel to each other (1: trying to figure out what happened in the past and 2: trying to solve the crimes currently taking place); however, the focus of the story is much more on Bitterblue’s growth as a character and that causes the mystery to fall by the wayside in favor of a more slice of life type story. That paired with the sheer length of the novel left me feeling a little burnt out by the end of it. 

            All that being said, I sincerely love Kristen Cashore writing and the world she has created. I have such affection for this cast that I find myself willing to forgive many things that would likely bother me more in a different book. Additionally, rereading this series now with the knowledge that there are more books made the experience of Bitterblue more bearable because there's so much potential here moving forward. By the end of the book Bitterblue has grown so much as a character, and I can see her being much more likeable in the future. There is also great potential here for a more satisfying romance for her (because, though I like Saf more now, I still don't think they're a good fit for each other. Bitterblue and Giddon on the other hand…). Overall, I did enjoy revisiting this story and I am now very excited to move forward and finally read the new books set in this world. 

---

Content Warnings

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

If you're this far into the series I feel like I can tell you this book deals a lot with Leck's crimes and you just kind of get the idea of how messed up it is

lubotomy's review against another edition

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

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? N/A
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture, Murder, Emotional abuse, Rape, Suicide attempt, Death, Violence, Suicide, Mental illness, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, and Suicidal thoughts

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

---

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.

---

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.