Reviews tagging 'Child death'

The Awakening by Susanne Valenti, Caroline Peckham

12 reviews

yarisbooksandbevs's review against another edition

dark emotional funny hopeful sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

Honestly the writing isn’t Shakespeare but man was I invested. Those boys are so infuriating ahhh. I can’t wait to see these girls rise because I can see the fight in them and although I feel bad for what happened I know they’ll kick ass because they’re already badass.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Bullying, Death, Alcohol, Violence, and Cursing

Moderate: Toxic relationship, Sexual content, Car accident, and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Murder and Child death

cait's review

challenging dark emotional funny mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Minor: Child death, Fire/Fire injury, Hate crime, Sexual harassment, Vomit, Torture, Violence, Alcohol, Body shaming, Bullying, Classism, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Grief, Physical abuse, Sexism, Sexual content, Gaslighting, Kidnapping, Misogyny, Murder, Stalking, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Child abuse, and Abandonment

nineinchnails's review

adventurous dark mysterious slow-paced

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

3.75

the writing style/prose is somewhat juvenile and wattpad-esque (i'm familiar with it from devouring brutal boys of everlake prep in november so it's not too jarring) however every time i was forced to put this down i was itching to pick it back up. it's definitely laced with something. the worldbuilding was super fun and interesting to read despite clearly pulling inspiration from other sources. everything gets revealed at a steady pace so even though it's a lot to juggle with i think they managed to pull it off; there's the magic academy thing (sorted by houses), elemental magic, fae orders, and probably more i'm missing at the moment. the world is super addictive for me but i could be biased because i fell in love with harry potter when i was 7 and that probably permanently altered my brain chemistry. this feels like a fusion of harry potter, the cruel prince, and winx club but adult and it's so captivating. it reminds me a little of the magicians tv show too (haven't read the books yet which is probably a cardinal sin) because it's an academy for adults but it's not quite as dark and satirical in tone imo.

the pacing probably isn't for everyone since the book moves pretty slowly but it focuses on character development and worldbuilding which is definitely my preference in fantasy. it makes me kinda wish we had chapters from the boys' pov but i'm hoping we'll get that in at least one of the later books. the pov being split between both twins might be annoying too since i did struggle remembering where one twin left off in their last chapter occasionally but they're both distinct enough for me to know who's chapter is whose so it could be a lot worse. considering how long this book is i should be pissed that barely any action happens but idk what to say it's like crack and it definitely didn't feel 400+ pages long. i really liked the characterisation of the twins and more importantly their relationship - it didn't ever get ugly between the two of them. despite all the shit they went through and the manipulation they faced they didn't let anything come between the two of them and it was really sweet. it kinda reminded me of my own relationships with my sisters (when we aren't at each others throats over stealing clothes or something) and felt realistic in that the traumatic shit we went through only made us more loyal and protective of each other instead of competitive.

there's probably more to say but it's nearly 1am and my brain is failing me so to conclude: this book is super OTT and you absolutely will get secondhand embarrassment but if you can suspend your disbelief (and have heeded the trigger warnings) you'll probably love it just for the pure entertainment. yes this book is unserious as fuck but i am seated!

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Fire/Fire injury, Physical abuse, Torture, and Emotional abuse

Moderate: Car accident, Violence, Body shaming, and Sexual content

Minor: Child death, Death, Death of parent, Alcoholism, and Abandonment

attempted murder

, student/teacher relationship, dubcon, noncon

selestre's review

dark emotional mysterious slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? N/A
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying

Minor: Murder, Cursing, Death, Sexual content, Alcohol, Child death, Death of parent, Car accident, and Fire/Fire injury

lestie4short's review

adventurous dark mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

4.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying

Moderate: Child death, Death, Sexual content, Alcohol, Bullying, Cursing, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Grief, Hate crime, Adult/minor relationship, Body shaming, Car accident, and Death of parent

Minor: Infidelity, Vomit, War, Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, and Torture

arys_library's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious medium-paced

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

4.0

I really really loved this book! A great introduction to this giant series. I’ve heard a lot of mixed reviews on it and I agree with a small part of all of them. 

Someone said the first book is like a really long first chapter of a book. And while I agree, it’s a damn good first chapter. It’s an introduction to this fantasy world, but was so easy to understand, there was very little info dumping. 

I absolutely loved how all of the characters were built and their development. Their personalities, even the bad annoying characters, were so prominent it made the book so lovable and entertaining. Certain times when a character would appear I would get so excited to read their parts, no matter how small. And for a book that is mainly an introduction have that much character impact shows how great the character building and storytelling is. 

I will say I wish there was more internal turmoil between the two main characters Tori and Darcy. Their whole lives have been turned upside down and everything they’ve ever known is taken from them. And we don’t get to see much into their minds on how they are processing so much new information. It really lacked depth in that area. It was like after something incredibly strange happened, the girls thought about how weird and crazy this event was, and then just went along with it 2 minutes later. 

I loved the double povs between the twin mcs. But it would sometimes be confusing. I got a good grasp around 3/4 of the way into the book but before that I was having trouble deciphering between the two. There were many times where I was questioning which girl lived where, who has which power, etc. 

Also super random but the artwork on the beginning of each chapter was so beautiful but there were times where it wood cover up the words and I couldn’t understand what was happening. It didn’t happen every chapter but it happened enough for me to be annoyed by. 

Overall I really enjoyed this book, I’m so excited for the rest of the series so I could see more of each of the characters!

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse and Bullying

Moderate: Death, Fire/Fire injury, Blood, Death of parent, Alcohol, Car accident, Cursing, Sexual content, Animal death, Toxic relationship, and Violence

Minor: Child death, Murder, Infidelity, and Injury/Injury detail

hiddeninfantasy's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny mysterious tense fast-paced

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

3.5

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Infidelity, Sexual harassment, Violence, Body horror, Blood, Bullying, Cursing, Death of parent, Gore, Murder, Vomit, Abandonment, Alcohol, Car accident, Child death, Death, Injury/Injury detail, and Sexual content

sophiepeach's review

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? N/A
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Classism, Abandonment, Domestic abuse, Toxic relationship, Kidnapping, Bullying, Stalking, Physical abuse, Grief, Fire/Fire injury, and Child death

silvaserendipity's review

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

1.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Gaslighting, Child death, Death, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Car accident, Misogyny, Sexism, Sexual assault, Body shaming, and Bullying

shortstackkat's review against another edition

dark tense fast-paced

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

1.5

I hated pretty much everyone this entire book. I was waiting for the “Carrie” moment where the twins finally kicked the heirs asses < but it never happened.> I can enjoy an enemies to lovers trope but this straight bully romance is not appealing at all. I groaned every single time the sisters had an internal debate about fighting their lust for a bunch of dickwads <who tried to kill them multiple times as a joke.> The only reason why I gave it two stars is because I do want to know when that kick ass moment will happen (because it has to) and find out what the grand mystery is between which fae class the twins are and who is behind the dementor attacks.

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Bullying, Child death, Cursing, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Physical abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Stalking, Torture, Toxic relationship, and Violence