Reviews tagging 'Blood'

Firstlife by Gena Showalter

4 reviews

bookcaptivated's review against another edition

adventurous dark hopeful mysterious tense medium-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? Yes

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Car accident, Death, Religious bigotry, Murder, Violence, Blood, Death of parent, and Child death

agatha_hopkins's review against another edition

Did not have enough time on the loan from the library. I had to turn it in.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Torture, Confinement, Child abuse, Murder, Blood, Death, and Violence

Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, Emotional abuse, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Medical content, Toxic relationship, Sexual harassment, and Gore

Minor: Vomit, Sexual content, Adult/minor relationship, Child death, Excrement, Drug use, Drug abuse, Suicide, Body shaming, Mental illness, and Cursing

Many, many fight scenes. A lot of sexual innuendos...

especially when Ten is in the asylum, and also when she is around Killian.

rusame's review against another edition

adventurous medium-paced

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

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Death of parent, Forced institutionalization, and Torture

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship and War

ashleyvharris's review against another edition

adventurous medium-paced

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

1.0

Firstlife is a disjointed story of what happens when your main character can’t make a decision to save her life… literally.

When Tenley Lockwood is suddenly determined to be the chosen one, she is whisked on a wild, random journey to accomplish… something? I never could figure out what these characters were trying to accomplish. At first, it seems like the mission is to get Tenley more time before choosing a realm, but we take a detour when it’s revealed (again, out of the blue) that her mother (who allowed her to be institutionalized and tortured) is

dying

. Nothing about the story and chapter motives made sense to me. The actions and progression of the plot felt unpredictable and unrealistic. 

I have never despised a main character more. If, like me, indecision is your biggest pet peeve? SKIP THIS. Tenley continually puts herself and those around her in danger by not making a decision, even after she knows which realm is for her. It’s infuriating and invalidates everything she says.

This book truly felt like it was trying to be far too many things. A horror novel at Prynne and in Many Ends, a survival story with the

Russian wilderness and plane crash

, a spy thriller with the continued assassination attempts, a romance with Archer and Killian, a drama with her families affairs. It could never settle on doing one thing really well. 

The one thing you will consistently find in this book? Cringe moments. I don’t know that I’ve ever cringed more in my life. The counting, the use of “zero” as a curse word, the entirety of Sloan’s character, the use of “man-meat” in any way that was meant to be serious or flirty, The random accents. The list could go on. 

The concept of this story was intriguing, but Showalter’s execution was poor and struggled to find the mark. Although I won’t continue with the trilogy, I hope the writing and story improves for other readers.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Death of parent, Torture, Toxic friendship, Murder, Forced institutionalization, Violence, and Physical abuse

Moderate: Rape, Blood, Child abuse, Adult/minor relationship, Child death, Sexual harassment, Confinement, and Pedophilia