Reviews tagging 'War'

Lore by Alexandra Bracken

44 reviews

readwithria's review against another edition

adventurous emotional tense medium-paced

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

3.5

Lore was not what I wanted it to be, but that’s not the book’s fault.

I love a mythology retelling or reimagining, and that’s what I thought Lore would be. Instead, it was a giant game of hide and seek with a couple of Greek gods and multiple McGuffins. This was more of a thriller through a filter of mythology instead of what I was hoping it would be.

I think that part of the problem was the pacing. I found the first ~60-70% to be kinda boring. Once we got to the climax it definitely became more interesting, but unfortunately there wasn’t enough time given to the resolution for that climax to feel impactful. Part of that is because this book takes place over seven days, and that’s not very long, but there’s a lot of exposition and expository monologues.

Another issue I had was with the romance subplot. I did not feel any chemistry between the two love interests until the very end of the book. The pining between  two secondary characters was more compelling for me. Honestly, Miles and Van are the two most interesting characters and we don’t spend nearly enough time getting to know them.

All in all, this book was fine. It did what it set out to do, I’m just not convinced that what it set out to do was particularly interesting. 3.5 stars.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Violence, Blood, Death, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Kidnapping, War, and Sexual violence

Minor: Fire/Fire injury

grace_reads13's review against another edition

dark sad tense fast-paced

3.75

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Cancer, Child abuse, War, Violence, Death, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Gore, Grief, and Sexual assault

cllaireisabella's review

adventurous emotional tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder and Violence

Moderate: War

Minor: Rape

blissofalife's review

adventurous dark 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

4.0

Bracken does a wonderful job weaving a new story out of Greek mythology and explaining background while not treating the reader like someone completely unfamiliar with the tales. No loose ends.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexism, Classism, Misogyny, and Violence

Moderate: Murder, Sexual assault, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Fire/Fire injury, Genocide, Rape, Child death, Blood, Death of parent, Grief, and War

Minor: Vomit, Bullying, Adult/minor relationship, Chronic illness, Cursing, Suicide, Suicide attempt, and Cancer

maregred's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious slow-paced

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

2.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Torture, Sexual assault, and Death of parent

Moderate: Violence, War, Sexism, and Misogyny

Minor: Classism, Grief, Fire/Fire injury, Religious bigotry, Blood, and Injury/Injury detail

gen_wolfhailstorm's review against another edition

adventurous tense slow-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? No

1.0

Buddy read with Deborah from HillsOfBooks!

<b> The Details: </b>
<i> Narrated by Fryda Wolff
Unabridged </i>

Unfortunately I struggled with this one. 
I found it hard to get into and at chapter 19 I switched to the audiobook. It got me through it quicker but it didn't increase my engagement and enjoyment of the story.

I didn't really care much for the setting. I've never read the Hunger Games before, but that sort of set up has never really interested me and this theme in modern day, but with the Ancient Greek pantheon just didn't blend well for me and felt jarring a lot of the time.

I wasn't keen on Lore as our main character. I just didn't mesh with her.

I thought it was helpful to have the '7 years earlier' flashback chapters to slowly peeter out the history before this Agon.

Gutted this one didn't do it for me. I think this is my first foray into this authors works, but I own a copy of The Darkest Minds, which I'm sure I will still try out at a later date.

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Death of parent, War, Violence, Child death, Sexual harassment, and Suicide

cecilie26's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful 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

4.5

Overall a fantastic book. The pace was sometimes a bit too slow but the story itself made you want to read it through. I really like that the romance hasn’t taken over the books plot like some other books tends to do. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Panic attacks/disorders, Blood, Grief, Cancer, Vomit, Emotional abuse, Cursing, Classism, and Ableism

r1vana's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny 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

3.5

“A feather fallen from a wing is not lost, but free.”

This story proves that we can’t trust man and people in power.

The story started off so good after 35%. Even tough it is a stand-alone I felt that it keeps getting dragged. One thing is that when it comes to Greek Mythology, I get confuse(that is a me problem, not the authors…) and since I was really interested in that topic, I had hoped we got more infos/fiction from the author.
But around 75%, the plot started to pick up. And there was one time, I audibly gasped because of several “unexpectedly expecting”plot twists.
—

I love the FL, she was shown as a strong lead with a dark past. We get to see how flawed she can be and how naive and vulnerable she becomes when she is betrayed and being forced to suppress herself…

RTC

“You may deny the Fates, but they will not deny you. Fighting them will not save you from what is ahead. It will merely quicken the course of things."

TW: Murder; war; power hunger; men; grooming; suggestion of adult/minor marriage; death/massacre of family members

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, War, Death of parent, Murder, Violence, Gaslighting, Grief, Misogyny, and Injury/Injury detail

sunflower_tea's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

It’s written in a personal she narrator.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Child death, Emotional abuse, Medical trauma, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Gun violence, Kidnapping, Murder, Medical content, Body horror, Slavery, Violence, Fire/Fire injury, Cursing, Misogyny, Rape, Religious bigotry, Deadnaming, Suicide, Incest, Sexism, Chronic illness, Death, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Sexual violence, Bullying, Cancer, Hate crime, Sexual content, Torture, Toxic friendship, and War

Moderate: Body shaming, Car accident, Colonisation, and Adult/minor relationship

sarahjanehayes's review

adventurous 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? Yes

3.25

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Torture, War, Injury/Injury detail, Death, Blood, Violence, and Physical abuse

Minor: Cancer and Sexual assault