Reviews tagging 'Death'

Lore by Alexandra Bracken

222 reviews

lilslittlecorner's review

adventurous challenging mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Genocide, Blood, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Cursing, Torture, Violence, and War

marie_loegstrup06's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Death, Torture, Violence, Blood, Grief, Mass/school shootings, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, War, and Injury/Injury detail

i_love_cats_and_dragons's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark tense fast-paced

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

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Sexism, Violence, Blood, Murder, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Child death, Grief, Suicide attempt, and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Terminal illness and Torture

ct7567_lit's review

adventurous mysterious tense fast-paced

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

3.0

I had high hopes, as it seemed to have everything I typically love in a story: Greek mythology set in the modern world, a strong female protagonist, plenty of plot twists, and an intriguing mystery. The premise alone was incredibly appealing. The world-building and the action sequences were well written. However, despite all these positives, I struggled to connect with the main character which made it difficult to become truly invested in the story. Ultimately this held me back from truly enjoying the story.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Misogyny, Torture, Violence, Murder, and War

Moderate: Child death, Gore, Pedophilia, Blood, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Cancer, Rape, and Trafficking

dairaglynn's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad fast-paced

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

3.25

As much as I wanted to like this book I just…. didn’t. Maybe thats wrong to say, it was a fine read, very creative story and keeping the Greek Gods alive in modern time, and a unique idea. I just never felt attached to the characters? There were some scenes that I just wished hurt more when I was reading, but because I never felt emotionally attached to the characters I just didn’t care as much when these traumatic events happened to them. 

It’s not really fair to say that the story wasn’t good, because it was; it just never hit the mark with me and never pulled me in. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, and Death of parent

Moderate: Bullying, Cancer, Death, Torture, Forced institutionalization, Grief, and War

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Pedophilia, Rape, and Sexual assault

ylmpastmidnight's review

adventurous dark tense medium-paced

4.0

Content Warning: Death, Cancer, Violence, Sexual Assault, Implied Pedophilia, Murder

This a story where my mood reading kicked in. I borrowed this book as an ebook on my kindle app a month ago and 21 days later it expired with me only getting through 5 pages. Yes…I was not in the mood to read it at all. A month later, I’m at the library and browsing the shelves and see Lore staring me in the face. I tell myself this time I WILL read it in time, and I read it in one day! Why now? I’m not sure…

Let me say what I always say about books that deal with Greek Mythology. It’s easy for me to get lost because I don’t relate much to the Greek Mythology even though we’ve had to studied some of them in high school. The stories are epic sure, and I remember Troy the movie because Brad Pitt is in it but other than that – I can’t keep all the names straight, except Zeus. So reading Lore, I had to be patient with the info dumping of bloodlines and such – there are A LOT. Once my brain got situated with some of the characters, it latched on for the wild ride of this story.

In this story, Zeus created these games the Agon, that commences every 7 years and the hunt takes place during 7 days. Anyone who kills a god in these 7 days will gain their power but if they accomplish this task, in the next Agon, they will be hunted next and so forth. The last time Lore experienced an Agon she was only 10 and something traumatic happened that haunts her every day. She’s learned to channel that fear and rage onto the fighting mat where she takes down opponents with her fighting skills. But the new cycle of the Agon is about to start and this time, they have found her.

I enjoyed all of the characters in this story. Lore with her warrior, kick-ass skills and rage- she has a lot of trauma she’s living with. Miles her best friend who is Korean and queer and knows NYC like the back of his hand. Castor, Lore’s best friend from long ago who is now the new Apollo. Van, Castor’s best friend who is the tech-genius and queer as well. Athena, the goddess who is trying to win the Agon by making an alliance with Lore. All the characters were fleshed out and I loved their interactions. I like how each of them had their own beliefs of what happiness was to each of them whether it meant being with a friend through thick and thin, vengeance, freedom, pursuit of a Father’s love, pursuit of power, or just trying to understanding a gift that is given. The story explores themes of sacrifice, power, friendship and love.

It’s a fairly long book at under 500 pages, but I felt like it moved fast because there were a lot of action scenes. Be warned, this is a dark story with lots of violence, blood shed, necks and other body parts getting chopped off, these are warriors, gods and hunters fighting one another. There is implied pedophilia and these archons run a Patriarchial society where females can’t even become archon of their own bloodline, although they have gods like Athena and Artemis. I did like how the villains were written though.

There is a little bit of romance, but it is not the main focus of the story but it is sweet. Like I said before it’s greek mythology so there can be a bunch of info dumping at times, there were a few times I googled certain names! The point of the Agon is confusing in the first few chapters but I grasped the concept the more I read. 

Final Thoughts:

My first attempt at reading this book was a no-go. I didn’t think I’d pick it up again, but I guess the time was right and I wanted to delve into greek mythology right now haha. I enjoyed the characters a lot and uncovering Lore’s secret and past life kept me reading. The action kept the story moving quickly. The villains in this story are absolutely villainous and done well. The romance is a sweet best friends to lovers trope. I felt Lore’s sense of a found family with Miles, Castor and Van. I enjoyed it despite some confusion in the beginning and a bunch info-dumping.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cancer, Death, Pedophilia, Sexual assault, Violence, and Murder

prairieraven's review

adventurous dark tense fast-paced

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

4.0

Readers should read with caution, needs reader warnings on the book.

I didn't know what this was about, it had been sitting on my TBR for years and forgot about it. randomly selected it when I was looking at a different book so this was quite a surprise. Action packed based in Greek mythology set in present day. strong yet flawed female lead character. Good fit for fans of Greek mythology and fantasy, readers who enjoy stories about found family, self-discovery, and the complexity of loyalty and power.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Sexual harassment, and Classism

Moderate: Body shaming, Bullying, Cancer, Chronic illness, Confinement, Genocide, Infidelity, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Sexism, Slavery, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Kidnapping, Medical trauma, Stalking, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, War, and Injury/Injury detail

stormghosts's review

adventurous dark 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Violence, and Death of parent

Moderate: Child death, Rape, and Sexual assault

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Cancer, and Pedophilia

gattolino_nn's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense fast-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

I really loved the concept of this book. I thought having the Greek Gods become mortal for a time and sending humans to hunt them down to gain their immortality was a really cool concept.
I also liked how the different houses were all based on Greek myths, from more commonly known to lesser known.

All the characters were great in this story. For as much as the concept was really cool, Lore, Castor, Athena and the others were what made the story. From the Gods to the mortals everyone had flaws and there was a constant distrust that runs through everyone as the stakes are life and death. It makes for really good moments where the stress and emotions are at peak and everything comes to head.

This along with the amount of twists that this story has, had me devouring the book in three days over the Christmas period. It was addicting and really good entertainment. I would love to see this made into a movie or TV show.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Violence, Blood, Death of parent, and Murder

Moderate: Sexual assault, Medical content, and Injury/Injury detail

anootamei's review

adventurous funny 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

4.0

i started it ages ago and couldn’t finish it. super glad i restarted because it was so fricking gooood

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gore, Violence, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, and War

Moderate: Child death