Reviews tagging 'Grief'

Lore by Alexandra Bracken

83 reviews

camiclarkbooks's review against another edition

adventurous slow-paced

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

2.5

I’ve had Alexandra Bracken’s “Lore” on my TBR for years before I finally sat down to read it. I should have just kept it on the shelf…

The plot of “Lore” was amazing, with Greek gods being forced to walk the earth as mortals every seven years, as punishment for their past rebellion. During this time, descendants from Ancient Greek bloodlines hunt the gods in hopes of killing them and seizing their divine power and immortality. 

Lore Perseous escaped that life several years following her family’s brutal murder by a rival bloodline. As the new Agon begins, Lore finds herself pulled back into that world by the reappearance of an old friend believed to be dead and Athena, one of the last original Olympians. Lore agrees to an alliance with the goddess in exchange for revenge, but will it be enough to temper the rise of a new god with enough power to crush humanity?

As a former Percy Jackson kid, I thought that “Lore” was going to be my new favorite book. It has been my most disappointing read of 2023 (as of April). The pacing of the book was off and none of the characters were particularly interesting once we began to scratch the surface. 

Our narrator, the titular Lore, had many secrets—typical of a YA fantasy heroine—but it was not until the last few chapters that the reader learns what she’s been hiding all those years. Her secret was not shocking and was the blandest secret a main character can have in a fantasy novel but that didn’t stop Lore from constantly reminding the reader that she had a dark secret. It would have been more compelling if Lore had revealed to the reader earlier in the book and was only trying to keep it from the other characters.

“Lore” was particularly disappointing to me since I had just finished an ARC of Alexandra Bracken’s newest book, “Silver in the Bone,” and found the characters likable and the plot engaging—with a twist that I did NOT see coming. After finishing that, I wanted to check out more of Bracken’s work and assumed “Lore” would be a home run. 

The good news is that Bracken has improved as a writer between “Lore” and “Silver in the Bone.” The bad news is that I spent way too long on “Lore,” convinced that it would turn around if I was patient enough.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Grief, Sexual assault, Blood, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Religious bigotry, Sexism, Violence, and Child death

Moderate: Misogyny, Bullying, Cursing, and Terminal illness

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

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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

wishling's review against another edition

adventurous emotional 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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Cancer, Child abuse, Death of parent, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Sexism, Child death, Sexual assault, Death, and Grief

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. 

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Content Warnings

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

r1vana's review against another edition

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.
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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

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Content Warnings

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

prettynerdy3's review against another edition

adventurous challenging 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Self harm, Sexual harassment, Violence, Body horror, Blood, Cancer, Child death, Gore, Death, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Suicide attempt, Suicide, and War

Moderate: Blood, Pedophilia, Misogyny, Bullying, Kidnapping, Genocide, Child abuse, Child death, Rape, and Mental illness

lanid's review against another edition

dark tense

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

2.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Death, Grief, Misogyny, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Blood, Body horror, Child death, Torture, Murder, Sexism, and Suicide attempt

Minor: Ableism, Cancer, and Panic attacks/disorders

cgp1234's review against another edition

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Death, Blood, Body horror, Murder, Grief, Death of parent, Child death, Terminal illness, and Violence

Moderate: Sexual assault, Bullying, Sexism, and Cancer

tays_books's review against another edition

adventurous fast-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Sexual assault, Death of parent, Cursing, Terminal illness, Cancer, Child death, and Sexual violence

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Fire/Fire injury, and Grief

kaelielily's review against another edition

adventurous emotional fast-paced

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

3.0

This book started out so strong, I was already thinking about wether this book would be a five or four star read for me. I loved the worldbuilding, all the different bloodlines and the old and new gods. I thought this version of New York, that combined both Mythology and modern life was a very interesting setting. I felt that the mystery and plot twists as well as the flashbacks, which resolved some of the open questions, were woven in skillfully. But sadly, for me, the ending fell very flat and brought Lore down to three stars.

This book could‘ve been even better if it answered some more of these open questions and didn‘t rush the ending. As much as I liked the fact that this was a standalone, maybe it should‘ve been longer or even a duology to exhaust its full potential.

The ending felt incredibly rushed. We had just spent so much time on world building, meeting all of these bloodlines and gods, building up to the real meaning of the poem, and then it just ends without wrapping up all of the threads.
Maybe I missed something, but I never realized what the poem really meant. Was it a way to end the Argon once and for all? The characters even said at one point, that it wouldn‘t be enough to kill Wrath because his followers would still go trough with everything. But at the end you don‘t really learn anything about what happened to the rest of his followers? The Argon still seems to exist?
Instead, now Castor and Lore are both gods and they simply pray to Zeus and he turns them back into mortals? Why would he do that, if he was the one to condemn the gods to this war in the first place?

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Sexual assault, and Torture

Moderate: Violence