Reviews tagging 'Violence'

The Hourglass Throne by K.D. Edwards

21 reviews

lorus's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful tense fast-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? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child abuse, Sexual assault, and Violence

rachratesreads's review against another edition

adventurous dark 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

5.0

The Hourglass Throne 5/5 

 

This book was a culmination of information finally coming into fruition, whilst still leaving plenty of unanswered questions for the upcoming books to explore. Because this is book 3, it’s very hard to review without spoiling parts of the previous books, so I’m going to keep it vague. 

 

I am always enamored with KD Edwards ability to write sincere and meaningful interactions between all of the characters. Everyone is distinct, and the relationships they build feel real. KD also manages to take grim dark themes and balance them out perfectly with humor and soft scenes. I have never read a book that executes this as well as The Tarot Sequence. If the scales were tipped even a little, I honestly don’t think I’d be able to read the story, because there are parts that are brutal and painful. But KD has managed to make a book (who’s CWs alone would typically be a Big Nope from me) become what will probably be my favorite series of the year. 
 
 As a reader, KD has officially become one of my insta-buy authors. As a writer, I can not begin to express how much I look up to him and his writing. The words “masterful in his craft” come to mind. 
 
 I’m definitely rereading (and annotating) the other two books. I’ll keep y’all posted on that journey. Under the spoiler text, I will detail the content warnings for this book. If you do not want to know the specifics, please don't click on it. CW includes sexual assault, PTSD, death, misgendering.

pg. 53: a character misgenders another character. This is not meant maliciously, and is corrected immediately. pg. 235: Rune recalls his assault, specifically using the word r*pe. pg. 260: Rune tells Addam about some of the specifics of his assault. These are all details we, as the reader, learned in book 1. Beginning at pg. 235 until ~ pg. 390, Rune and Addam are caught in a time loop and sent back to the day the Sun Court was attacked. While they don't actually see what happened to Past!Rune, they know it is happening in the neighboring building. It's still very unsettling and Rune has some PTSD reactions.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Grief, and Violence

Moderate: Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual violence, and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Gore

jjjreads's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring mysterious sad tense fast-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? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Classism, Mass/school shootings, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Stalking, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Blood, Body horror, Child abuse, Death, Death of parent, Grief, Hate crime, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, and War

Moderate: Bullying, Cursing, Medical content, Car accident, Confinement, Drug use, Self harm, Slavery, and Excrement

gulalei's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny mysterious reflective sad tense fast-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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Violence, Death, and Death of parent

Moderate: Kidnapping and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Drug use, Torture, Cannibalism, and Rape

lmaurer's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny mysterious 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Death, and Violence

catwithspectacles's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious fast-paced

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

3.75

In comparison to the first two books of this series, The Hourglass Throne benefitted from the addition of new characters and suffered from questionable editing. Mundane, everyday events are described with little contribution to the plot, while points of tension vanish when they are summarized instead of truly resolved. I found myself, at multiple points, re-reading to decipher whether I had missed something. In one section, a brilliantly terrifying monster is hunted for half a chapter, only to disappear, its eventual defeat relegated to an off-handed comment. Creative magical ailments are forgotten about. There is simply too much going on, and the result is a crowded and shallow narrative.
Onto more complimentary notes, the author received feedback after his first novel about the lack of female characters. In all fairness, the three main characters are all gay men, and I don't expect every book to cater to every demographic. But Edwards listened, and the results are a variety of three-dimensional female characters that I found myself invested in. The protagonist and his best friend receive significantly more character development than in the last book, and a few key revelations are made that had me gasping aloud in my bedroom in the middle of the night. While the book is clunky, it is redeemed by a skilled, conversational voice and the blooming relationships between a cast of wholly endearing characters. I am looking forward to the fourth book :)

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts and Violence

Minor: Rape, Sexual assault, and Body horror

anintrovertrambles's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful 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? It's complicated

5.0

Brilliant 3rd novel. His writing just keeps getting better and better. But damn KD for the heartbreak 💔 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence

Minor: Rape

quirkykayleetam's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious fast-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

https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZTd7y2M2p/?k=1

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Death, Violence, Panic attacks/disorders, and Grief

Moderate: Cursing, Fire/Fire injury, Drug use, Gaslighting, and Sexual assault

fuguefire's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful sad fast-paced

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

5.0

Loved this book, great addition to the series!! Couldn’t put it down.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Violence, Torture, Suicidal thoughts, Murder, Grief, and Death

Moderate: Violence, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Rape, Panic attacks/disorders, Mental illness, Kidnapping, and Death of parent

Minor: Suicide attempt, Suicide, Fire/Fire injury, Child death, and Child abuse

frantic_vampire's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

I don’t even know where to begin, other then that this is the most emotionally devastating book I’ve read all year. This one made me cry, it had my heart hurting in ways that I’ve never felt for a book before, and I’m pretty sure this book has cemented its place as my favorite book of the year. I honestly don’t have the words for a more coherent review. This is a solid five star book and if you haven’t read the series yet…please do. It’s one of the best that I’ve ever read.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Confinement, Death, Death of parent, Gore, Panic attacks/disorders, Torture, Violence, War, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, Mental illness, and Murder

Moderate: Body horror, Gaslighting, Kidnapping, Gore, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Vomit, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Rape, and Self harm

Minor: Rape, Body horror, and Suicidal thoughts