Reviews tagging 'Animal death'

Blood and Ash - Liebe kennt keine Grenzen: Jennifer L. Armentrouts Weltbestseller in prachtvoller Deluxe-Ausstattung mit spektakulärem Farbschnitt. Roman by Jennifer L. Armentrout

11 reviews

wonderedpages's review against another edition

3.0

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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From Blood and Ash had so much promise: a fierce girl with a blade, a seductive, brooding immortal prince, and a dark fantasy world full of political intrigue and secrets. But what could have been a gripping, steamy epic instead got bogged down in repetitive inner monologues, a glacially paced first half, and a romance that asked me to suspend disbelief just a bit too much.

I’ll give Jennifer L. Armentrout this: the lore is dense and detailed. Vampiric castes, culty kingdoms, and magical bloodlines. I actually enjoyed unraveling the hierarchy of Atlantians, Ascended, Craven, and Wolven. The problem? It takes over 300 pages for the story to do anything with all that setup. I could’ve skipped straight to page 313 and missed nothing of importance except Poppy’s self-indulgent thoughts and a dozen lectures disguised as dialogue.

Poppy, our “Maiden,” was raised in isolation by a religious cult and spends the majority of the book

ping-ponging between being a sheltered, naive narrator and a total badass with a dagger.

The latter was great. The former? Painfully frustrating. I understood her confusion and repression, but wow, the girl’s curiosity rarely translated into actual intelligence. Still, I appreciated the subtle realism in how abuse, gaslighting, and captivity have shaped her. She’s learning, even if slowly.

Now let’s talk Hawke.

Or Casteel. Or “The Dark One.” Or Mr. Sex Scene Monologue. He’s a 200+ year old prince-turned-rogue who somehow falls for this cult-brainwashed teenager because she holds his hand a couple of times and says sassy things. Their chemistry was hot, I’ll admit. The sex scenes were the best part of the book; detailed, consensual, and actually sexy. Casteel talks her through pleasure, praises her fighting spirit, and treats her like an equal (once you ignore the kidnapping and marriage plans, minor details, right?). But the insta-love was a big eye-roll, especially considering his age, experience, and mission.

There were some solid twists, but I called most of them chapters before they happened.

Hawke being an Atlantian? Obvious. The Ascended lying about the gods? Called it. Poppy being half-Atlantian? I mean… come on.

If this had been a tighter, better-paced 250-page book, it could’ve really landed. But slogging through Poppy’s repetitive veil-wearing monologues and everyone avoiding direct answers wore me out.

I won’t be continuing the series,

though I’ll miss Hawke whispering filth in the snow and praising Poppy’s stabby side. A man who admires your violence and talks you through an orgasm? Unmatched.

But not enough to save the book for me.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Sexism, Sexual content, Violence, Blood, Grief, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail, Classism

Moderate: Animal death, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racism, Sexual assault, Kidnapping, Murder, Sexual harassment

Minor: Cursing, Infidelity, Slavery, Terminal illness, Torture, Toxic relationship, Vomit, Toxic friendship, War

bedwellbooks's review against another edition

5.0

adventurous challenging mysterious reflective tense fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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Very fresh and new perspective on fantasy creatures like vampires and werewolves! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Body shaming, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexism, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Abandonment, Injury/Injury detail, Classism

rchulin1's review against another edition

4.5

emotional funny mysterious medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

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Good but since this is the first book in the series it is a little slow

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Bullying, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Physical abuse, Sexism, Sexual content, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, War, Injury/Injury detail, Classism

coastal_moonlit_garden's review against another edition

4.5

adventurous funny 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

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This was a good story! Lots of twists and turns and the world building isn’t too intense. It took me awhile to get through because I waited for the graphic audio production to come out and it is WELL worth it. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Death, Blood, Death of parent, War

Moderate: Sexual content

dlsmk's review against another edition

3.5

slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Complicated

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Injury/Injury detail

saskiahill's review against another edition

3.75

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Interesting story but poorly edited. From bad grammar, to missing words, to incorrect uses of phrases - I was surprised given it's such a popular book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Sexual content, Blood, Grief, Murder

Moderate: Child death, Torture, Violence, Kidnapping, Cannibalism, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Animal death, Infertility, Self harm, War

poppybos109's review against another edition

3.5

adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Cursing, Death, Gore, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Blood, Grief, Murder, War

bblanka's review against another edition

4.75

adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted mysterious 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Stalking, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Cursing, War

Minor: Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Cannibalism, Pregnancy, Alcohol

kinsportch's review against another edition

3.5

adventurous dark mysterious tense slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Complicated

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Physical abuse, Violence, Religious bigotry, Murder

Moderate: Animal death, Child death, Sexual content, Forced institutionalization, Kidnapping, Death of parent, Sexual harassment

Minor: Cursing, Misogyny

ieryka_magic's review against another edition

3.25

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Complicated

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Body shaming, Bullying, Child death, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Torture, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, War, Injury/Injury detail