Reviews tagging 'Animal death'

This Dark Descent by Kalyn Josephson

15 reviews

jvbook_reader's review against another edition

adventurous dark medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death

Moderate: Classism

folkofthebook's review

adventurous emotional mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix

3.75

i generally enjoyed this. the jewish mythology inspiration and horse races definitely appealed to me, and i liked both FMCs. there is a good start to that found family trope, but i wish there could've been more development between the group outside of the races. it was cool to see an aroace MC as well and bi rep. 

i'm interested in seeing where the author will take book 2.

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Animal death

Minor: Alcohol, Antisemitism, War, and Death of parent

bookcaptivated's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gore, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Torture, Violence, Animal death, and Murder

rachelkreadsbookz's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Violence, and Torture

Moderate: Gore, Animal cruelty, and Animal death

Minor: Xenophobia and Death of parent

sorayacorcoran's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious 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? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Animal death

Minor: Death and Torture

viking_flower_girl's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional tense medium-paced

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

4.0

This was a dark and wild ride (literally). I love a good story with nods to ancient folklore and myths and with morally grey characters that you can’t help but feel and root for. The villains were also so hateable. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Animal death, Torture, and Murder

Minor: War

beautifulpaxielreads's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense medium-paced

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

3.5

Firstly, what a story! I have to give props to Kalyn Josephson for the plot and pacing because it was really well done. It certainly kept me turning the pages!

The world-building was very good too, although it could be confusing at times. I loved the intertwining of religious belief, magic, lore, and politics (particularly with Kinnism/Judaism), it all came together pretty seamlessly, although, again, it could be confusing occasionally.

The maps and family trees (created by Virginia Allyn) were useful in giving a sense of location and social hierarchies of the world.

The main problems I experienced had to do with character development and writing style, each of which I'll address separately.

I'll start with character development. Although I could see that Josephson did her best, there was a remoteness in the writing that stopped me from fully empathising and caring about the characters - particularly the POV characters of Mikira and Arielle, although I found qualities to admire in both of them. I also couldn't particularly vibe with either of the

romantic developments, I just couldn't fully grasp what the love interests saw in each other, particularly with Damien and Arielle.

I also couldn't buy into

Damien's ruthlessness and tactics of manipulation, even though he was ultimately doing it to create a less corrupt and more equal society.

I think there also may have been too many minor characters who only popped up now and again and made the story feel somewhat cluttered.

The writing style was also quite strange, although it did propel the plot forward But some of the phrasing was quite odd, leading me to be unsure as to who or what the text was referring to, and distinguishing between each individual character from scene to scene. There were also a number of spelling, phrasing, and grammatical errors which really should have been picked up by an editor because they were very distracting.

I probably will read the next book in the series because a number of plot elements intrigued me, but on the whole I didn't enjoy this as much as I wanted to.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Alcohol, Animal death, Bullying, Death, Medical content, Grief, Violence, Animal cruelty, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Emotional abuse, and Medical trauma

Moderate: Death of parent, Gore, Gun violence, Torture, Antisemitism, Drug use, and Xenophobia

Minor: Genocide and Sexual violence

One of the main plot points is a deadly and dangerous horseracing tournament, and horses are injured and/or killed.

firefly99's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional tense medium-paced

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

3.5

A dangerous horse race that must be won to save the family’s ranch - every horse girl’s dream plot. :) Add in magic, tragic backstories, and an unexpected discussion of the Jewish experience (implied based on description of the religion and history), and tyranny, and the question of means justifying ends. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death

Moderate: Violence, War, Antisemitism, Racism, and Torture

Minor: Sexual assault

metaphorsandmisc's review against another edition

adventurous 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Antisemitism, Injury/Injury detail, Bullying, Grief, and Death

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Violence, War, and Torture

Minor: Sexual harassment

caseythereader's review

adventurous dark funny 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? Yes

3.75

Thanks to Fierce Reads for the free copy of this book.

 - THIS DARK DESCENT is quite a - pun intended - ride. Magic based on Jewish folklore, enchanted horse races, backstabbing elites, murder and romance.
- The race scenes had me on the edge of my seat. It took me a little flipping pages back and forth to follow the machinations of the lords, but once I figured it out I was all in.
- I haven't seen much talk about the queerness of this book, but it is! The characters describe their feelings rather than label them, given the sort of ancient fantasy setting of the world. But Mikira reads as bisexual and Arielle as somewhere on the demi-aroace spectrum. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Death, Grief, Violence, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Murder, Animal death, Classism, Torture, and Death of parent