Reviews with content warning for Violence - Steelstriker

Reviews tagging 'Violence'

janiceinwonderland's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful tense medium-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? No

4.0

while i didn’t agree with it at first, i came to enjoy the split narrative between talin and red. i think red needed a little more personality, but it was novel to get things from his perspective.

plus, the pacing toward their storylines converging was done well enough for me

the pacing toward the ending and the ending itself was also satisfying.

it’s nice to actually get to keep your core characters alive in the end and i loved that talin told her colonizers that it wasn’t her job to undo their harmful actions. queen behavior right there

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guessgreenleaf's review

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dark inspiring tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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artmuseam's review

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adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring 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? It's complicated

5.0

wiping some tears as i write this review. what an incredible, tense journey that went from sheer devastation and loss to newfound hope. this was the perfect conclusion to the skyhunter duo series and i enjoyed every single moment of this! lu perfectly captured the experience of being torn between protecting your friends vs your family and beautifully displayed what it means to fight for freedom that we take so much for granted. i’ve always been such a big fan of lu’s works and they never fail to leave me breathless, inspired, and wanting more in the end. definitely recommend <3

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robin_leeann's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional funny inspiring 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? No

4.75

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chrilovyl's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional tense medium-paced

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

3.5

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kagey's review

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adventurous dark hopeful medium-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

4.0

For a somewhat dark duology, I actually really enjoyed the moments of hope and lightness found in this tale.

The victories feel earned to me, even though our group of main and supporting cast all make it through to the end.

I really enjoyed the world building throughout. The nuanced approach to who the bad guys truly were (not the ghosts though they remain very creepy) and exploration of ethical themes around what you will do for love and for power add depth to the story.

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queer_bookwyrm's review

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adventurous dark hopeful tense medium-paced

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

3.5

3.5 ⭐ CW: Violence, torture, descriptions of blood, medical trauma

"May there be future dawns."

Steelstriker by Marie Lu is book two in the Skyhunter duology. This book picks up where the end of the first book left it, so this is your warning for spoilers ahead.

<Spoiler>We pick up with Talin after she has been captured and turned into a Skyhunter, like Red. She is now mentally connected to her enemy, the Premier of the Karensa Federation, and we see her suffer through doing the his bidding and killing in order to keep her mother alive. We also follow an injured Red, who is with the rest of the surviving Strikers trying to figure out a plan to stop the Federation. We see Red's yearning for Talin.

These books are pretty dark for YA. Lu writes about challenging themes around corrupt regimes and imperialism. There is exploration of trauma and what power and control can do to a person. I can definitely see why Lu wrote these books during the Trump presidency and the pandemic, but she wrote us a revolution and gave us a happy ending.

I'm not gonna lie, although I enjoyed this book, I felt it was a bit underwhelming. There were so many things about the world building I wanted to see more of that we didn't get, or exploration of the Old Ones. This was pretty plot heavy and straightforward. I thought the stakes needed to be raised in a major way in this book and they just weren't. No one important even died! I just wanted a bit more out of those 400 pages. </Spoiler>

I still recommend giving this series a read, Skyhunter was a great book.

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