Reviews tagging 'Blood'

The Sun and the Star by Mark Oshiro, Rick Riordan

45 reviews

vaguelyredhead's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny 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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Grief, and Mental illness

Moderate: Blood, Death of parent, and Violence

Minor: Outing

epohlig's review

adventurous dark emotional funny 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

4.75

I loved this book!

My main reason for not giving it 5 ⭐️s is because the voice is slightly different from books that Uncle Rick does alone (which wasn’t a problem, but sometimes I missed what I’m more used to a bit). For the most part it wasn’t even noticeable, though. Another difference from Rick’s other books is the depiction of Mr. D, who acted more as a therapist here. It makes sense, but was also unexpected for me, given how he’s shown in other PJO books. 

Idk why it sounds like I’m whining so much. I genuinely really enjoyed this book and would 100% read it again. It was very dark, of corse, but there were still happy, sweet, and other lovely moments throughout the story. There was also a lot of character growth, both for Will and Nico, and there were a lot of valuable lessons, both for the characters and the readers. I was a bit skeptical about another Tartarus book because of the darkness aspect, but I really loved it. :)

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness

Moderate: Grief and Death

Minor: Blood

wildatheart1339's review

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief

Moderate: Death, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, and Blood

Minor: Torture, Child death, Homophobia, and Fire/Fire injury

melaschnie's review against another edition

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Grief, Violence, and Death

Moderate: Eating disorder, Fire/Fire injury, Medical content, Torture, Death of parent, Confinement, and Panic attacks/disorders

Minor: War, Homophobia, and Outing

val_theburrowofstories's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny hopeful 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

One word to describe the whole book is CUTE. Which is funny considering this is a Nico Di Angelo story, but his relationship with Will is just so cute, they’re my babies, I want to protect them from everything and I loved them from the very first pages 🥺💛 

This book is basically Nico’s quest to go to Tartarus and save “the one who calls his name” and Will knew it was going to dangerous for him to go too because he’s a son of a Apollo and needs the sun, but that would not stop him and he goes along. I loved seeing both of them protecting each other, their strength, their determination, their loyalty, their love 🤧 

I know sometimes their dialogue and nicknames could seem cheesy, but to me it was just so cute and sweet and funny. They’ve been together for a year and I was so happy that we got to read some stories between them at the beginning of their relationship (the moment they knew they liked each other, how one asked the other on a date, their first kiss). There were moments where I could’ve cried of how cuteness and how happy and proud I am of them 😭❤️ 

As always, even the smallest appearance of Percy and Annabeth makes me happy, and is so cheesy and funny that their only advice for them on Tartarus was that they would be okay because they had each other lmao but it’s true! That’s how Percabeth survived after all. 

This is so coming of age, so cute, being proud of who you are and loving who you want, coming out... I feel like this book can be SO important for so many kids out there who want and need someone to feel related and safe. And this book is perfect for that. 

I’m going to miss Nico and Will so much, this is easily a 4.5 ⭐ for me. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Violence, Blood, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Death of parent and Death

Minor: Outing

There is just one big spoiler of something that happens in The Trials of Apollo, just so you know:

- Grief: Nico is still grieving for his mom and his sister Bianca. But most recently

he’s also grieving for Jason’s death.

- Death / Death of parent: It is mentioned how those he loved have died.

- Violence / Blood / Injury: They were in the Underworld and Tartarus, so they had to fight and were injured in the process.

- Outing: Nico tells the story of what Cupid did to him in Heroes of Olympus.

scrubsandbooks's review against another edition

adventurous 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

4.0

My personal feelings about this book: I was confused at first. I read the audiobook so maybe the narration was hard to decipher between characters but the POVs flip flop between both characters within chapters and I don't think that's really helpful. Maybe it would have been easier to read the hardcopy. The flashbacks and flashforwards were also hard to keep track of initially too.

But, I rounded up half a star from 3.5 to 4 because this book is so important in the general sense. A middle grade book written by a beloved middle grade mythology writer featuring queer teens. Not only do those teens navigate rough patches in their relationship during this harrowing journey into Tartarus (which is NOT easy to do when one of you is the son of Apollo) but they openly feel their feelings. There is no hesitation when it comes to conveying their emotions which might be one of the more healthier depictions of mlm queer teen romance I have ever read in a book.

I know a lot of reviews here say this reads like fanfiction and maybe it does somewhat, but so what?? It doesn't take away from the importance of Nico's journey with his own demons and his relationships with the people around him who he has both loved and lost or love but are still there. There's also a calico cat that can turn into a sabre-toothed tiger, and that itself deserves a few stars.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Death of parent, Violence, Grief, and Mental illness

Moderate: Blood and Outing

hayleyvem's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional reflective 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Violence, Blood, Confinement, Grief, and Torture

Moderate: Blood, Eating disorder, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Child death, Homophobia, Body horror, and Death of parent

robertjspradlin's review against another edition

adventurous dark 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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Panic attacks/disorders, Blood, Death, Death of parent, Mental illness, Injury/Injury detail, Confinement, and Violence

Moderate: Outing and Abandonment

Minor: War and Eating disorder

annahamburger's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective 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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Grief, Mental illness, Abandonment, and Emotional abuse

Moderate: Bullying, Confinement, Death, Gaslighting, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Self harm, Child abuse, Eating disorder, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, and Body horror

Minor: Homophobia, Stalking, Kidnapping, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Confinement, and Panic attacks/disorders

puttingwingsonwords's review against another edition

adventurous dark hopeful 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: Death of parent, Eating disorder, Violence, Injury/Injury detail, Body horror, Death, and Grief

Minor: Confinement, Outing, and Blood