Reviews tagging 'Cursing'

The Kingdom of Copper: A Novel, the Daevabad Trilogy #02 by S.A. Chakraborty

7 reviews

erebus53's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad 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? Yes

4.0

Wading back into the fraught and politically interwoven world of the Daeva, could begin to get overwhelming. I was very interested to see what happened to my favourite characters though.

This book finally sees people talking about what happens when the heir to the kingdom, Muntadhir, falls in love with a man art arms. Dammit why can't you all just let them be happy! And wait, in the last book didn't we find out that Jamshid has even more secrets about his person that even he is probably unaware of...? I had to find out more, and I do wish it took less that 20 chapters to unfold! But there is so much to unfold in a place where you arrange marriages for political reasons, and when everyone is lying to each other - things get messy in a great bit hurry.

Meanwhile back in the small desert town of Bir Nabat, the exiled prince finally seems to have stopped getting regular visits from assassins. He's knuckled down in serious service to the community as an irrigator and well builder and is starting to bring prosperity to a place that was dwindling into the dust. Less said about magical water powers the better, but everyone close to him knows that he doesn't come up for air nearly enough to seem.. normal, and he's awfully good at falling asleep in random places and accidentally waking up having "found" a brand new spring. 

And then one of his rich cousins turns up with a year's worth of taxes in cursed salt, that only someone with their bloodline can return to Daevabad, and if it doesn't get there then there might be military retribution so .. he's wrangled back to his home city, consequences be damned.

Seems that everyone is preparing for the biggest festival in decades, and also that everyone who ever wanted to attack anyone is waiting for that time to do all their "plans".

Nahri petitions her father-in-law Ghassan, to bankroll a rebuild of the hospital her people once used, and to be able to treat the half-blood Shafit there as well as anybody else.  She and Ali are working to try and patch up relations within the city, but their idealism can only get people so far..

Civil unrest is at an all time high, and meanwhile, plotting in the background Manizheh has her own plans, and central to them is re-re-resurrecting Darayavahoush. Again. Poor b*stard. We get to find a bit more about the history and magic of the land, the nature of Ifrits and the Marid.

Oooh this gets messy. I'm not a super fan of battles, but I do like big reveals. It's tense and frustrating when you have enough information to cobble together what's going on, but the characters haven't been told yet. Why do revolutions have to be so messy!!? That poor library. That tower... hey people were using that! I might ned a bit of a break before I delve into future volumes.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racial slurs, Racism, Religious bigotry, Sexism, Blood, Bullying, Classism, Cursing, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Medical content, Medical trauma, Misogyny, Murder, Slavery, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, and War

brynalexa's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional tense fast-paced

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

5.0

I was consistently shocked through the  entire book. The story never goes where you’re expecting it to. Somehow a cast of treacherous characters making terrible decisions works. Brilliant. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fire/Fire injury, Genocide, Religious bigotry, Self harm, Sexism, Racial slurs, Xenophobia, Emotional abuse, Confinement, Death, Gore, Kidnapping, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Police brutality, Pregnancy, Rape, Toxic relationship, Violence, Classism, Racism, Sexual violence, Abandonment, Alcoholism, Bullying, Child death, Mass/school shootings, Misogyny, Stalking, Body horror, Cursing, Death of parent, Grief, Gun violence, Hate crime, Infidelity, Medical content, Addiction, Alcohol, Blood, Child abuse, Mental illness, Medical trauma, Sexual assault, Suicide, War, Miscarriage, Slavery, and Torture

breadwitchery's review against another edition

adventurous 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Violence, and Death

Moderate: Child death, Death of parent, and Alcoholism

Minor: Cursing, Sexual content, Alcohol, Vomit, Religious bigotry, and Slavery

laurenkimoto's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-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

4.0

wow I’ve been reading too much contemporary romance that I forgot that high fantasy has themes and/or acts of genocide</>spoiler 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Genocide, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Murder, Racism, Violence, Alcoholism, Blood, Child death, Classism, Colonisation, Torture, Xenophobia, Confinement, Cultural appropriation, Death, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Grief, Hate crime, Medical content, Medical trauma, Sexism, Slavery, and War

Moderate: Ableism, Adult/minor relationship, Gun violence, Homophobia, Alcohol, Cursing, Drug abuse, Drug use, Infidelity, Abandonment, Addiction, Bullying, Domestic abuse, Gaslighting, Infertility, Misogyny, Physical abuse, and Religious bigotry

claudiamacpherson's review against another edition

adventurous emotional 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

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Alcohol, Alcoholism, Blood, Body horror, Child death, Classism, Colonisation, Cursing, Death, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Genocide, Grief, Gore, Hate crime, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Medical trauma, Murder, Religious bigotry, Toxic relationship, Trafficking, Violence, War, and Xenophobia

Minor: Gun violence, Police brutality, Self harm, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, and Torture

eeeeva's review against another edition

adventurous emotional inspiring tense medium-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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Death, Gore, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Religious bigotry, and Violence

Moderate: Child death and Cursing

Minor: Gun violence

theespressoedition's review against another edition

adventurous challenging medium-paced

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

4.0

I do this really terrible thing where I finish a book and then wait way too long to write the review, promptly forgetting most of what I read and how I felt about the book. I guess this is my toxic trait.

That being said, I listened to the audiobook for The Kingdom of Copper, despite stating in my review for The City of Brass that I should read the physical books for the remainder of the series. However, the narrator did an excellent job and it was much easier to get my hands on the book this way, so I should be grateful for the fact that I was able to digest the plot at all.

Like its predecessor, the sequel had a slower start with more world-building and politics, but a little more than halfway through, all the adventure began to happen, quickening the pace and honestly giving me a bit of a heart attack. I couldn't believe all that transpired! In fact, I would've preferred this to be separated into two books. There was so much information that it became hard for me to follow at a certain point. 

The frustrating thing for audiobook listeners is how we know the correct pronunciation for every name, but have no clue where to begin with the spelling. Therefore, I had to search up the Daevabad Wiki in order to confirm (and wowza, I was misspelling so many of these names in my head).

Muntadhir had the craziest character arc in this book. I started off absolutely loathing the guy, went to kinda tolerating him, and wound up appreciating him more than nearly any other character by the end. What a rollercoaster! 

I'm looking forward to seeing what happens next in this trilogy. I really, really am. I'm totally hooked now.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Death, Murder, and Trafficking

Moderate: Addiction, Infidelity, and Toxic relationship