Reviews tagging 'Body horror'

The Bone Shard Daughter by Andrea Stewart

53 reviews

kalecake's review against another edition

adventurous dark 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? It's complicated

4.75

I ate this book up!!!!!! It had everything I want in a fantasy book. Epic multiple character POV, family secrets, animal sidekick, murder, two girls in love!!! 

I recommend this to anyone looking for a new world to get lost in. This sucked me in and I couldn’t stop reading. The Constructs are so creepy and delightful to read about. If you’re squeamish about mild body horror or brainwashing, I would say this might not be for you. I was obsessed with the magic system and how these creatures have their power. 

Five stars! I haven’t felt glued to a book like this in a while and I already have the other two. So excited to keep going! 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Body horror, Violence, and Child death

alexijai98's review

adventurous 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? It's complicated

4.25

Love a story where LGBT characters get to just be part of the world!! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Death, Kidnapping, Murder, Child death, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Animal death, Animal cruelty, Gaslighting, and Gore

Moderate: Xenophobia

alexalily's review against another edition

adventurous 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

Graphic: Terminal illness, Blood, Body horror, Confinement, and Kidnapping

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Classism, Death, Slavery, Xenophobia, Murder, Physical abuse, Trafficking, and Violence

Minor: Animal death, Child death, Stalking, Gaslighting, Torture, Child abuse, and Medical content

gardens_and_dragons's review

adventurous dark mysterious slow-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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Blood, Physical abuse, and Death

Moderate: Murder, Body horror, and Confinement

hapalyn's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense slow-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: Injury/Injury detail, Animal cruelty, Death, Death of parent, Animal death, Blood, Body horror, Kidnapping, Murder, and Physical abuse

wombie's review

adventurous dark emotional hopeful 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Murder, Emotional abuse, Classism, Violence, Blood, Body horror, Child abuse, Physical abuse, Death, Grief, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Child death

kaziaroo's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful mysterious reflective sad tense slow-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

4.5

On the whole I loved this – the characters, the magic system, the mystery were all amazing (plus a queer-normative world!). I would have liked it if the setting was more fleshed out, maybe going more into the cultures of the different islands rather than them all feeling the same, but overall the story was immersive enough and the characters lovable enough to look past that. I loved Jovis and Mephi in particular, and I liked Lin too; there's always a difficulty in amnesiac characters as they have such a short background on which to build a personality and identity, but I think the author did an admirable job. 

I wanted to see more of Bayan, alas... :(

My only real criticism is that I felt the book would have been better without Ranami and Phalue's POV chapters. Their story had an interesting message and moral dilemma but it just didn't seem to fit and their chapters were quite dull to get through compared to the rest of the book. As a novella on their own, those chapters would have been fine, but I found myself skim-reading them to get back to Jovis, Lin and even Sand. Maybe more will come of Ranami and Phalue in the sequel, but I just couldn't get behind their relationship or find the point of their storyline or its impact of the overall plot.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Grief, Trafficking, Child death, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Blood, Violence, Death, Gaslighting, Body horror, and Medical content

Moderate: Physical abuse, Racism, Animal cruelty, Panic attacks/disorders, Death of parent, Kidnapping, and Mental illness

Minor: War

gatorademachinegun's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious 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? N/A

5.0

Absolutely DEVOURED this book, the most fun I’ve had with a book in a long time. I was on the edge of my seat the whole time. Masterfully written.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Body horror and Violence

Minor: Abandonment and War

thoughtsontomes's review

adventurous dark mysterious 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

3.5

This synopsis reads like it's going to be one POV and instead it is 5, which I do think bogged the story down. Our arguably two main characters are the ones I ultimately cared about most and would have liked more time with. Some of the points about the world and magic system felt a little rushed and glossed over. The writing style reminds me a bit of a typical YA fantasy style, while this definitely is an adult book, so it would make a good crossover title. I'm unsure if this will hold my interest enough to continue with the series but if I do, it will definitely be for the magical animal companion. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood and Death

Moderate: Child death, Body horror, and Animal death

maelikesbooks's review

adventurous emotional lighthearted 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

3.5

Solid good time 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Animal cruelty, Grief, Slavery, Violence, Injury/Injury detail, and Kidnapping

Moderate: Animal death and Body horror