Reviews tagging 'Death of parent'

The Jasad Heir by Sara Hashem

32 reviews

aubreymichelle's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious 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? It's complicated

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Violence and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Domestic abuse, Death of parent, and War

manaledi's review against another edition

adventurous emotional tense slow-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

I'd heard good things and this was a good read. It was slow at first and fairly character driven for high fantasy. None of the elements - secret princess, morally grey prince, deadly challenges, rival territories - are particularly unique and yet it all comes together smoothly. A quibble in that the magic system is very poorly defined in terms on who can do what and how much.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Grief, Death of parent, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Genocide, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Torture, Xenophobia, Kidnapping, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Colonisation, and War

karly_ackley's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Genocide, Death of parent, Murder, and War

takarakei'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? Yes

3.75

The heir to Jasad, a province that has been forced into near nonexistance, is living in Nizal, a rival province, where she must keep her identity and magic secret. The Prince of Nizal, Arin, is suspicious of her as they are born enemies and in Nizal they have shunned the use of magic. It was an intriguing political setup, but I'll be honest I didn't really understand the point of the tournament besides something to happen, and I felt like the magic system could've been explained better. There is a romance element that is slow burn which I usually like, but it was a bit too long for the first book in a series and there were def some parts early to midway on that dragged. I might eventually listen to the sequel on audio whenever it comes out (but I'm also not sure how long this series is so...)

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Genocide, Violence, and Death of parent

Moderate: Child abuse, Torture, Blood, and War

Minor: Pedophilia and Sexual assault

booksthatburn's review

I might try this again later, but I paused and then forgot to go back to it.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Animal death, Death, Genocide, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Medical content, Medical trauma, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Ableism, Mental illness, Grief, Cannibalism, Death of parent, and Murder

meat_muffin's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious 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

5.0

Okay, OBSESSED. This might be my new City of Brass, not gonna lie. Can’t BELIEVE the second one isn’t out yet ☹️

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Confinement, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Hate crime, Physical abuse, Grief, Death of parent, Cultural appropriation, and Abandonment

Moderate: Bullying, Death, Domestic abuse, Incest, Pedophilia, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Kidnapping, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Minor: Addiction and Animal cruelty

booknerderika's review

adventurous dark mysterious tense

3.75

I love morally gray characters and this gave me all of that in the love interest and the protagonist, however why did this have to be a colonizer romance? It didnt help that Arin was also white. 

I was waiting the whole book for

Sylvia to reveal her true identity, and it was so satisfying at the end

! That was probably my favorite part of the whole thing. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Gore, Physical abuse, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Minor: Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, and Sexual harassment

risaleel's review against another edition

adventurous dark 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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Death, Genocide, Death of parent, and War

Moderate: Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, and Kidnapping

Minor: Child abuse, Sexual assault, and Murder

ayvie's review against another edition

adventurous dark 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

5.0

I literally had trouble putting this book down to read anything else. The MCs were so engaging and interesting and complicated that I could not wait to read more. The fact that neither MC is 100% right in their understanding of their histories is fascinating and interesting. (Though I'd argue that Sylvia's misconceptions are less of an issue because they are the result of her being a victim and not the result of her being an aggressor/policer). They're both having to adjust and learn their misconceptions - some of which they've built their entire lives on. 

I'm unsure about the romance. I am having complicated feelings about it and need to let those stew a bit. Coming back to this - I honestly wish the romantic elements hadn't been involved at all in this book. It felt uncomfortable and a lot of it is outside my lane to really delve into. I do think the groundwork is laid for something here, and I'm unsure where it's going to lead (and honestly, I'd be happy if it led to no romance at all). 

It felt like the point should have been discomfort and I'm unsure if that was entirely what was portrayed.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Genocide, Gore, Panic attacks/disorders, Torture, Violence, Xenophobia, Death of parent, Murder, Colonisation, and War

Minor: Child abuse, Rape, and Sexual assault

This book has a lot of violence depicted in its pages, but it never felt gratuitous. There's a ton of trauma (specifically explored for Sylvia). The child abuse, sexual assault, and rape are mentions regarding a secondary character.

roseleebooks's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional 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

4.0

Overall I enjoyed this book. I read through it very quickly wanting to know what happened next!

Things that were done well were the pacing and the setup for the ending. There are multiple plot threads to pick up in the next book which could be frustrating for some readers. The key theme of dealing with past trauma and identity after being separated from the foundations of that identity was intriguingly explored throughout.

Also, establishing that the MC was an unreliable narrator partway through the story opens up a lot of possibilities going into the next portion of the series.

There were several things that were problematic here with the FMCs relationship with the MMC,

including power imbalance and 🚩 behaviors from the MMC. Other reviews have commented on the colonizer/colonized aspect of it as well, which is off-putting. If the MMC goes full villain in the next book this would make much more sense to me, I'd like to assume the author has purposely laid this unsettling foundation. The love story was secondary to the main plot but the banter is where some of the twists and info reveals occurred

Overall the writing was fairly smooth, the story moved along at a fast pace, and I found myself rethinking things that I took at face value initially about the characters and setting throughout as new information was revealed. I'll definitely be picking up the next book to see what happens next. This may change my review here depending on how some of the above issues are handled.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Genocide, Torture, Violence, Xenophobia, Death of parent, Colonisation, and War

Moderate: Mental illness, Suicide, Murder, and Alcohol