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Graphic: Child death, Violence
Moderate: Child abuse, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Toxic relationship, Sexual harassment
The plot twist was pretty good and took me relatively by surprise. Unfortunately, the twist is also why this is more than one book.
I think it's probably just not for me because I can't say it was bad overall, but I felt disappointed with the whole experience anyway.
Moderate: Animal death, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Genocide, Infertility, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Trafficking, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Abandonment, Sexual harassment, Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Death, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Sexual assault, Slavery, Grief, Murder, Alcohol
The story follows six people (the Five Broken Blades of the title journey with an extra character) who have been brought together to commit righteous vengeance upon their king. Over the course of them travelling to meet up and then travelling to get to the king you gradually find out everyone's backstories and motivations, and there is occasional action.
It sets up everyone pretty well. The backstories are mostly compelling and interesting. It's about an even split for sympathetic characters and characters who just seem like bad humans it was hard to muster any empathy for. The writing is very good at evoking who these people are and what motivates them. These people can't decide how much they trust each other so there is a bunch of interpersonal drama.
There is a lot of dark stuff like indentured servitude, genocide and murder. The world is asian inspired and interesting enough. Despite a lot of the book being interpersonal conflicts and character backstory it still feels like it flows smoothly and keeps a fast pace.
I really enjoyed it until the end. Without going into spoilers, the way it ends feels more about setting up the next book than paying off anything from this book. There wasn't much sense of conclusion. So that was a bit of a let down.
I am still left wanting to read the sequel and found this one worth trying even if I would have preferred a more satisfying ending.
Graphic: Murder
Moderate: Addiction, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Slavery, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, War, Injury/Injury detail, Classism
Minor: Gore, Sexual violence, Medical trauma, Alcohol
Graphic: Animal death, Cursing, Violence, Blood, Murder, Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Forced institutionalization, Medical content, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Gaslighting, Abandonment, Sexual harassment, Colonisation, War, Classism
Minor: Ableism, Addiction, Confinement, Drug abuse, Infertility, Vomit, Police brutality, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol
Graphic: Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Blood
Moderate: Child abuse, Child death, Death, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Violence, Grief, Murder
The only thing I didn't love is that all of the characters were instantly paired off into romantic couples? Like from the jump, everyone was involved romantically with someone and it felt a little forced. It would have been nice to see some of the relationships grow more. I feel this way about the group dynamic as well - I liked it but it felt a bit like we were told they all bond rather than watch it happen properly.
Overall a fun read!
Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Blood, Murder, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, Classism
Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Sexual violence, Violence
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Bullying, Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Misogyny, Sexism, Police brutality, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Classism
Moderate: Sexual content, Blood, Trafficking, Colonisation
Minor: Pedophilia, Torture, Deportation