Reviews tagging 'Blood'

Kushiel's Dart by Jacqueline Carey

18 reviews

strawberrypinch's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious slow-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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Trafficking, Alcohol, Sexual content, Slavery, Torture, Sexual violence, Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Murder, and Violence

Moderate: Gore, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Rape, Body horror, and Sexual assault

Minor: Vomit and Pregnancy

btrz7's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Diverse cast of characters? No

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Rape, Sexual violence, Confinement, Death, Slavery, Torture, Violence, War, and Sexual content

Moderate: Animal death

massivepizzacrust's review against another edition

emotional tense 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

3.5

I have a lot of thoughts about this book and while I think it has some issues (or maybe a lot of them), I've definitely never read anything like it. Did I enjoy reading it? I don't know. Would I recommend it to other people? I... don't know...? But it sure will continue to live in my head forever. 

I think for what the content of this book is, I didn't love the "narrating from the future" writing choice. It felt detached and I've never been a fan of explicit foreshadowing. All the emotionally important raunchy scenes happened off screen or were only summarized in a couple of sentences, while the "just what work looks like" scenes were the ones highlighted. That's just not what I personally enjoy. But I liked the world building, where the wider plot went and how the main character interacted with the diplomatic challenges around her given her skills... 

Phedre's boys were my favorite part, I love them. Also, if Joscelin could unbutton about two more buttons on his shirt, he would be so much better than Melisande could ever be. That's just my two cents. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Emotional abuse, Gore, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Murder, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Rape, Sexual assault, Blood, Cursing, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, and War

meganphilippa's review

adventurous dark emotional hopeful 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? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Slavery, Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, Sexual violence, Trafficking, War, Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Body horror, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Murder, and Rape

hrtlss_grl's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad tense slow-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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Sexual content, Blood, Gore, Sexual violence, Slavery, Torture, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, and War

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Abandonment, and Self harm

jashanac's review

dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture and Sexual content

Moderate: War, Gore, and Blood

Minor: Rape and Murder

100_pages_hr's review against another edition

dark slow-paced

2.0

I don't usually read fantasy, but this was recommended by someone I trust... No regrets reading it because it is good to read outside my comfort zone... But I still don't love fantasy.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Torture, Toxic relationship, and Violence

Minor: Death and Death of parent

BDSM

accidentalspaceexplorer's review against another edition

adventurous slow-paced

• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

There are a lot of things I really enjoyed about this on re-read - the fact that it's unashamedly kinky but always reaffirms that consent is necessary, the way that the story sucks me in even though it's a thousand pages long, and the fun alternate history and worldbuilding woven into Terre d'Ange. I also liked Joscelin better upon this re-read, even though I noticed his persistent flaws more.

Now, I was definitely a little concerned about the portrayal of the alternate version of the Roma, since I would have liked to have seen more stereotypes subverted there, but I do recognize that this was written like 20 years ago, so it won't be perfect. And I do think that sometimes the way that Phédre solved basically every problem with sex went a bit far, but I'm also willing to set aside my disbelief for the sake of an otherwise enjoyable book.

Overall, though, my re-read has me excited about reading the second book, and I'm ready to see where the world takes Phédre and Joscelin.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Sexual content, and Torture

Moderate: Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, and Slavery

The main character, Phedre, engages in a lot of BDSM play, including spanking, blood play, humiliation, exhibitionism, whipping, etc. Most of it is consensual and she derives a lot of pleasure from it, although there is some rape/sexual assault, as I mentioned above. On the whole though, this book is fairly explicit! Be warned.