Reviews tagging 'Grief'

Malice by John Gwynne

11 reviews

missgarceau's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional 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? It's complicated

3.5

I just really didn’t have a particularly fun time reading this tbh.

Had I checked content, I would have skipped it entirely.

Definitely do not recommend going in blind.

I did well with the prose, and overall plot and character development.

It’s only book 1- so there’s plenty left to be developed. That’s a given.
Like all big epics- I was mentally prepared for the information overwhelm. The amount of characters could give Wheel of Time a run for its money. 

I was disappointed in the strategies and political plots. Felt very “made for TV” and typically why I avoid political plots, in general.

A part of me felt like this was the typical “dude fantasy” that I avoid at all costs. I’m not entirely sure that’s inaccurate.

But, I still binged the shit out of it- and immediately dove into the second book. Guess that means I didn’t complete hate it. It’s complicated.

Commentary re CW:

The animal brutality was just sooooo unnecessary and I’m pretty sure NO ONE WANTS THAT!!! It was… a LOT! And the sound effects were just insult to injury. I wanted to DNF and chuck the entire thing sooooo many times. But people I trust have convinced me to carry on.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Bullying, Death, Genocide, Gore, Hate crime, Physical abuse, Torture, Violence, Blood, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Toxic friendship, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Cancer, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Hate crime, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Terminal illness, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, and Abandonment

rase's review against another edition

adventurous dark sad medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Animal death, Violence, and Death of parent

Minor: Alcoholism, Bullying, Death, Misogyny, Blood, and Grief

happyknitter2020's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional 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? It's complicated

5.0

Absolutely loved it. My first John Gwynne book, become attached to the characters, developed an ecomap of each group, so could keep up with the POVs as they developed & listened to the audio book to reflect on what I had read. Thiscreally helped me get through the first half, after this I felt I was in their world.
So many people that I cared for died so quickly without preparing.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Death, Gore, Blood, Grief, Murder, and War

ashleykhoffman's review against another edition

adventurous tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes

4.0

Now this is a war fantasy. Some authors try to write war, but every character comes out relatively unscathed, but this is dark and twisty and heartbreaking. There are a LOT of characters and places, and for a first book in a series, I think a lot of them were unnecessary and just made this slower to get through. I had to take notes to make sure I was even kind of following earlier parts of the book. It does seem like the series will be much easier to follow in subsequent books, but be aware if you're a mood reader that this one takes focus and determination to plow through the world building. But the end is worth it and I'm excited for book 2.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Violence, and War

Moderate: Grief

erikita's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional slow-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Bullying, Death, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

kat1105's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious 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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Torture, Violence, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Alcohol, War, and Injury/Injury detail

ocean_the_reader's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional mysterious tense slow-paced

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

5.0

Upon reread this is definitely mostly set up for the rest of the series. I can't believe everything that's been foreshadowed. 
I felt a lot of things while reading and I just love these characters so much. I can't wait to get to the rest of the series. Especially since I don't remember what happens next.

It took a while for me to actually get invested in this one. But when I did, I didn't want to put it down. I'm very intrigued to see what everyone's roles end up being.

And I definitely don't trust those Vin Thalun people. They're up to something that seems will benefit only them and will cause a lot of damage.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Death, Gore, Violence, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, and Alcohol

t_higgsreviews's review against another edition

dark tense medium-paced

4.0

4 Stars
CAWPILE = 7.07

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Death, Gore, Violence, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Vomit

darkefyres's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional sad 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? No

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Death, Gore, Violence, Blood, Death of parent, Murder, Alcohol, and War

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Child abuse, Child death, and Domestic abuse

Minor: Physical abuse, Torture, Grief, and Injury/Injury detail

jaedia's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Bullying, and Violence

Moderate: Death, Sexism, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Toxic friendship, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Alcoholism, Animal death, Child abuse, Confinement, Genocide, Self harm, Terminal illness, Torture, Medical trauma, and Fire/Fire injury