Reviews tagging 'Torture'

Jade Legacy by Fonda Lee

52 reviews

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Classism, Torture, Gun violence, Kidnapping, Violence, and War

Moderate: Drug use, Blood, Colonisation, Cultural appropriation, and Alcohol

Minor: Medical trauma, Panic attacks/disorders, and Suicide

jenna_smuszkiewicz's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional medium-paced

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

4.0

This was a great last ending to the series. You get to see the clan war and the characters evolve over 20 years. It's weird to see the characters growing older. I really enjoyed the end with:

the hopeful note at the end with the new Pillars agreeing to put to blood feud behind them.

. Overall, this was a great series and a great way to end the series. It's just that something is missing from this series for me to bump it up to 5 stars. Still a totally worthwhile read though. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Violence, Gun violence, Murder, Xenophobia, Death of parent, Grief, Child death, Mass/school shootings, War, Suicide, and Torture

Moderate: Religious bigotry

jokehelldo'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? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Torture, and Murder

Moderate: Sexual content and Suicide

Minor: Sexual harassment

booksthatburn's review

The stress of my own TBI is still too recent for me to be okay reading about one right now. I will try this again later.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Murder, Death, and Blood

Moderate: Miscarriage, Pregnancy, Torture, Ableism, Infidelity, and Cursing

Minor: Sexual content

samsearle's review against another edition

adventurous dark 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? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture, Death, Violence, Kidnapping, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Xenophobia

mari_the_cryptic's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful 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? Yes

4.0

I have no words that aren't spoilers 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mass/school shootings, Physical abuse, Blood, Toxic relationship, Death, War, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Murder, Child death, Drug abuse, Drug use, and Medical content

Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Sexual harassment, Torture, Chronic illness, Sexual content, Panic attacks/disorders, Hate crime, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Infidelity, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Kidnapping, Racism, and Sexual assault

Minor: Abortion, Alcohol, Deportation, Infidelity, Cultural appropriation, Death of parent, Cursing, Gaslighting, Grief, Car accident, Confinement, Infertility, Chronic illness, and Colonisation

takarakei's review against another edition

adventurous 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

FONDA LEE I AM IN YOUR WALLS. GOOD GODS. 

This is quite possibly the best series end book I've read. Fonda is a true master of political intrigue and character development. I was sobbing. I am in awe. It's worth every one of the 700 pages.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Violence, and Death

Moderate: Gun violence, Misogyny, Blood, Kidnapping, Racism, Suicide, Sexual content, and Torture

Minor: Pregnancy, Rape, Homophobia, Miscarriage, Religious bigotry, Animal cruelty, Colonisation, Genocide, and Pedophilia

mikarala's review against another edition

adventurous 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

I'm having some trouble gathering my thoughts on this book and series. Maybe I'll come back and edit this review at some later point, because I'm not sure how coherent or comprehensive this one will be.

What I can say is this series has been the first fantasy series I've fallen in love with since I was in middle school. I think the world-building is truly second to none, and the concept and delivery of these books feels refreshingly different to me. The phrase "brought to life" is somewhat overused as a descriptor for writing, in my opinion, but I truly felt it with this series. I found the world and characters incredibly believable. The way Lee writes her characters, the strengths and weaknesses each possess feel like two sides of the same coin in a way that feels very natural, and I believe contributes to their overall credibility and realism. The fact that, despite the evolution and growth of every character throughout the roughly 25-30 year span during which this series is set, these characters retain their believability, is a testament to Lee's ability to create lifelike characters.

I will say the extended time period for the trilogy was something that frustrated me at times. There is an incredible amount of political and corporate intrigue within this series, but so much of it is more...hinted at, rather than fully-explored. I think this trilogy easily could have been a longer series if Lee chose to delve into those aspects more fully. I respect that she didn't want to slow the pacing and action too much, but so many impactful plot details being sidenotes throughout the series made it somewhat difficult to keep track of things at times, in my opinion. Or maybe I just wasn't paying close enough attention.  

Anyways, despite the occasional frustration, it's a choice that paid off in the end, in my opinion. This extended time period contributes to the epic scale of the story, and allows Lee to give her characters truly fitting and satisfying endings that I don't think would have been so impactful if Lee hadn't shown how the characters and grown and evolved throughout 30 years of their lives.

In particular, Hilo's ending is just epic. Frankly, it was always obvious that Hilo isn't the type of character to fade quietly into the night. The fact that he knows that too is what I always liked about him. His last stand, foreshadowed early on and then subverted again and again and again, was the perfect ending to one of the most satisfying character journey's I've ever encountered. Ayt Mada being forced to retire and live out her days in humiliation is similarly a perfect ending to her story. I love how both of their endings reflect the values of the Green Bone society that Lee had painstakingly developed over the course of this trilogy. In the real world, death isn't often something epic or consequential. But within Lee's universe and the context of Kekon's Green Bone culture, it almost feels like a victory.

Just in general, an extremely satisfying end to an epic story, even if sometimes I felt like the time skips were a little jarring.

Also, I just want to say again how much I love the characters. Hilo honestly might be my favourite fictional character ever. I love how dramatic, vindictive, and ruthless he can be, while simultaneously having a huge heart and always putting his family before himself. His growth from a bloodthirsty loose cannon in the first novel to a ruthlessly pragmatic and respectable patriach was such an amazing character journey. I also loved seeing Anden go from insecure teenager to a highly competent and reliable adult. Wen's and Shae's female perspectives within such a male-dominated society added a huge amount of depth to the story, and I enjoyed how Lee portrayed both as having their own strengths and capabilities that contributed to the war effort, while also allowing them to maintain their femininity. And even though his character arc was mostly limited to this final installment, I found Niko's journey to be very eventful and was very fascinated by his portrayal. 

I'm so glad I was able to spend time with these characters, and I truly loved this series. Amazing work by Fonda Lee. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture, Violence, Murder, and Death

Moderate: Infidelity and Sexual content

bookish_afrolatina's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful mysterious sad 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? It's complicated

5.0

I can’t believe I finally finished this trilogy. It’s one that will definitely sit with me for a long time because I love books that make the reader question what it means to be a good or bad person. For about a week, I’ve lived inside this book and felt a roller coaster of emotions. The Kaul’s and all of the characters in these books are extremely flawed but Lee portrayed each person with such complexities, individuality, and empathy that I felt connected to them. I desperately want to see this trilogy as a film series or streaming show.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Kidnapping, War, Medical trauma, Murder, Medical content, Torture, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, and Death

Moderate: Suicide, Addiction, Confinement, Drug use, Fire/Fire injury, Alcoholism, Sexual content, and Drug abuse

Minor: Miscarriage, Death of parent, and Abortion

jessiereads98's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional reflective 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

Truly an epic. A fitting ending to the trilogy. Fonda Lee has done a masterful job bringing readers on this journey and wraps everything up here in a way that feels true to the story.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Gore, Death, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Gun violence, Kidnapping, Murder, Torture, and Violence

Moderate: Grief, Medical content, Colonisation, Drug use, War, Xenophobia, and Child death

Minor: Alcohol, Drug abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Racism, Religious bigotry, Suicide, Animal death, Classism, Death of parent, Addiction, Alcoholism, Cursing, Pregnancy, Sexism, and Sexual harassment