Reviews tagging 'Death'

Muse of Nightmares by Laini Taylor

48 reviews

forgettingtofly's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious sad slow-paced

• Loveable characters? Yes

5.0

I’m mourning that this duology had to end, but so grateful I got to read it.  I can’t quite express it yet, but this book was deeply moving and so good.  Well-written, achingly sad, wonderfully hopeful. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder and Death

Moderate: Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Child abuse, Suicide, Child death, and Rape

froukjemelenhorst's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring sad 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? Yes

4.75

 4.8

The only thing that I didn’t like was how Lazlo was just kinda pushed to the side, having ‘fulfilled his purpose’, and kinda turned into someone whose only personality trait is simping for Sarai. 

Other than that this was phenomenal. The times I gasped and was shocked are way too many to count and I thoroughly enjoyed this :) 

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Content Warnings

Minor: Sexual assault, War, Sexual violence, Death, Genocide, and Rape

nytephoenyx's review against another edition

adventurous emotional reflective 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? No

5.0

 As with Stranger the Dreamer, I was enamored with Laini Taylor's writing, which blossoms like orchids on the page. The story is good - there are a lot of exciting elements and complex characters - but Laini Taylor's writing steals the show. She may be a bit flowery for most, but she steals my heart and weaves gossamer threads through it, and I am in love.

There were a few things that were too easy, especially redemption arcs and resource acquisition, but I'm willing to forgive all of it. However, I lament that Muse of Nightmares felt like a middle book, and I'm crestfallen at the lack of continuing adventures.

Altogether well-worth reading and a breath of beauty and joy in this otherwise dismal universe. An easy five-star because Laini Taylor has a gift for weaving magic in her worlds and creating characters of all shapes and sorts that the reader can't help but love. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Suicide, Death, and Blood

Moderate: Death of parent, Torture, Child abuse, Rape, and Trafficking

Minor: Fire/Fire injury, Slavery, and War

sukidookie's review

adventurous emotional hopeful sad 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

4.75

I loved this series for its beautiful and fleshed-out story world. Minya easily became my favourite character, but I loved all of them. The way grief and trauma was creatively portrayed through the dream world was fascinating to me. There was so much dimension to this story that it almost felt real, it makes me want to believe in all the fairy tales I know. I only wish that the book had a more satisfying ending, and it didn't say something cheesy. If it HAD to say something cheesy, I think it would have been cool if the epilogue ended with a fairy-tale cliché. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death

Moderate: Sexual content

chantellimus's review

adventurous challenging emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective fast-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: Confinement, Death, Kidnapping, Grief, Murder, Violence, and Child death

Moderate: Suicide, Abandonment, War, Sexual violence, Trafficking, Emotional abuse, Violence, Slavery, Sexual assault, Torture, Suicidal thoughts, and Kidnapping

Minor: Racism, Lesbophobia, Self harm, and Sexism

sealbrecht's review

adventurous dark 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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Grief, War, Blood, Death, and Child abuse

Moderate: Torture, Trafficking, Rape, Sexual content, and Slavery

hasmazlom13's review

adventurous challenging emotional hopeful tense medium-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Kidnapping, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual assault, Injury/Injury detail, Child death, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Genocide, Sexual harassment, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Grief, Mental illness, Emotional abuse, Pregnancy, Rape, Sexual violence, Violence, and War

bethy_joy's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Gaslighting, Racism, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Death, Blood, Emotional abuse, Stalking, Trafficking, Suicidal thoughts, Gore, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual content, Torture, Violence, Abandonment, Death of parent, Murder, and Bullying

Minor: Emotional abuse, Sexual harassment, Slavery, Suicide, Confinement, Kidnapping, and Pregnancy

msradiosilence's review

dark emotional funny hopeful mysterious reflective 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? Yes

3.0

Tldr; Minya gets a story, but so do other characters that were entirely unneeded. For an almost 600 page book, it was pretty boring.

Read my full review here: https://www.rainyreader.com/single-post/muse-of-nightmares.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Death of parent, Kidnapping, Misogyny, Rape, Adult/minor relationship, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Blood, Murder, Sexual content, Slavery, Suicide, Torture, and Violence

nicole_rietveld's review against another edition

adventurous emotional relaxing 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

Conștiința ei se rupsese în bucăți, iar în urmă rămăsese o rană. Bucățile nu formau un întreg, ci erau niște bucăți însângerate: părți loiale familiei sale de odrasle ale zeilor și părți care înțelegeau că și oamenii erau victime.

Nu am fost sigură dacă merită să îi dau o șansă acestui volum, deoarece primul a fost foarte greu de parcurs și m-am plictisit în timpul lecturii, dar mă bucur că am decis să îl citesc.

Ce mi-a plăcut:

- trimiterile la seria Născută din fum și os;
- are în comun cu seria citită anterior faptul că ultimul volum are mai multă acțiune și este mai bine construit, față de cele anterioare centrate mai mult pe povestea de dragoste;
- modul în care sunt portretizate personajele negative, faptul că li se oferă o vindecare;
- lumea frumos construită;
- relațiile dintre personaje.

Ce nu mi-a plăcut:

- am avut probleme cu stilul de scriere mult prea poetic;
- condiția de fantomă a lui Sarai nu e convingătoare pentru că poate fi atinsă de cei din jur, iar deseori autoarea face referire la părțile corpului ei (piele, obraz, etc.).

În concluzie, cred că voi continua să citesc și alte cărți scrise de Laini Taylor. Acest volum este cu siguranță printre romanele favorite ale anului. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Death, and Grief

Moderate: Slavery and Rape