Reviews tagging 'Blood'

The Stolen Heir by Holly Black

130 reviews

natashalg's review against another edition

adventurous emotional fast-paced

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

5.0

I could not put this book down! I loved reading about the adventure/quest of the characters, and in my opinion, I prefer it to the court politics of earlier novels. The ending has left me reeling, and I cannot wait to start the second book and see how it ends.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse and Blood

Moderate: Violence and Abandonment

Minor: Death, Physical abuse, and Death of parent

booksarebae's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Blood, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Death

Minor: Sexual assault

diana_raquel's review against another edition

adventurous dark 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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Death, Physical abuse, Torture, Violence, Blood, Murder, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Toxic relationship and Kidnapping

Minor: War

snowie0_0's review against another edition

dark tense

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

3.5

I struggled with this book. I haven't read the series that came before and while this is described as standalone, I'm clearly missing a ton of information, backstory, and context. The author kept name-dropping characters and plotlines that were clearly important with no explanation because readers from the previous series wouldn't need an explanation. Which would be fine but this was sold to me as a standalone series. 

That said, once I got about halfway through the audiobook, I was engaged and following along. I called the plot twist about a third of the way in but it was still satisfying to see I was right. 

I'm not sure if I'll listen to the sequel or not. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture, Toxic relationship, and Blood

Moderate: Child abuse, Stalking, Death of parent, and Murder

Minor: Infertility and Pregnancy

georgialee01's review against another edition

adventurous medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture, Violence, Blood, and Kidnapping

Moderate: Child abuse and Murder

karambit's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gore, Violence, Blood, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Body horror, Child abuse, and Physical abuse

Minor: Infertility and Alcohol

izzyreadswhilequilting's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Gore, Torture, and Blood

danielle_isreading's review against another edition

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? Yes

4.0

A fun, twisty-turns YA from Holly Black. Can’t go wrong!

This one was a little tougher to follow for me that The Folk of the Air. Not sure why! 

But I enjoyed it and am excited to see where it goes. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Blood

noellegrace8's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

Unlike some Folk of the Air lovers who were disappointed in the lack of Cardan & Jude or a similar relationship dynamic, I was blown away by Black's ability to formulate a completely captivating story with far less use of such a dramatic love duo. I personally think Oak and Suren are a lovely duo, albeit less romantically present in their story than Jude & Cardan were in theirs. I actually think it's much harder to write a great story without the easier elements such as romance/sex & violence, so this book was next level in my opinion. I found myself hurting for Suren so many times to the point that I actually teared up, loving her adherance to kindness, and pleasantly surprised by plot elements. And the casual drops/updates about Jurdan and their reign? Love that. I just love Elfhame so much. I hope Holly Black keeps writing about it.

I give Saskia Maarleveld 5/5⭐️. Her narration was great, with distinction between characters and what I thought was a wonderful depiction of Suren's character through cadence & voice choices. Additionally, unlike many women narrators, I didn't find her male vocal imitation to be cheesy or too much. It did kind of bug me that she said soo-ren instead of ser-ren though.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Confinement, Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, Violence, Blood, Murder, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Gore, Toxic relationship, Grief, Stalking, Toxic friendship, and Classism

Minor: Animal death, Bullying, Cursing, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Infertility, Infidelity, Panic attacks/disorders, Racism, Self harm, Torture, Medical content, Kidnapping, Cannibalism, Gaslighting, Alcohol, and War

letiross's review against another edition

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: Child abuse, Violence, and Blood

Moderate: Death, Torture, and Abandonment

Minor: Death of parent, Murder, and War