Reviews with content warning for Death of parent - Violet Made of Thorns

Reviews tagging 'Death of parent'

Violet Made of Thorns by Gina Chen

22 reviews

chattie_the_mad_chatter's review against another edition

mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? N/A
Loveable characters? N/A
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

To begin with this was a fun fantasy: a prickly cynical heroine; fun fortune telling magic; fate v fairies Enchanted Woods mystery. However the ending felt a bit messy and I struggled with some of the characters motives.

Loved the side characters of Camilla and Dante. A Camilla book I would read. But Violets motivations and end choices were very muddled in the final part. The opptunities for Cyrus and Violet to have chatacter growth remained lost in their powerplay pretty toxic relationship. The attraction, lust and hate aspects were covered, but the caring part was definitly missing.

Also missed any characterisation of the villain, which would have been enjoyable.

I think this is a not for me book sadly.

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kbairbooks's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Holy WOW. Oh my gosh I couldn’t put this down!! This is the BEST fairytale retelling I have EVER read. Wow I am… speechless. Is there a book two in the works? Has Gina Chen written anything else? I’m like… itching for more 😂 I need more. Period.

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imds's review

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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? It's complicated

3.0

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erica_reads_everything's review

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adventurous lighthearted tense fast-paced

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

3.25

This book was cute, but not great. An easy read, it would be best for older teenagers. I think my main complaint is that the author put forth a lot of ideas that were wonderful, but didn’t see them all the way through. It felt like it was too fast, and that she could have explored some of the intricacies of the story in more detail.

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katvou's review against another edition

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adventurous 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? It's complicated

4.25

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introverted_reads's review against another edition

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adventurous funny tense 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? It's complicated

4.25

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lizgriffinwords's review against another edition

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adventurous dark tense slow-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

Not perfect, but I thoroughly enjoyed this book (much more than The Cruel Prince). I’d also say it’s great for fans of The Belles and Little Thieves, with scheming court machinations, arranged marriages, and twisty prophecies. Violet is believably prickly, and Cyrus makes a dashingly slimy Prince Charming. Spicier than I prefer my YA, but those instances were plot relevant. Great debut, and I’m looking forward to the sequel.

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quillify_'s review

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adventurous dark funny lighthearted mysterious reflective tense slow-paced

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

3.5

I… I have so many thoughts right now. Man, I was so excited for this one. The comp title was The Cruel Prince, and that is literally one of my favorite books of all time. All the tropes mentioned were right up my alley: anti-heroine, courtly intrigue, enemies to lovers with tons of tension, ruthless politics. I waited for this book for months and I was so eager to read it. Unfortunately, this is above average at best. A one-time read, at best. The male lead, Cyrus, is kind of a blank caricature. Their “hate” feels childish because it doesn't have a solid basis. No backstabbing. No betrayal. It's only resentment towards an authority figure. For all her talk, Violet comes across as a passive protagonist with mildly interesting magic. Seriously, just gimme a reason to want to make out with the prince! We don't even get a clear description of him. Camilla and Dante were okay and adder some much needer humour. At times, the story felt intriguing, like it was heading the right way. And then we would go back to Violet scheming about nothing and having weird dreams. God, why do I even expect anything from America? Oh also, the romance plot made zero fucking sense. I can understand hate sex and hate attraction. I can understand hooking up. Now what in the actual fuck was that love business at the end!?!?! Just because you say I love you, doesn't mean a reader believes it!

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azrah786's review against another edition

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4.25

**I was provided with an ARC through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review**

CW: violence, blood, injury, self harm, body horror, gore, death, death of parent, murder, emotional abuse, racism, sexual content (non-explicit)
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A fast paced, dark fairytale story following an unapologetic, self-serving seer with a penchant for twisting the truth; a just as headstrong and arrogant crown prince she is always butting heads with and a prophecy that ties the two of them and the fate of the kingdom together.

Now none of these two leads are the most likeable of characters and you want to just shake the both of them on various occasions but their banter? *chef’s kiss* This isn’t your usual enemies to lovers pairing, they have more of a hate to “oh no these intense feelings I have for you and the fact that you get me plus are really attractive is messing with my head” going on and I couldn’t get enough of it.

Though the spotlight is very much on Violet - the control and power she has over her own destiny and her role as primary seer of a kingdom hanging in the balance. I was absolutely enraptured by the curse elements in the story and Chen beautifully wove the tensions of the foretold prophecy and political situation together that I just couldn’t put the book down!

The worldbuilding and magic are super fascinating however, they are an already established element of the story and weren’t expanded on as much as I had hoped. Also there were also some great side characters that I can’t help but wish had more page time.

That aside I really enjoyed this one and need the sequel yesterday!
If you like morally grey characters that aren’t always likeable and all the fairytale vibes with a dash of darkness then this book is for you!
Final Rating – 4.25/5 Stars

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noellelovesbooks's review against another edition

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dark mysterious fast-paced

3.75

I received an ARC of this book, through Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review.

Content Warnings: Death, self-harm, blood, gore, murder, racism, child abuse, violence, and some sexual scenes.

After reading the summary of this book, on Netgalley, I knew I wanted to dive in. I’m a sucker for fantasy novels that follow someone who’s labeled morally gray.

We meet Violet, the Kingdom seer, who works closely with the King to ensure peace and prosperity for their land. Everyone trusts her divination except for the crown Prince who’s determined to prevent her from continuing as Seer once he’s crowned King.

Since Violet was brought to the castle, when they were children, Prince Cyrus and her have fought loudly, and openly, for all to witness. Both stubborn they refuse to see eye to eye or find common ground. So when the King instructs Violet to grow close to Cyrus to ensure he believes her divination of meeting his true love, Violet’s at a bit of a loss.

I was fully invested, from the very start, and ended up reading this book in one day, practically in one sitting. The beginning and middle were strong and had me invested in Violet, her powers, and her potential friendship with Cyrus. I did find myself struggling to stay immersed the closer we got to the end though. The development of a tentative trust between Violet and Cyrus was shown throughout the book but the ending had it feeling a bit rushed, like one minute there was trust then immediately none, and then back to trust. I wish a little more time would have been spent on the ending for the back and forth to make more sense to me. This could honestly just be a me issue but I just felt like it didn’t line up with what all we’d learned previously.

The way the story ended has me hopeful that there will be another book. If this is a standalone I’d be sad, as I felt it didn’t tie up everything it should have. On either Goodreads or Storygraph, I saw something saying it was book one in an untitled duology so I’m hopeful that we’ll get another book.

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