Reviews tagging 'Murder'

Kings Cage by Victoria Aveyard

29 reviews

gracegirl3's review

dark sad tense slow-paced

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

2.75

3 books in and the main character still flip flops her opinions (without any reasonable explanation for the repeated switching) every couple pages, sometimes within the same chapter! Drives me crazy! Make it make sense! I’m DNFing the rest of the series. I can’t take it anymore.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture and Murder

Moderate: Sexual content

bzliz's review against another edition

dark tense 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

3.5

The action sequences really shine here. They are so gripping and exciting but they are concentrated toward the end of the book. The beginning half is focused on Mare’s captivity and a lot of it is pretty boring. I know I’ve read this before but I didn’t remember any of it so I’d forgotten how much that portion drags. Some of those scenes do contain important tidbits that allow Mare to gain some insight but much of it feels like a way to pass the time. 

The introduction of multiple POVs is a blessing and a curse. It gives readers a break from Mare’s doldrums and lets them glimpse what is going on with the Scarlet Guard and later with the Silver houses, however Cameron and Evangeline’s voices are almost identical to Mare’s. Victoria Aveyard is a competent writer but she did not do a good job distinguishing her narrators in this book. 

I can see why a lot of people seem to give up on the series here but I am still excited to read the next book, which I don’t think I finished the first time I read this series. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Violence, Blood, Murder, and War

Moderate: Gore

mackenzie4197's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark tense slow-paced

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

3.0

 Glass Sword was dark and painful and when I wrote a review from that book I said I think the next one is going to be worse ... and I was right. The first part was especially painful. Then the ending was so much worse. I just really hope the next book is less painful. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Torture, Toxic relationship, Blood, Kidnapping, Murder, Gaslighting, and War

sweetchocolatez's review against another edition

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? It's complicated

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Torture, Violence, Blood, Grief, Murder, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Body horror and Pregnancy

Minor: Gore, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, and Alcohol

mbrogs2024's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Racism, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Panic attacks/disorders, Slavery, Vomit, and Pregnancy

Minor: Cursing, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, and Alcohol

ravenauthor1013's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark 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

4.25

The pace was a little slow for me, but great story development and the multiple POV adds a lot to the story 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War

Moderate: Sexual content, Torture, Blood, and Murder

ladybug12793's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional tense medium-paced

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

3.75

Cameron’s POVs were pointless. She was a hypocrite. At least there was some Cam/Mare redemption by the end. Wish the alternate POVs were either one of the princes or Farley. I also wish the chapters were shorter.  I enjoyed this book nonetheless. Could’ve been 100 pages shorter. Felt like it dragged on in the beginning and like nothing much happened besides like two battles and the ending that we all saw coming. Heartbroken but looking forward to the next book.

Also certain readers complaining about Mare being traumatized by literally being tortured by silent stone everyday have absolutely no empathy. She was still imprisoned and tortured in multiple ways psychologically and physically but I guess since she had a nice bed then she shouldn’t complain?! Like chill people. Absolutely insane.

0 🌶️ 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Physical abuse, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Kidnapping, Murder, and War

Minor: Sexual content and Pregnancy

aammeess's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional tense medium-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Torture, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, and War

Moderate: Gun violence, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual content, Slavery, Vomit, Grief, Murder, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Death of parent and Alcohol

micaelamariem's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional reflective slow-paced

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

3.0

This was such a let down from how much I enjoyed the rest of the series. The majority of the book is Mare being trapped in a room and just wallowing about it, which was incredibly boring. 
I didn’t think her torture was as dramatic as it should’ve been. 
The twist towards the middle and end was interesting but it needed more. As it stands, this book did not need to be 500 pages.
Also wtf was that weird bathroom scene 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

lawbooks600's review against another edition

adventurous slow-paced

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

3.0

Representation: N/A?
Score: Six points out of ten.

Man, this book wasn't it. I hoped that after reading (and enjoying) Red Queen and also reading (and not enjoying) Glass Sword, King's Cage would be a step up to make me enjoy the series again. Alas, that didn't work out as the author never resolved the issues from the last book and instead it turned out to be another tedious read. It starts (or rather continues) with the main character Mare Barrow, or Mare for short. After the events of the second instalment in the series (which I barely remember) Mare is in 'prison.' Just kidding, it's not a prison, but how come Mare calls it that way? If that's a prison it's one of the most luxurious ones I've ever seen and it looks more like a penthouse or luxury hotel suite than a gaol. I spent the first 400 pages or so seeing Mare in 'prison' which quickly got boring as she spent her time there whining all day about how her powers are gone and her partner betrayed her. At least the final 100 pages were better since Mare got out of 'prison,' saw a battle between Norta and the Lakelands, and that ends the book. It's unlikely that I'll read book #4, but I might. 

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Content Warnings

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

Full trigger warnings: Physical assault and injury, murder, blood depiction, military violence and war themes