Reviews tagging 'Alcohol'

Girls of Storm and Shadow by Natasha Ngan

16 reviews

denee16's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring sad 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

5.0

This book and the series so far has been incredibly hard to read. Not because it is bad, quite the opposite actually. This book has made me feel seen in my own journey of healing and dealing with trama. It shows the ugly truth of every topic it covers, but does so with such authenticity it can make it hard to breath. I am enraptured by this book and Natasha's writing. Her imagery is incredible and descriptive and her story is profound.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Blood, Child abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Sexual content, Emotional abuse, Kidnapping, Murder, Toxic relationship, Classism, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, War, Hate crime, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, and Sexual violence

Moderate: Alcohol, Kidnapping, Fire/Fire injury, Homophobia, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, and Mental illness

teddy_books's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful reflective 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? It's complicated

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Blood, Death, Alcohol, Violence, and Sexual assault

Moderate: Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Misogyny, Lesbophobia, Slavery, War, and Murder

dokushoka's review

adventurous dark reflective 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? No

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Classism, War, Blood, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Grief, Murder, Outing, and Violence

Minor: Confinement, Gaslighting, Panic attacks/disorders, Alcoholism, Sexual violence, Alcohol, Homophobia, and Lesbophobia

the_bookish_rose's review

adventurous dark fast-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

4.0

I was so stoked to continue the series after the first intro into it, and boy this book did not disappoint. Those there were a bunch of new characters in the cast, I was delighted by some of their humor and personalities and it was so interesting to get more worldbuilding that was vastly different than the first book.

I will say, I wish I could’ve gotten more about the other castes in the society and more than just the “demon” caste and “human” distinctions, and I was grateful this book was beginning to unravel that. 

I also realllllyyy didn’t like introducing Wren’s ex as trying to get back with her- it just felt awkward and threw me off from the story a bit.

Fair warning though: HAVE the third book nearby because that ending definitely slapped me in the face and left me running to get the conclusion to the trilogy. As the author notes at the end, the middle book of a trilogy is always the toughest to read, but this one still kept the story alive and I’m definitely going to continue reading the series!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Injury/Injury detail, War, Murder, Violence, Self harm, Sexual content, and Grief

Minor: Alcohol

victoriousbookworm's review

adventurous dark emotional medium-paced

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

4.25

This book does is not a victim of the second book slump. While there is a clear plot that it’s following, there is still a bunch going on and we learn so much about the core characters in this one. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Violence, Death, and War

Moderate: Grief, Mental illness, Fire/Fire injury, Slavery, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Sexual content, and Alcohol

fablesbookstuff's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective 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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual violence, and Sexual assault

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Self harm, Toxic relationship, and Alcohol

raphillips11's review against another edition

adventurous dark 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? No

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War

Moderate: Sexual assault and Sexual violence

Minor: Alcohol

lvjysunday's review against another edition

adventurous challenging 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

4.0

I had a good time with this book, and especially enjoyed the new characters introduced. The book fell flat one some parts but still offered a fun read. 

hiro's death broke me

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence and Death

Moderate: Murder and Alcohol

Minor: Self harm and Sexual content

dododenise's review

adventurous dark 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

This book suffers of severe middle book syndrome. It drags on, the plot being in that awkward place between the start and the resolution. I had to push myself through this book, hoping for better to come. But the plot pretty much kept its pace, making that part of the book very monotonous. The plot was also incredibly predictable. So predictable, that I didn’t think it would take this obvious of a route. But it did. I’m really hoping the third and last book in the trilogy does better.

But next to the plot points, this book was about recovery of trauma. And I think the book handled that well. We see how different characters handle it all in their own ways. When it comes to character development, the series needed this middle part. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, War, Death, Blood, Violence, Alcoholism, Rape, Grief, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, and Murder

Moderate: Confinement

Minor: Slavery

astoryofpages's review

adventurous dark mysterious reflective tense 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

this sequel was even better than the first book! too many plot twists though, i’m not feeling well right now 🥲


Representation:
Asian inspired cast and setting; sapphic romance; lesbian main and side characters; gay side characters

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Alcoholism, Death, Gore, Torture, Violence, Murder, Self harm, Sexual violence, and War

Minor: Animal death