Reviews tagging 'Murder'

Redemptor by Jordan Ifueko

31 reviews

theaceofpages's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional 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

4.0

I was hesitating between 3.75 and 4 stars for this book. Raybearer set the bar incredibly high and, while still incredibly enjoyable, Redemptor wasn't quite as good. The plot was absolutely delightful and I loved seeing more of Dayo and his asexuality (yay representation!) He's such an incredble character and I am happy that we didn't lose his presence in this book (as we could so easily have as Tarisai has a whole lot of daunting tasks coming up). I also loved seeing Tarisai grow now that she is no longer trapped by her mother, although she definitely faces whole new kind of cruel and manipulative presence in this book. I also enjoyed her stress-induced spiralling. I think many people ill be able to relate to it to some degree even if they haven't experienced it to the same extent she is. I'm glad that she had people who stuck by her and looked out for her through it all.

I was, however, a little disappointed by all the new characters. There are A LOT of them and I feel like less care is given to them than those in the first book. And yet a good portion of the pages is dedicated to this. It means that other important plot points probably aren't given as much space and time as they should have. I really think this book could have benefitted from more pages to accomplish all the many things it as trying to do. Maybe even a whole other book, but I suspect that that would have just resulted in the story dragging so just expanding this (although already not short) would have been a noticeable improvement. Like I would have loved to have seen more of the Underworld as the author clearly put so much effort into making it. (And of course it's also what the duology has been building up to for hundreds of pages) as well as the resolution.

While this book might not quite have lived up to Raybearer for me, I did still enjoy it and would still recommend it. It provides a good conclusion to all the conflict and the story that were started in the previous book. And of course it is always nice to read about a unique fantasy world that is so unlike the more typical western-centric ones that one comes across so often. I hope that the author writes more about the world in the future. It is definitely one I would love to spend more time exploring.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Death, Panic attacks/disorders, Misogyny, and Grief

Moderate: Mental illness, Child death, Drug use, and Classism

Minor: Suicide, Pregnancy, Child abuse, Blood, Genocide, and Murder

There are also some mentions of the events of the previous book

readandfindout's review against another edition

adventurous emotional medium-paced

4.25

Style/writing: 4.5 stars
Themes: 4 stars
Characters: 4.5 stars
Plot: 4 stars
Worldbuilding: 4 stars

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Violence, Blood, Panic attacks/disorders, Mental illness, and Murder

Moderate: Grief, War, Child death, Child abuse, and Death of parent

friendly_neighborhood_grandma's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful inspiring reflective tense medium-paced

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

5.0

Jordan Ifueco is an absolutely brilliant author. I cannot fathom how this story came out of her imagination. so neatly tied every loose end in my opinion. a perfect end to this incredible duology. I love that she wasn't afraid to create the ojiji as blunt and cruel as they are. Anything else I say is un needed. love jordan ifueco. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Ableism, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Violence, Grief, Bullying, Child abuse, Death, Murder, Gaslighting, Gore, Colonisation, Death of parent, and Emotional abuse

eni_iilorak's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful inspiring 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, War, Classism, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Death, Violence, Panic attacks/disorders, and Medical content

Moderate: Ableism, Death of parent, Grief, Classism, Blood, Sexism, Slavery, Bullying, and Child abuse

Minor: Abandonment, Confinement, Drug use, and Sexual content

akvolcano's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

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

4.75

I cannot describe how much I loved this book. Truly beautiful. A fantastic read!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood and Death

Moderate: Grief, Murder, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Panic attacks/disorders, Abandonment, Child death, Classism, and Death

thatenbyisisreads's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark hopeful inspiring sad 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

3.5

I loved the overall message of a black girl being portrayed as strong or independent when in reality, they're human just like anyone else that needs help. I had to grow up with that mentality in order to survive the trauma that comes with being a black girl. I couldn't depend on anyone other than myself because just like the ojiji in Tarisai's head screaming, 'you're alone', I had those same thoughts for years and even still to this day. She's truly an inspiration within my own healing journey. Now, I do appreciate that Kirah decided to keep her distance from furthering her relationship with Woo In, but again it was extremely unnecessary to have Zuri kiss Tarisai. There's no true confirmation on his age, but it was disturbing to hear that he had loved her mother just the same which sparked their budding relationship.. Overall, I thought this book ended the series on a positive, hopeful future of justice for the realm. I'm excited to read more from Jordan!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Panic attacks/disorders, and Murder

Moderate: Drug use

Minor: Alcohol

aseel_reads's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark slow-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

pretty disappointed in this one tbh. i liked the conclusion but the plot was so slow and we kept returning to the same issues for ages until we find made some plot progression but it was so slow. i think this one lacked the depth of plot that the first one had. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse and Bullying

Moderate: Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Toxic relationship, Gaslighting, Violence, Murder, Abandonment, Child abuse, Death of parent, Child death, Death, Self harm, and Suicidal thoughts

emily_mh's review

adventurous emotional mysterious 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

This book took everything I loved about Raybearer and made it better. It was once again SO original and so refreshing. I cold never tell where it was going next, but not in a directionless plot kind of way - in a subverting the YA fantasy genre kind of way. I loved Tarisai even more in this instalment: how deeply she loved others, and the way she struggled to make sense of the world yet still tried her utmost to do right by it. This book also improved on something I didn’t like in Raybearer: the time jumps. In this there were far less, so the narrative flowed cohesively. 

Redemptor as a book says so much, and I loved each and every theme it delved into. The narrative explores the evils of capitalism. It shows how justice is a marathon and not a sprint; that there must be self-care so that you can continue to contribute. It even illustrates that guilt is not an adequate motive for fighting for justice. This quote on this subject was my favourite from the book: 

“Don’t confuse guilt with conviction. Guilt is self-centred, and leads only to destructive obsession. But conviction brings balance - a sense of purpose beyond oneself.” 

Redemptor also examines the paradox of sacrificing your values to create a society BASED on your values. It questions what power should look like, and what must be done to achieve that. Overall, I loved that the book challenged the systems that are part-and-parcel of “traditional” (usually white and Western) YA fantasy world-building, namely monarchy and capitalism. 

I was initially going to give this book 4.5 stars, not 5. This was because I thought the love triangle was unnecessary and also that I wish Dayo had had more of an active role. But after reading that ending… I knew that nothing less than 5 stars would suffice. It was so satisfying and so well suited. It made me sob MULTIPLE times. It was perfect. Needless to say I can’t wait to see what Ifueko puts out next. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Classism, Child death, and Death

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Violence, Death of parent, Child abuse, Grief, Abandonment, Emotional abuse, Murder, and Blood

Minor: Body shaming, Suicide, Vomit, Ableism, Sexual content, Alcohol, Misogyny, Sexism, War, Adult/minor relationship, Fire/Fire injury, and Animal death

Moderate: capital punishment, loss of a loved one, neglect, volcano, Minor: flood, earthquake, mass death

ashlikes's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful 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

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Death, Drug use, Classism, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Suicidal thoughts, Violence, and War

Moderate: Alcohol, Child death, Medical content, Medical trauma, and Death of parent

Minor: Trafficking, Vomit, Abandonment, Misogyny, Rape, Slavery, Torture, and Sexual content

fromjuliereads's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark hopeful inspiring 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

4.25

Fantastic sequel!

I love the characters in this duology and how their flaws and what they are going through in finding themselves is front and center. They are trying to stay true to themselves while making it a better world. And it is fantastic to read about. 

I had thought the part with the Underworld might be longer or more integral to the book - it was pretty short for having worked up to it since book 1. But I still loved the story and of course the characters. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Classism, Mental illness, Murder, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Death, Emotional abuse, Grief, Violence, and War