Reviews tagging 'Death of parent'

Graceling by Kristin Cashore

48 reviews

cepbreed's review against another edition

3.0

adventurous medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: Complicated

Flaws of characters a main focus: No

---

I will be honest I had low expectations and this book met them. It’s standard YA fantasy so how can I complain when I picked this up fully knowing what it was! A redeeming moment though happened when we learn

Po was blinded in his failed assassination plot on King Leck. It was a great twist to go along with his grace that continued to develop throughout the story.

Speaking of graces the power system in its entirety could be more clear. There are hardly any ground rules and powers vary so drastically it’s confusing. Maybe it’s meant to be convoluted? The book is too long yet some core scenes were lacking in detail while minor unimportant ones were fleshed out in pages. I have a neurosis about series though so I will be finishing it to satisfy my self.

Song: 

• Don’t Blame Me - Taylor Swift 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Death, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Murder

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death

Minor: Sexual content, War

claudiamacpherson's review against another edition

5.0

adventurous emotional funny 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

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Ableism, Child abuse, Death, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Kidnapping, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Sexism, Torture, Vomit, Grief, Outing, Sexual harassment

ducklingh's review against another edition

5.0

adventurous emotional tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Complicated

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

---

One of the best books I've read in a while. I loved it! The author did a great job of getting the reader to realize the plot twists as the characters did. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Violence, Gaslighting

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Incest, Death of parent

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Eating disorder, Pedophilia, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Pregnancy

the main character has numerous fight scenes which are detailed, but not overly gorey, main character is forced to hurt innocent(ish) people,

the main villain is very heavily implied to be a pedophile who wants to rape his 10 year old daughter and who raped a 10 year old servant to get to his wife - not graphic, in fact if a child were to read this they might not know what is going on

battybookworm's review against another edition

5.0

adventurous hopeful inspiring mysterious 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

---

This book! Rereading this was a delight, I think Katsa was a big deal for me when I read this as a teen. Now reading her character feels nostalgic and familiar. I can’t wait to continue with this series.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gore, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Blood, Kidnapping, Murder

Moderate: Child abuse, Child death, Death of parent

bdingz's review against another edition

3.75

adventurous hopeful tense 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

---

I wasn’t sure about this book when I first started it, but I warmed up to it and ended up staying up late to finish reading. Interested to see how the author explores this world in her other books.

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Violence

Minor: Child abuse, Death of parent

robin_reads's review against another edition

5.0

adventurous challenging emotional funny inspiring 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: Complicated

---

For the story alone I’d give it 4.5 stars but Po adds the .5 star. We love a wonderful, intelligent, understand and smart, dark haired Prince 💜

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Violence, Death of parent, Murder

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Emotional abuse

Minor: Vomit

booksthatburn's review against another edition

4.0

adventurous dark emotional 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

---

This is a YA novel with an aspec protagonist (my best guess is she'd say demi if that language were available) who ends up in a relationship with someone who meets her on her terms rather than demanding she meet his. It's nice to see an aspec character whose aro/ace nature isn't overwritten or ignored in order to give her a relationship, how she is is part of how they are together.

It's about loneliness, abuse, and healing, including abuse to children and animals, so please be aware that those are major themes in the book. 

The world building is solid, with enough detail to make later revelations feel important. The explanations feel natural, occurring as something happens or Katsa thinks of some detail. This makes it feel like the world is slowly being revealed even though early on it's not new to the protagonist. I like Po, he had a difficult set of things to balance and overall I like how he is with Katsa. His situation towards the end skirts some potentially problematic ableist tropes but manages to not make it seem like his late-acquired disability is what gives him greater control of his powers. YMMV on whether this works, I think it does because of the precise order of events.

Overall I like this a lot and I'm looking forward to reading the rest of the series.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Murder

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Child death, Misogyny, Sexism, Torture, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Kidnapping, Death of parent

Minor: Sexual assault, Sexual content

elle_dee's review against another edition

5.0

adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious 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

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Torture, Violence, Blood, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting

therobinjoyce's review against another edition

5.0

adventurous emotional inspiring mysterious tense medium-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

---

This book was absolutely fantastic. I loved the characters, the world, the Graces, the intrigue, the adventure, the heartache, the romance. 

I adored the storytelling and pacing and the way the author described everything. The writing style is just perfect. The plot was very sound for a YA novel and I adored the relationships Katsa had with all of the supporting cast (Po, Raffin, Oll, Giddon, Bitterblue). It was wonderful to read a fantasy YA novel where the Main storyline is not romantic but the romantic element is powerful and swoon-worthy.

I really enjoyed Katsa’s character and the personal growth she goes through though I will not lie, I am mainly here for the Po supremacy. 

This book has so many feels and I’m still reeling from it. I cannot wait to get started on the next book in the trilogy, Fire, and see this fantastic world grow even more.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Torture, Violence, Blood, Murder, Gaslighting

Moderate: Animal death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Kidnapping, Death of parent

Minor: Child abuse

ciaraflorence's review against another edition

4.5

adventurous dark emotional hopeful mysterious sad tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: N/A

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Bullying, Child abuse, Death, Torture, Violence, Death of parent

Moderate: Misogyny, Murder, Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Misogyny