Reviews with content warning for Blood - Drowned Country

Reviews tagging 'Blood'

madisonrose1519's review

adventurous emotional hopeful mysterious reflective fast-paced

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

4.0

This sequel to Silver in the Woods made me love the first book (and the duology as a whole) even more! I walked away from this one feeling so much more satisfied than after the first. I’m SO glad I picked up the second book and truly hope Tesh continues the series. The door was certainly left ajar for a trilogy, but on the other hand, loose ends were neatly tied and would make for a tidy finish.

Let me just say…THE. ROMANCE. IN. THIS. BOOK!!! Never have I read a more titillating love story. Henry and Tobias’s fluctuating interest in one another truly drives the story from the very start of the first book and throughout the second. Every ounce of information about their affection (or lack thereof) left me wanting more. Considering how there were almost no descriptions of physical intimacy in a book otherwise filled with so much descriptive imagery and beautiful prose, it was amazing to me how enthralling the romance and how obvious the acts intimacy still were. Tesh has a keen sense for just how much…and how little…is necessary to paint enticing pictures.

Just as I mentioned in my review of Silver in the Woods, Tesh’s ability to turn a phrase is enviable. Her prose is near perfect. Never too much, and always enough. Isn’t it lovely to marvel over the words you're reading without being distracted from the story?

I also can’t help but appreciate how this duology was a perfect little dip into magical fantasy. This isn’t my typical genre, so I was pleasantly not overwhelmed with verbiage that was hard to grasp.

Again, I’m hoping for a third book!

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strange_little_ranger's review against another edition

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adventurous mysterious 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? It's complicated

4.0

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maeverose's review

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medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated

3.25

My favorite thing about this duology is the descriptions of nature and the settings. Second favorite is the romance. I really like how everything concluded in this one.

The tone of this book feels a bit different than the first because we follow Silver’s pov in this one instead of Tobias’s. Their personalities are pretty different and show through the narration of each book pretty distinctly. This could be a pro or a con for some people, but personally I really liked it and thought it was done well. I do prefer Tobias as a character but I think it was cool to see from both their perspectives and it helped me connect to each character better.

Minor nitpick: I was a little annoyed with how often we were reminded how big™️ Tobias was, but halfway through it became less frequent thankfully.

My biggest complaint is that I wish we actually got some interactions with the vampire. Instead he was killed before they even met him and it turned into a plot about finding fairies.. which I wouldn’t have minded so much if I hadn’t been promised a vampire story lol

Obviously these are novellas so you can only fit so much into them but I would maybe like a companion novel/novella of Tobias’s (or Mrs Silver or Maud’s) adventures in monster hunting. We don’t get to see much of that in these books and honestly that sounds like it would be pretty fun to read about.

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rossandhissandwich's review against another edition

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4.75

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pey333's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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madarauchiha's review

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slow-paced

0.25

❤️ 🧡 💛 💚 💙 💜 my about / byf / CW info carrd: uchiha-madara 💜 💙 💚 💛 🧡 ❤️

I can't believe how boring cishet white people can make A) lgbt characters and B) Faery characters. Maybe someone likes this book. I can't imagine who besides boring white people who eat plain untoasted white bread, drink mayonaise smoothies, and take 2 minute no soap showers.

Like god being gay is amazing? It's life changing it's like ever blossoming sunflowers following the never setting sun! And this author makes it so. BORING. Tedious. God this gay character so fucking cishet and white. I really can't stress this enough. Jesus, stop writing about us. You don't know how. I half want to tag this as CW homophobia.

◆ I: The Demon of Rothling Abbey
minor blood, alcohol, ableist c slur,

medium live burial,

◆ II: The Fairy Queen
major violence, murder, gore, possession, body horror,

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bexi's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious fast-paced

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

3.75

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booksthatburn's review

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emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.0

DROWNED COUNTRY picks up two years after SILVER IN THE WOOD to show how Silver and Tobias are adjusting to their new lives, what begins as a hunt for a vampire twists into something stranger as the girl they were sent to rescue is no damsel in distress.

SILVER IN THE WOOD didn't really feel like it left anything hanging for DROWNED COUNTRY to pick up, so while this does bring more of a resolution than the first book did, I don't really thing it wrapped up anything left loose, per se. The main storyline begins here and was not present in the first book, and contains several major things which are both introduced and resolved here. It is the last book in the duology and while SILVER IN THE WOOD had a satisfying ending, DROWNED COUNTRY brings a more emotionally complete ending which I like much better as a stopping point for observing this story. The point-of-view character changed from the first book, rather than following Tobias we're getting Silver's perspective. The third-person parts of the narration feel very similar across both books, but the two men have very different manners of speech and thought and the text conveys that well. This wouldn't make much sense if you skipped SILVER IN THE WOOD to read this. They're both novellas and DROWNED COUNTRY simply doesn't have room to retread the ground that SILVER IN THE WOOD already covered. There's enough context to be an adequate reminder for anyone who waited between reading the two books, but it's referential instead of explanatory, and I think someone who tried to start at here would feel like many things are missing.

At first I was a bit confused by the way the book starts out with Silver and Tobias somewhat estranged, given how the previous book left things, but it does circle back to show what happened before. I like this as a follow-up, it gives a much more satisfying ending as a duology than what SILVER IN THE WOOD had on its own.

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