Reviews tagging 'Abandonment'

Empire of the Damned by Jay Kristoff

4 reviews

karapillar's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional sad tense slow-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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Stalking, Sexual content, Religious bigotry, Physical abuse, Misogyny, Fire/Fire injury, Kidnapping, Grief, Body horror, Violence, Child death, Cursing, Death, Death of parent, Self harm, Injury/Injury detail, Addiction, Torture, Abandonment, Blood, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Animal death, Cannibalism, Drug use, War, Murder, and Gore

Moderate: Gaslighting, Gun violence, and Child abuse

Minor: Pregnancy and Miscarriage

jessie_the_bibliophile's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful mysterious reflective 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Cursing, Confinement, Blood, Animal death, Sexual violence, Physical abuse, Murder, Death, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Slavery, Torture, Religious bigotry, Emotional abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, Child death, Abandonment, Child abuse, and Alcohol

charles237's review

challenging dark emotional sad tense slow-paced

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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Animal death, Slavery, Confinement, Death, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Adult/minor relationship, Cursing, War, Sexism, Body horror, Trafficking, Alcohol, Animal cruelty, Grief, Physical abuse, and Kidnapping

Moderate: Sexual violence, Religious bigotry, Sexual harassment, Addiction, and Abandonment

amy_reading_23's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful fast-paced

4.25

The ending made me cry. I'm still reeling. 

I didn't enjoy this book quite as much as the first, but I still really enjoyed it. The first half was a little slow but it picked up around the middle and then raced towards the end. At some points I thought maybe it was becoming predictable, bit then the unexpected would happen. 

I enjoyed the whole lore around Pheobe's clans. Since book one was so heavily monotheistic and christian-like, it was interesting for this book to have some focus on a matriarchal society who is pagan and believes in multiple gods, yet still has a prophecy about Dior, hinting that maybe all could be true.

I think something the writer does well is complicated characters. Even though some of the characters themselves believe in a black and white world of good and evil, its shown throughout the books that this isn't the reality, and every character comes with as many flaws as redeemable qualities. Even some of the more "villanious" characters can be enjoyable (like the Marquis and Kiara) and understandable in their own way. Book one very much was anti vampire - all vampires are evil - whereas this one was a bit more complex in that regard.  

These books are so rich with world building, lore, love, loss and emotion. I'll truly miss this world when the third one is finished. 

I genuinely cried at the end when Dior called Gabriel Papa. So hard. And cried again when she passed. I don't know what to make of the last few pages, although it made me reflect on one thing. Both Gabriel and his sister have said how the other is an unreliable narrator. And there's definitley things they're hiding from the historian. I'm intrigued for book 3 as I imagine it will combine both the events that happened after Dior's "death", how Gabriel killed Fabien, but also I think there will be some plot set in the present as we finally find our what Gabriel's plan is here. 

I also think his sister is in on it. I think their fight is a rouse and I think maybe the grail isn't truly lost.  But what keeps me afraid is that the author has said he doesn't believe in happy endings. So whether the dark days end or Gabriel lives or dies in book three I really don't know.

There is more explicit horror in this book. I didn't find the first book too disturbing horror-wise but this one does contain more torture and brutal deaths so definitley check the trigger warnings.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Toxic relationship, Physical abuse, Violence, Gore, War, Torture, Adult/minor relationship, Kidnapping, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Animal death, Blood, Body horror, Child death, Cannibalism, Confinement, and Death

Minor: Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Sexual content, Abandonment, Cursing, Miscarriage, and Religious bigotry