Reviews tagging 'Torture'

Misrule by Heather Walter

14 reviews

princess_sara_sparkles's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful 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? Yes

4.75

Great duology and story. Heart-wrenching the whole way through 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, War, Injury/Injury detail, Toxic friendship, Classism, Emotional abuse, Slavery, Torture, Abandonment, Body horror, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Toxic relationship, and Violence

amandab0514's review against another edition

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? Yes

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture, Injury/Injury detail, and War

Moderate: Death and Grief

apersonfromflorida'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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Death, and War

Moderate: Grief, Slavery, and Murder

Minor: Death of parent, Child death, and Torture

leafylover's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious sad 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Genocide, Blood, Grief, Body horror, and War

Minor: Torture

keya_caivalur's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful mysterious sad tense fast-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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Murder, Blood, and Body horror

Moderate: Slavery, War, Violence, and Xenophobia

Minor: Torture, Confinement, Classism, Alcohol, Sexual assault, and Kidnapping

scifi_rat's review against another edition

adventurous hopeful medium-paced

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

3.5

Plot: 3.5 ★
Prose: 4 ★
Pace: 3 ★
Concept/Execution: 4 ★/3★
Characters: 3.5 ★
Worldbuilding: 3.5 ★
Ending: 3.5 ★

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Content Warnings

Moderate: War, Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Confinement, Bullying, Hate crime, Murder, Death, Grief, Slavery, and Blood

Minor: Gaslighting, Body horror, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, and Kidnapping

booksthatburn's review against another edition

The first one wasn't really my thing, and I think I don't like "will they get back together" plots where their original romance was brief and one person truly became awful in the meantime. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Self harm

Moderate: Grief, Emotional abuse, Kidnapping, Violence, Gore, Blood, War, Physical abuse, Confinement, Alcohol, Fire/Fire injury, Vomit, Torture, and Slavery

Minor: Death of parent, Pregnancy, and Child death

shatteredspace's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional reflective sad tense fast-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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War and Death

Moderate: Gore

Minor: Slavery and Torture

theespressoedition's review against another edition

adventurous challenging 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? Yes

3.5

After reading and absolutely obsessing over Malice, I was thrilled to dive into Misrule as soon as possible. The previous book left us on a bit of an intense, emotional cliffhanger and I had to know what happened next...

...what I wasn't expecting was for this book to take place 100 years in the future. That threw me for a loop, I'll be honest. It also made me a little bit frustrated because it showed that Alyce really hadn't grown at all in that time, but completely given in to every bit of evil that was plaguing her from the get-go.

However, that meant there was nowhere to go but up. It just took a while to get there.

This book was a great deal slower than the first and didn't really suck me in until the final third of the story. I kept expecting crazy twists or exciting magic but instead, it became a bit boring, focusing more on the political intrigue and how all of the creatures/monsters were harmed or taken advantage of over the years.

That being said, the ending was really well done. While there were plenty of predictable moments throughout the book, the conclusion was something that gave me pause. I wasn't fully expecting the resolution, which was super pleasing. In addition to that, it also made the slower aspects of the story more beneficial. I believe that if I were to reread it, I would appreciate it more for how it turned out.

I also feel the need to mention that I read this over the course of a month (as a buddy-read) when it would typically be a book I would finish in a matter of days. If I pick it up again in the future, I'd be curious to see how it would make me feel if I flew through it a little quicker and if that would make it feel like an easier, less monotonous read.

As a duology, I'd give it 4 stars. It's a unique twist on Sleeping Beauty and I really enjoyed how the classic fairytale was reimagined!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic relationship, Death, Murder, Blood, Toxic friendship, and War

Moderate: Grief and Torture

Minor: Self harm

vaniavela's review against another edition

adventurous dark 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

4.75

Alyce has just lost Aurora. Feeling guilty and remorseful she changes everything she used to be. At the end of the day, if everyone considers her evil and a villain, why not become one for real?

I found the book overall to be well paced. I enjoyed reading how everything has changed over the years since the end of the previous book. I was surprised in that it had better development than Malice; considering that so much changed in the kingdom, I was worried that it would be a rather political book. 

I loved the sapphic representation and the character development. I must admit that it was a little tricky to fully empathize with the main characters for some of the plot, as I didn't entirely like their attitudes. Still they were understandable for all the events that were happening. 

I really enjoyed the addition of new characters in the Dark Court, as we were allowed to read how Alyce interacted with all of them. Also, it was a nice element to give personalities to each of them, as they made the story move forward as needed. 

I especially liked that the relationship between Alyce and Aurora was not perfect. Different things happened as the story went along and they both held on to who the other was before; understandable and real. There was a slow but I would say satisfying development in their relationship so I was pleased with the ending they had.

Overall, I liked the sequel.

CW: war, manipulation, violence, torture, dead bodies, body horror, self-harm for magic, self-mutilation, blood, gore, grief, death, character death, fantasy racism/prejudice, nonconsensual kiss, trauma

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture, Violence, and War

Moderate: Death, Body horror, and Grief

Minor: Death of parent and Blood