Reviews with content warning for War - A Reaper at the Gates

this series is everything. idk what it is about sabaa tahir's writing but it just pulls you right into the story. laia is struggling so much right now and i loved seeing how different people in her life supported her in different ways. honestly, i really hated blood shrike when i finished the second book but now, not so much. she's a very complicated person and i hate a lot of what she's done in the past and in this book but there's also a very present human side of her that really shines in this book.
that's definitely something i really appreciate about this series. the way that tahir writes these characters makes it really hard for you to fully hate them (except for marcus, he's a piece of shit). i also think the fallout of genocide was also handled very well. laia's lines about hating war and not seeing the point of it even when the people being decimated are the same people who tortured, abused, and sought to kill her people felt very real. absolutely no one wins in a war. everyone will lose someone important to them and that will spur on the need for revenge. it makes it so hard to stop violence because so few people are able to let go of their need to take what was taken from them. but then it also makes it hard to hate the "enemy" when you see how the violence affects them. every character in this series has to come to terms with this and it's so interesting and real to see how they each handle it so differently.
sabaa tahir is such an amazing writer. i truly love this series.

Content Warnings

bzliz's review against another edition

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adventurous dark tense medium-paced

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

4.5

Every time I finish one of her books, I am blown away by Sabaa Tahir’s storytelling. She is a master at weaving together seriously intricate plots all involving different complex characters with varying degrees of overlap. Her twists don’t feel cheap and many truly caught me by surprise. A warning: this series has seriously intense world building and at times it can be a struggle to keep up with names and places.

In this book, Laia is on a quest to stop the Nightbringer and saving those most at risk of destruction along the way. Elias is melding into his role as Soul Catcher, helping Laia when he can but finding it harder and harder to ignore the pull of his duties. Helene is still duty bound to do the Emperor’s bidding and combating the ambitions of Keris Veturia. Every time I think I’ve seen all the layers of these characters and their motivations, Tahir drops another bomb and I realize she’d been laying hints to it all along.

The only reason I’m not giving this five stars is because the complexity of the story makes my dumb brain work too hard to try to keep straight characters and places since we’re bouncing around so much.

Content warnings:
Most are self explanatory and make sense if you’ve already read the previous two books.
Pregnancy (on page):

The Empress Livia becomes pregnant after marrying Marcus. She is an even bigger target for assassination while carrying the heir and Keri’s Veturia manages to poison her. She survives and goes on to successfully deliver the baby (on page) but there are some complications and Helene must use her healing power to keep her sister alive.

Domestic abuse (on & off page):

Marcus really sucks and constantly abuses Livia even as she is pregnant. He does this to keep Helene compliant with his orders.

Content Warnings

esconce's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark 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? No

4.5

Not my favorite book of the whole series, and sometimes felt like the pacing was off.. BUT I loved the characters so much that it really doesn’t matter that much. It’s definitely a good book and makes the series feel a lot closer to being completed. I love that Helene and Harpers relationship is growing and just over all good book.

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vel629vet's review against another edition

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DNF

I tried. I just couldn’t. It was too dark. Extremely well designed and executed, but too dark. I saw child death as a moderate TW and thought I’d be fine but I couldn’t get past that scene.

Content Warnings

george0277's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional 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

Content Warnings

blubonby's review against another edition

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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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