Reviews tagging 'Death'

A Reaper at the Gates by Sabaa Tahir

58 reviews

destdest's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

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

4.0

 On one hand, I hate how STRESSFUL this series is. No one can be happy here. The realities and atrocities of war are here and constant. A particular double woman-child sacrifice was tough to read, but it showed how some people will do anything for power and the all-consuming nature of unstoppable violence. Some of the characters are even forced to seek help from foes or other vile humans.

And yet I can’t put this series down. I have come to enjoy these characters (Harper, Helene, Elias, etc) a lot though Laia can be irrational, often. But her heart is in the right place. I want more of Darin now that he FINALLY got his junk together. While Elias was seriously slacking at his job for 3/4s of the book, his new struggle with humanity and stoicness has my interest.

These novels are thick, but each one has been an easy reading experience. This dark, violent, and tragic mess of a story is enthralling. Everything's not perfect, but I want to read more. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, War, Body horror, Injury/Injury detail, and Death

Moderate: Child abuse and Pregnancy

chlomonte's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional 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

4.75

my favourite book so far of the ember quartet. helene's chapters are my favourite to read n i loved all of the politicking and war, unpop opinion but i really don't care for the romantic relationships 😭 i know the yearning was meant to cause me pain but i just preferred the other aspects of the plot. the twist with cook had me gobsmacked good job miss tahir. lots of very emotional moments n i hope to see more of laia & helene bonding in the final book love my main ladies sm. eek such a good dark war torn high fantasy series

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Gore, Death, Child death, Death of parent, Murder, Physical abuse, Slavery, Torture, Violence, and War

coolbeancat's review against another edition

adventurous challenging 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Death of parent, Genocide, Murder, and Violence

Moderate: Fire/Fire injury, Gore, and Pregnancy

Minor: Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, and Torture

jules_reads_books's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious medium-paced

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

4.5

Definitely my fave of the series so far! Full review to come

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Blood, and Death

Moderate: Child death and Gore

Minor: Slavery, Racism, and Rape

shahdhazem's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

I've finished this 3 days ago and I have been in shock quite literally. The plot is going in a very complex way and I'm just going insane. There's lots of things that I don't understand and it's just very very intense.

can we please all come to the fact that I haven't even recovered from the shock that cook is the lioness and then she's f*king dead I didn't even get to cry for her just from the overall shock!!

. Laia had a very strong character development she's literally just a very good written heroine. And as always sabaa is literally torturing everyone in the book EVEN THE SIDE CHARACTERS NO ONE SURVIVES HER EVIL!! Lastly I won't even comment on the writing stlyle or plot the whole series is just a masterpiece I can't bring myself to say anything more.
 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Colonisation, Death, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Grief, Slavery, and Violence

Moderate: Blood and Pregnancy

lilia's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense fast-paced

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence and Death

lynne_a157's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad 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

5.0

THIS BOOK WAS AMAZING. The character development of each and every character is so complex, diverse and multi-layered. The plot-twists kept coming and coming and I never expected a single one. It was definitely the most intense, gruesome and dark out of the series but sets up the last book perfectly.  It is definitely my favorite so far into the series but each book just gets better and better and I feel like I am actually inside the Empire and living beside these characters and the crazy things that happened in this phenomenal book. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Child death, Colonisation, Death, Death of parent, Genocide, Gore, Grief, Hate crime, Murder, Racism, and Violence

Moderate: Misogyny

Minor: Alcohol

this is a VERY dark and emotional book with very intense and sitrubing parts but so is the entire series as a whole. It deals with generational racism and genocide and violence and gore and a lot more but this is set in a roman empire inspired world.

liminal's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional tense slow-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Blood, Death, Gore, Torture, and Violence

theespressoedition's review against another edition

challenging dark tense slow-paced

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

2.0

Truthfully, I don't have much to say about this book. I've really found this entire series to be dragging and while I keep hoping there will be something that hooks me and makes me want to stick around, there isn't. It's really depressing. At the end of every terrible moment, I expect there to be some kind of redemption and there isn't. It just gets worse. I'll be reading the last book to finish out the series, but I can't say I've enjoyed this, which is a huge bummer.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Death, Gore, Murder, Physical abuse, Slavery, Torture, and Violence

Moderate: Child death, Death of parent, Grief, and Pregnancy

Minor: Vomit

cerilouisereads's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful fast-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: Blood, Death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Gore, Genocide, Pregnancy, and Violence

Moderate: Animal death, Child death, Emotional abuse, Grief, Medical content, Mental illness, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis