Reviews tagging 'Death of parent'

A Reaper at the Gates by Sabaa Tahir

32 reviews

risten's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Violence, Torture, Gore, Slavery, Genocide, Pregnancy, Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, Murder, Death, Classism, Medical content, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, and Blood

booksarebae's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional inspiring mysterious 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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Violence, Pregnancy, Death, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, and Physical abuse

Moderate: Child death and Death of parent

whiskersdottir's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful 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? It's complicated

4.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death and Death of parent

joylehua_95's review against another edition

adventurous emotional 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? N/A

4.5

This one was dense. However, there was so much at stake. This one had a lot of character development and characters reaching their potential. A lot of sacrafice and tough decisions...high stakes. This one was tough for me to get through because so much was happening in various locatuons in the book. However, it all culminated into one big event so it was worth it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Death of parent

froukjemelenhorst's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional tense 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? It's complicated

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and War

Moderate: Death of parent, Child death, and Domestic abuse

Minor: Rape

theintrovertsbooks's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional tense 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? It's complicated

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Death of parent, War, Violence, Child death, Blood, and Murder

Moderate: Torture, Pregnancy, Police brutality, Mental illness, Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Medical content, Confinement, Body horror, Grief, Gore, Fire/Fire injury, Domestic abuse, and Cursing

Minor: Rape, Sexual violence, Genocide, Slavery, Vomit, Sexual harassment, and Emotional abuse

leaflit'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? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Pregnancy, Slavery, War, Blood, Murder, Torture, Violence, Classism, Colonisation, Toxic relationship, Child death, Grief, Child abuse, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, and Physical abuse

madamenovelist's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional sad slow-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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Vomit, Torture, Racism, Grief, Genocide, Kidnapping, Fire/Fire injury, Child abuse, Misogyny, Medical trauma, War, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Death of parent, Death, Physical abuse, Body horror, Classism, Blood, Xenophobia, Sexual violence, Murder, Medical content, Injury/Injury detail, Pregnancy, Gore, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual harassment, Sexism, Rape, Violence, Domestic abuse, Cursing, and Confinement

rinku's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective 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? It's complicated

4.5

 Because of some small critiques here and there, I gave A Reaper at the Gates 4.5 stars and not full five stars. Still, it’s an amazing book with an interesting plot and great characters. 

We again follow Elias, Laia and Helene in this book. Elias became the soul catcher and now has to balance this new hard task with his want to protect Laia. Laia herself tries to find allies in the battle against the empire and especially Keris. I was again most interested in Helene’s story who has to stop Keris from taking over the empire but also protect her sister from Marcus; Livia’s need for protection increases in the course of the story since

she becomes pregnant with the new imperator

. 

This book was a bit slower than its predecessor, even with the constant time pressure, because Laia’s and Elias’ plot felt a bit aimless at some points. I had also had two other small problems with the story: Firstly, it was a bit hard to keep track of the different nations/tribes and their interests introduced here. Secondly, some aspects of the story were not clearly enough explained, like

the reason why Elias suddenly was able to control the magic

. 

The ending of this book though shows how amazingly the series was plotted from the beginning. We get to know that

the cook is Laia’s mom and that she was forced to kill her daughter and her husband which was such a dramatic reveal

. Then, all three characters are at the same place since

the capital of the empire is attacked: Helene is defending the city, Laia is trying to get the ring from her, and Elias wants to collect the escaped ghosts. The way Laia gets Helene’s ring was so creative, but the ring is sadly fake. It’s so disturbing as well how Keris perfectly planned everything and how she was able to kill Marcus

. The most powerful moment of the story though was when

Laia left her mother behind to save Helene; this moment gave me goosebumps

. 

I still like most of the cast since many of them have so much depth. Helene became maybe one of my favorite characters of all time. At the beginning, it was so sad how heartless she became because of all the terrible things happening to her but it’s only understandable, just like her hatred towards Laia. But also, she became so strong which can be seen especially when

she survived the attempted assassination

. I ship her so much with Harper, but I somehow doubt that they’ll get a happy ending together. What I appreciate as well is the fact that romance is not the focus of the story. 

After the ending of A Reaper at the Gates, I can’t wait to find out how this series will end and how our characters will be able to win against the demons of the outside world – and the ones inside of them. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Death, Domestic abuse, War, and Violence

Moderate: Child death, Confinement, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Sexual content, and Slavery

eve_reads's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

4.5

Overall Thoughts:
⁕ The pacing of this book redeemed the slower second installment that was A Torch Against the Night. I put off reading this one because I was worried that it would also be full of slow, quest-based traveling, but it was not! The action once again picked up and I could not put the book down!

⁕ Helene/The Blood Shrike is given a spot in the limelight and I am absolutely obsessed with and attached to her character. No longer is she the lovesick schoolmate of Elias, but a woman and warrior caught between family, duty, and justice. I absolutely ATE up her arc and I can't wait for more.

⁕ SPOILER: Even though this might go against popular opinion, I dislike the decision to make Cook Laia's long thought dead mother. It is such a rushed revelation at the end of the novel, and there is no prior hint or clue ever given as to her true identity. It didn't feel like the mind blowing plot twist I think it was intended as.

To read my full review, visit: https://evereads.online/
For regular book-related content, follow my Instagram account: @eve_reads 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Torture, Death, Violence, War, Death of parent, Gore, and Murder

Moderate: Forced institutionalization