Reviews tagging 'Medical trauma'

The Inheritance Games by Jennifer Lynn Barnes

10 reviews

gduds98's review against another edition

adventurous challenging mysterious tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death

Moderate: Medical trauma

eule's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• 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

4.0

Sometimes repetitive (riddles). Main character without flaws in my opinion. Characters in general are a little flat. Forced love triangle. Not a lot spice or sparks (it’s ya). 
Oren and Alisa are kinda sus. 
Want to read the whole series as so much is left unsolved and there is mysterious stuff going on. The question is: who can you trust?

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Physical abuse, Child death, Death, and Grief

Moderate: Medical content, Toxic relationship, and Medical trauma

morganperks's review against another edition

mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Domestic abuse, Toxic relationship, and Child death

Moderate: Grief, Stalking, Bullying, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Chronic illness, Death of parent, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Blood, Car accident, Toxic friendship, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Terminal illness, Medical trauma, Gaslighting, and Classism

Minor: Alcohol, Alcoholism, Murder, Infidelity, Lesbophobia, Biphobia, Suicidal thoughts, Medical content, Cancer, Racism, and Incest

kallio08's review against another edition

adventurous funny mysterious 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief and Death of parent

Moderate: Medical trauma

Minor: Homophobia

ajboyd_'s review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious medium-paced

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

4.75

This. This book is written amazingly. How the author could make a book’s plot so complex and puzzling, yet still be able to keep the reader’s interest, takes real skills.

I’m not a fan of love triangles, and that is the only thing that puts me off about the book. Other than that, It's absolutely worth the read.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Stalking, Toxic relationship, and Medical trauma

Minor: Lesbophobia

hannahwhiteyy's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious medium-paced

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

3.0

This book was… okay. The short chapters and flow had me engaged, with an interesting plot, but I wasn’t WOW-ed by the characters. The writing wasn’t spectacular, either. All in all, it was 3 stars.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Grief, Medical trauma, Child death, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Gaslighting, Alcohol, and Toxic relationship

johannslauren15's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark funny mysterious 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? Yes

4.25

I really liked how enticing this books was and all the relationship each character had with each other. There were lots of plot holes somewhat filled and plot twists (though I thought some of them were obvious). Though I think this book is good for and set as more for Middle Schoolers, the only thing I would acknowledge as the huge role romance takes place and affects the plot.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse

Moderate: Blood, Death, Mental illness, Toxic friendship, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, and Violence

Minor: Infertility

beautifulpaxielreads's review

challenging tense fast-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Confinement, Death of parent, Death, Infidelity, Domestic abuse, Mental illness, Stalking, Toxic relationship, Violence, and Emotional abuse

Moderate: Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Gun violence, Medical trauma, Violence, and Car accident

dangerous driving, attempted murder, some of the behaviour could be construed as child abuse, emotional manipulation

boredomandwordsofbooks's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Child death, Toxic relationship, Stalking, Violence, Medical trauma, Gun violence, Grief, Emotional abuse, and Domestic abuse

Moderate: Alcoholism, Car accident, and Death of parent

Emily's death is described in enough detail to make it uncomfortable. Drake's stalking and texting abuse is also given a detailed description.

spearly's review against another edition

mysterious medium-paced

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

2.5

Well that was... something.

Not what I was expecting. I think I went into this, based on the blurb and mysterious cover art, thinking this would be more... exciting. That pieces would click into place. I wanted that "ooooooohh!!" moment, that moment everything came together, made sense. It didn't feel like there was any urgency. And Barnes kinda tries to include a bit of murder mystery but it falls flat.

Emily this, Emily that, "Emily would have wanted this" "I'm doing this for Emily" "I owe it to Emily" like we get it. Y'all loved Emily. It just didn't feel like a very good justification for everything that happened (which wasn't much)

What I liked:

Avery. The house. The secrets. I could see the wisps of the grandeur riddles and mystique that the author was trying to build.

What I didn't like:

The way everything came together at the end felt flimsy. Very flimsy. And I think Barnes knew it.

You're telling me...

this whole game was built for Avery because Tobias overheard her funny little name? And he stalked her for 10 years? Just to keep tabs? And thank god she actually has a knack for puzzles and riddles because however could he get his family back together without leaving a complete stranger his inheritance!

It all just felt like a cop out. I felt like Barnes tried to tie up all these sub-plots into one big, exciting reveal, and it just fell flat for me.

I will mention spoilers when talking about the main guys in the novel! You have been warned!

Also, the boys. I just didn't like them. Well, I didn't like the love interests.

I actually liked Jameson at first, at least as a better fit, but he became flakey and exuberant and so singularly focused,  though I'm sure that was the point. Is it okay to dislike a character for being exactly how the writer intended them to be? 

It felt calculated, like Barnes purposely made Jameson less likeable so readers would ship Avery more with Grayson, who is NOT A GOOD FIT. I don't know why Barnes decided to write Grayson like he's 30 years old instead of 19, but I felt such a disparity between Avery and Grayson. He's an adult (or he's written like one). He's starting a career at his family's foundation and Avery is still in high school. 2 or 3 years isn't that big an age difference.. when you're both adults. But Avery, mature as she may be, is in grade 11. Prior to moving into Hawthorne House, she even says she hasn't even kissed a boy or been on a date. 

Take it from experience. No-one out of high school should find themselves even remotely interested in someone still in high school. It's not healthy. And depending how far you go, it might not even legal.

Avery's immediate and visceral reaction to both Jameson and Greyson was honestly just boring, too. Barnes really leaned into the whole he's-so-hot-i-can't-look-away trope...both times. There's a lot of "my body leaned closer on it's own" and "he met my eyes and my breath caught in my throat"...  I'm sure you know the kind of moments I'm talking about.

Also last thing I'll say is i got REAL SCARED we were gonna get an incest plot. Lmao. I know they did a DNA test on Avery and it came back negative, but at the end, when she was looking at the photo of Toby and she gasped, I was like...... that's her dad. omg.

All in all, I'm disappointed. A lot of my mutuals really liked this book, and I really wanted to, too. I might pick up the second in the series, just to see. 

Still, it's a quick read and worth it if you go into it with lower expectations. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Domestic abuse, Medical trauma, Toxic relationship, and Violence