Reviews tagging 'Gore'

Jade War by Fonda Lee

25 reviews

redthistle's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark 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: Drug use, Blood, Racism, Addiction, Death, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Gore, Body horror, Violence, and Drug abuse

sarah984's review against another edition

adventurous dark 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

5.0

It's pretty rare to find a sequel - especially part 2 in a trilogy - that's as good as the original, but Jade War surpassed all of my expectations. It's got a broader scope this time: many scenes take place in other countries and the Kauls are contending with foreign militaries, expat communities and trade agreements on top of the clan war situation and general family drama. It was easy to romanticize what was going on in Jade City, but Jade War draws back that curtain a bit to show the darker side. The characters are fantastic and unfortunately all of their terrible decisions are absolutely consistent with what you'd expect them to do. I can't wait to read the third book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, and Violence

Moderate: War, Xenophobia, Addiction, Drug use, Medical content, Misogyny, Police brutality, Racism, Torture, Abortion, Blood, Gore, Grief, Pregnancy, and Sexual content

Minor: Fire/Fire injury, Genocide, Homophobia, Suicide, Ableism, Animal cruelty, Chronic illness, Classism, Colonisation, Excrement, Fatphobia, Kidnapping, Pedophilia, Rape, Vomit, and Animal death

theespressoedition's review against another edition

challenging tense slow-paced

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

3.0

It's a little hard to compress all of my thoughts about this book into a review.

There's a lot that occurred in Jade War and I struggled to comprehend all of it. In fact, it took me about three times as long to finish it as I expected (I don't know why I thought I'd finish it sooner when it took ages for me to finish Jade City as well).

It's a thick book with a thick plot that's often really hard to follow. The primary theme is "political intrigue" and the author gives us that element in abundance. However, because of that, it often becomes sluggish and almost too dense. While the first book had almost equal amounts of informational chapters and action chapters, this one fell heavily on the side of information and left the action to happen in short spurts throughout.

However, when the action did occur, I found myself holding my breath, waiting to see what would happen next. I was never sure who would live and who would die, whether there was a traitor in the midst, or if a romance would occur. There aren't many other authors who could get me to sit through over 600 pages (probably 400 of which were about politics and war strategies) and still find myself interested enough to keep going. So major props to Fonda Lee for holding my attention through this one.

The ending alone was enough to make this book worth it. I honestly can't wait to find out what happens next.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gun violence, Murder, Torture, Gore, Blood, Violence, and War

Moderate: Abortion, Racism, Injury/Injury detail, Racial slurs, and Homophobia

Minor: Rape, Vomit, Sexual content, and Suicidal thoughts

jakepasseri's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny 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? It's complicated

4.5

Amazing read, definitely better than the last one (if that is possible)! The only issue was with

the constant time jumps made it difficult to follow at times

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Racial slurs, Medical content, Injury/Injury detail, Hate crime, Gun violence, Blood, Cursing, Emotional abuse, Gore, Grief, Suicide, Murder, War, Body horror, Death, and Death of parent

Moderate: Toxic relationship, Abortion, Child abuse, and Colonisation

Minor: Homophobia, Adult/minor relationship, Pedophilia, Sexual content, and Self harm

kaseybereading's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark tense slow-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? Yes

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Pregnancy, Violence, Death, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Blood, Body horror, and Gun violence

horizonous's review against another edition

adventurous 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

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Death, Drug abuse, Grief, Gun violence, Murder, Xenophobia, and Sexism

Minor: Animal death, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Gore, Abortion, Addiction, Kidnapping, Self harm, Animal cruelty, Rape, and Homophobia

◦ Death = Brother, Grandparent

talonsontypewriters's review against another edition

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Drug use, Violence, Xenophobia, Racism, Suicidal thoughts, Addiction, War, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Murder, Torture, Car accident, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, and Gun violence

Moderate: Alcohol, Colonisation, Misogyny, Abortion, Pregnancy, Sexual content, Ableism, Sexism, Suicide, and Kidnapping

Minor: Vomit, Cancer, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Excrement, Homophobia, Animal death, Alcoholism, Pedophilia, Infidelity, and Rape

rorikae's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional reflective 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

5.0

In 'Jade War,' Fonda Lee continues the saga of the Kaul family as we deal with fallout from what happened in 'Jade City' and see how the political machinations, family dynamics, and the future of the clans continue to weave together. 
The middle books in a series tend to not be as strong as the first or final installments but that is not true with 'Jade War.' Lee elevates the pieces that she introduced us to in 'Jade City' and the more time we spend with these characters, the further we get pulled into their lives. I won't touch on any specifics since this is the second book but I will say that we continue to follow the Kaul family and those involved with the different clans. There are high points and even more devastating low points. 
I think the two parts of this story that are the strongest are the complex characters and the political machinations. Each of the characters are deeply flawed but Lee portrays them as so deeply human that it's hard not to care for them. I especially find Hilo a fascinating character. He may be my favorite character in the series but his flaws come out at many points of this book. There is a decision that he makes in this book that I absolutely did not agree with but Lee made me understand it and it didn't harm my care for him.
The twists and turns of this story are more dynamic and emotional than in the first book. I can't even begin to imagine what will happen in 'Jade Legacy' but I am sure that it will be a rollercoaster. I both cannot wait to pick up the final book and also want to put it off so that I always have more of these characters to return to. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Addiction, Blood, Cursing, Death, Drug use, Gore, Grief, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Torture, Violence, and Xenophobia

Moderate: Torture, Suicide, Sexual content, Pregnancy, Kidnapping, Homophobia, and Abortion

maria2001's review against another edition

dark 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

4.75

This was ....wow!!
The only words that I can say is that if the first book was a snack this is the main freaking corse .
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The author picks  up the story  lines we left in book one and builds them to an incredible crescendo , the stakes are higher than ever,  the tension tauter than ever , my sleepin  schedule gone forever owo . 
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What  the author does  in this book is expand the world buildin  , and we get to see more than just Kekon and meet people from all around ( friends and enemies ✨) . The world building is simple enough to understand but like it's so intricately built and the attention to detail is evident. 
(P.s : the depiction of "non kekonese" isn't in the nicest light but I'll refrain from commenting further on it until I read the last book)
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They also dive deeper into the characters than I think book one did . like we have genuinely the most 3D human characters in this book , You love them ,you hate them , you fear for them and you laugh and cry with them .
It was such a joy to be with the Kauls but they also caused me actual stress that if I wasn't reading this on ebook the book would be out of the window :D.
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Now I'm going to gently push this book your way while reminding you that it is violent and intense and does mention triggering subjects so I always advise checking the trigger warning to see what you can and can't put up with 🖤. 
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*whisper* pick this series up ya won't regret ;) .

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Abortion, Death, Gore, and Violence

Minor: Pedophilia and War

emma985's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional 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? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence and Abortion

Moderate: Homophobia, Pregnancy, and Gore