Reviews tagging 'Death of parent'

The Excalibur Curse by Kiersten White

5 reviews

mpbookreviews's review

adventurous emotional 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

Moderate: Blood, Adult/minor relationship, Death, Animal death, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, and Death of parent

gattolinos_nerdy_nook's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional slow-paced

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

4.75

I both really liked and disliked this book when I was reading. I had, and still do, a lot emotions with this book. The issues I had came down to personal preference, which is why the book wasn't 5 stars but still high.

Plot wise I loved it all and thought it was really really well done. I'm still not sure how I feel about the ending. but at the same time I know that not matter the ending I would probably still feel this way. I also felt that the characters were all really good and felt very complex and different from one another. Arthur was the only exception to enjoying all the characters. He felt very odd and unlikeable in this book. He is a very black and white character though and I know I struggle to like those characters a lot.

Despite my mixed emotions when reading, I still enjoyed this book and loved the series as a whole. I highly recommend this for anyone looking for something different in their YA fantasy.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Death of parent

Minor: Misogyny

claudiamacpherson's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful inspiring tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Xenophobia, Death, War, Grief, Infidelity, Kidnapping, Suicide, and Colonisation

Minor: Alcohol, Animal death, Misogyny, Sexism, Violence, Fire/Fire injury, Blood, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Injury/Injury detail, and Self harm

starccato's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Blood, Body horror, Colonisation, Death, Gaslighting, Grief, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Misogyny, Murder, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Violence, War, Xenophobia, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Genocide, Panic attacks/disorders, and Self harm

Minor: Alcohol, Domestic abuse, Stalking, Vomit, and Sexual harassment

allisonwonderlandreads's review

adventurous dark emotional hopeful reflective 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

3.0

I LOVE the women in this series. We get a high quality addition to the cast in this final outing in Fina: warrior of the north, gifted bisexual flirt, and honorable friend. However, for all the strong friendships and celebration of all kinds of love, this finale offers little new content in the relationships that made me love this series. It mostly circles back on itself in a reflective way while Guinevere struggles to understand herself, her history, and what she wants from the people in her life. I love her, and I even love her angst. Her intense introspection is something I enjoyed in the first two books, but it was always balanced with action. Here, the revelation of her background brings forth some weighty questions, necessitating a major decision. The ongoing conflict between Camelot and malevolent magical forces tests loyalties and priorities. During the turmoil, she makes the same mistakes again and again while trying to forge a future she can be proud of. Guinevere spends most of the book in her own head with little only rare examples of the sparkling interactions that make her story shine. Guinevere didn't deserve this finale. It was my least favorite in the series despite the stellar cast.

It's hard to do this spoiler-free, but I was highly stressed about my ship for Guinevere. It's up in the air not because of indecision but lack of self-knowledge and a personal blindspot towards romantic love. THEN, my ship prevailed (I think) but it got less time on the page than both the other options (it's a full quadrangle, out here) and it wasn't particularly decisive or romantic despite the long emotional journey to get us to that point (on literally the last page). I felt deflated after all my building concern and excitement led to such an anti-climactic result.

While the questions raised were interesting and thoughtful, they looped through the story without the benefit of the great character elements driving the first two installments. It's strange for me to get the conclusion I want and still leave dissatisfied and underwhelmed. I would have appreciated more plot and more emphasis on the heartfelt relationships that make the trilogy sing. I'm still glad I read the series in its entirety, and this is my favorite version of Camelot to date. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Abandonment, Child abuse, Death of parent, Murder, Physical abuse, Sexism, and Sexual harassment

Minor: Animal death, Sexual content, Infidelity, War, and Violence