Reviews with content warning for Blood - Nightbane

Reviews tagging 'Blood'

Nightbane by Alex Aster

28 reviews

datgirllani's review against another edition

challenging dark 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? No

3.0

“The gods don’t listen to people like me, but I would go on my knees and beg them to let me keep you. You were once the bane of my existence… and now , you are the center of it…. My entire world was night, and you lit a match. No matter what happens to me in this life, I’ll find you in the next one. I’ll always find you. What I feel for you can never be extinguished. Like the nighttime sky, it is infinite. You and me…we are infinite.” Where do I even begin. This book, no matter if you’re team Grim or team Oro is a roller coaster of emotions. And I hate love triangles for that exact reason. Due to me being team

Grim

the first 200 pages was brutal to experience and painstakingly slow and hard to read. I got frustrated to the point where I had to put this book down for two days to cool off. Then it started going in the direction I wanted it to. But at what cost? My sanity. There’s the way where authors play with your emotions and you enjoy it. Then there’s the other way where it’s to the point you’re getting pissed. I was the latter. I truly am not a fan of love triangles because of this. The ending had my emotions too heightened to the point I didn’t enjoy it like I should have. I was pissed that (this next part is a MAJOR spoiler so beware) Isla chose

Oro still when it came time to pick who to kill and yet Grim wasn’t mad at her he was SCARED because that meant she would die too. It took her remembering what she did to realize she didn’t deserve Oro and THAT’S when she chose Grim. At this point SHE doesn’t deserve Grim.

I’m so mad I had to rant sorry. Overall if you’re like me and get mad when you feel like who you picked in the love triangle isn’t endgame then this will be a tough read. Nothing about this book was fun to read. I was STRESSED. I will also be reading Skyshade….

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casuallycassi's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging emotional funny mysterious tense medium-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? It's complicated

4.5

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rachelpacz's review against another edition

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dark mysterious medium-paced

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

3.75

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megrit's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional 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

4.25

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barbarianmissy's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional hopeful inspiring 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? Yes

4.25

Well well well. I guess I’m a big dumb stupid idiot.

Ok, fine, WHATEVER I’m on team Grim now but I’m not happy about it. Just know that when he shows up in the next book and I’m kicking my lil feeties whenever he talks, I’m doing so reluctantly and against my better judgement.

BUT even so, I still think Oro is a better person. I actually like him a lot and he deserves some happiness too. It’s just that I don’t think he’s the right guy for Isla cause she’s a moron (said with love cause she rocks but also makes a lot of stupid, rash decisions when the fate of her people is LITERALLY on her shoulders).

The new characters were quite interesting, although since there were so many of them it was a little hard to connect with them. I will never ever trust those wee little Starlings.

Anyways, JEEZ the second half of this book was a whole lotta plot twists. It was a fun, wild ride! I’m very curious as to what is happening in the next one.

ALSO SIDE NOTE: I think that name Lynx for a pet leopard is dumb. Literally a whole different cat species. Feels disrespectful.

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cmagrini1404's review against another edition

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Isla's character didn't appeal to me. The style of writing wasn't for me, also. Maybe because it's YA.
I found Isla to be a bit.... Insufferable. A character I can't imagine being born into the role she's in and growing up to be so mentally weak. I gave up when she was acting insecure towards Oro when he complimented her, talking down about herself.

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organizedxchaos's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional hopeful 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

Wow! This book was freaking ✨ah-ma-zing!✨! I have not loved a fantasy world this much in a long time. The world building is given in a way that isn’t info dump-y which makes for a really pleasant reading experience overall. And the tensions between the characters?! Absolutely chef’s kiss! Highly recommend adding this series to the top of your fantasy TBR for 2025!

Spice level: 2.5/3🌶’s (not overly descriptive/graphic)

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saretta02's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional sad 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? It's complicated

4.0

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nancymae_reads's review against another edition

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adventurous mysterious tense medium-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

4.5

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boba_nbooks's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious 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? Yes

3.25

Spice Rating: 🌶️ / 5

This novel is a fun ride if you just go with it and turn your brain off.

Nightbane, the sequel to Lightlark, starts right where the first novel ended--with Isla on the island of Lightlark living in the palace with the king. Isla and the king are racing to find help and an army to assist them in fighting the impending war that will be here sooner than they'd like. But as they look for aid, Isla starts to remember her past and wonders if she made the right decisions and if she's where she's supposed to be.

Overall, I did enjoy this novel. I had a good time learning more about the lore of the world and Isla's backstory. And, of course, seeing her with both of her love interests was a lot of fun. I appreciated that there was more world building, but there seemed to be a lot of arbitrary rules (curses upon curses) that really made everything more confusing.

If you loved Lightlark, I think you would also love Nightbane. For me, I think this series is fun but not one that I'll go back to time and time again.

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