Reviews with content warning for Cannibalism - Nightbane

Reviews tagging 'Cannibalism'

Nightbane by Alex Aster

10 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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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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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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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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littlered1110's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious 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? Yes

5.0

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literarymary95's review against another edition

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adventurous 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? Yes

3.75

My feelings for this book are pretty much the same as the Lightlark, but the story did feel like it was going somewhere a little bit more so it gets bumped up a quarter of a star. I think this is because you get a lot of context from the Before bits, which were probably the best parts of this book.

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molly918's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

Content Warnings

natashareadsbooks's review against another edition

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adventurous 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

The curses have been broken. But the trials have only just begun. Now Ilsa is faced with having to train, and rule not just one but two realms, and prepare for not only a possible war, but a impossible choice- hurtling between two fates, what would Ilsa do- not just to save her people, but everyone, again?

"When you’ve seen something truly beautiful, everything else starts to look painfully ordinary."

Nightbane picks up where Lightlark left off, and must be read in order.

Ilsa started off, locking herself away from everyone after the curses ended. She was not ready to face what she had done, not was she rest to face her memories that were stolen away and slowly trickling back. But as the book continued on, she came into her own. She trained, learned to weild her power. And she stepped up to become ruler of not just one but two realms. And she faced of against death, again and again, only to come back stronger each time which I absolutely loved about her.

And of course I loved Grim - even though most of what we seen from him in this book was flashbacks and memories- I fell more in love with Grim that I was in book 1. He was still my favorite character through it all. I was impatient to see him in the present.

And Oro was... Very much still Oro. He was patient and kind most of the time. He put his love for Ilsa ahead of even his own kingdom.

But was was coming - not only was a battle destined to break out on Lightlark, but a war raged on in Ilsa's mind as well. Her love for Oro now, and her love she once has for Grim as her memories slowly came back. Her memories holding the key on how she may survive the war, and saving her people.

So, I enjoyed this book. I loved watching Ilsa grow into her powers. And even though this book started a bit slow, it built up to the conclusion nicely. I would have loved to see more of present day Grim, but I loved the memories & falling more in love with him.

And I liked Oro well enough. He was there for Ilsa, & was loving and kind.

I loved the world, and the build up too.

I cannot wait for the next book to see where the story takes us next.

4⭐ out of 5⭐.

1🌶️ out of 5🌶️. - tame YA with tension & a couple scenes with little details.

Tropes:

→ ya fantasy

→ romantasy

→ Enemies to lovers

→ shadow daddy

→ forced proximity

→ "who did this to you?"