Reviews tagging 'Classism'

Silver in the Bone by Alexandra Bracken

6 reviews

manaledi's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional slow-paced

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

3.75

While the names were Arthurian, the book overall wasn't particularly. Also definitely darker than I'd expected. A slow read for me as it's been a busy week. It felt good but not for me.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Violence

Moderate: Blood, Gore, Abandonment, Fire/Fire injury, Child death, Classism, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, and Physical abuse

leedolee's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious 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? It's complicated

5.0

This book actually ripped my heart out. 

And I loved every second of it. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Classism, Emotional abuse, Excrement, Murder, Child death, Death, Death of parent, Grief, Violence, Child abuse, Abandonment, Animal cruelty, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Animal death, Blood, Body horror, Cannibalism, Confinement, Gore, Medical content, Self harm, and War

uranaishi's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious reflective 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? No

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Death, Death of parent, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Child abuse, Child death, Medical content, Abandonment, Blood, Classism, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Kidnapping, Violence, and War

Minor: Chronic illness, Animal death, Body horror, Bullying, Sexual content, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Confinement, Cursing, Misogyny, Murder, Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, and Vomit

camiclarkbooks's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

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

5.0

I received a digital ARC of “Silver in the Bones” by Alexandra Bracken through Net Galley in exchange for an honest review. 

Alexandra Bracken’s “Silver in the Bone” takes Arthurian legends and mixes them with an action-packed treasure hunt reminiscent of “Indiana Jones” to weave a nail-biting story of found-family, dark magic, and nearly-forgotten myths. 

Tamsin Lark was never supposed to be a Hollower. She was a mortal and lacked any magical talents, something necessary to break into ancient crypts in search of treasures contained within. That was something her brother Cabell could do, since he posed the One Vision and could see through the magics and break the curses placed by sorceresses. 

But when their ne’er-do-well foster father abandons them without warning, Tamsin has little choice but to join her brother and become a Hollower and figure out how to survive on their own. 

A decade later, new rumors begin to circulate about Tamsin’s long-gone father figure. They say that he abandoned them after acquiring a powerful ring from Arthurian legend, one that Tamsin sets her sights on in hopes it could free Cabell from a terrible curse. 

Tamsin isn’t the only one after the mythic ring. Once the rumor begins to spread, rival Hollowers also hunt for the ring, leaving Tamsin with little choice but to partner with her rival, Emrys. The pair form an uneasy alliance and fall into a conspiracy of dark magic and deadly secrets about ghosts from a long-forgotten past as they try to claim the ring. 

All of Bracken’s characters were solid and had layers of personality and secrets that the reader got to slowly uncover as the book progressed. Each did fall into the occasional rut of cliché, but clichés exist because they’re tried and true. The main character, Tamsin Lark, was an especially compelling character with her prickly personality and fierce loyalty to her adoptive brother, Cabell. Bracken did an excellent job showing the reader how Tamsin’s upbringing and betrayal from her foster father, Nash, affected how she mistrusted others and viewed the glass as perpetually half empty.

“Silver in the Bone” had a compelling plot that keeps the reader telling themselves “just one more chapter!” Bracken maintained steady pacing and kept the characters moving forward but also provided just enough downtime for the reader to get to know the characters. Towards the last quarter of the book, the plot started to seem a little muddled, but at no point was I bored or too confused to keep reading. 

Bracken has great writing chops, which is unsurprising since she wrote several books before this, including the New York Times #1 bestseller, “Lore.” I have a feeling that “Silver in the Bone” will also top some lists when it comes out. Bracken wrote an interesting fantasy story that utilizes Arthurian legends to tell a story full of magic and dark twists and keeps the reader on the edge of their seat the whole way through. 

Do yourself a favor and move “Silver in the Bone” up your TBR! 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Abandonment, Body horror, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, and Death

Minor: Classism

lastblossom's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense medium-paced

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

tl;dr
Loosely based on Arthurian legend and featuring an exceedingly pragmatic main character, this book takes a bit to get going, but doesn't let up once it does.

Thoughts
I stayed up way later than I expected finishing this (oops). The opening of this book was, for me, a bit slow. It took some time to get all the world building and the main plot moving, but just as I was getting used to the pace, it took off at a run and never stopped. And WOW! What a run. This tale is inspired by Arthurian legend, but it takes the pieces and creates its own story full of plot twists that kept me guessing the whole way through. Tamsin is a difficult main character. On the one hand, I appreciate not having an eternally hopeful ray of sunshine who always believes the best in people. Sometime a girl's gotta be pragmatic. But there were times when her jaded worldview got in her way, which I probably hate because it's a little too relatable. Thankfully some of the other characters balance out her (mostly) warranted cynicism, with Neve the energetic sorceress being a standout favorite. And speaking of other characters, there's the start of what might be an enemies to lovers romance, with a fade to black-style night spent together (how far they went is unclear). Emrys is as complicated as Tamsin, and I really like how their relationship has progressed so far, but his motives a very unclear, so now I must await book two for answers.

Thanks to NetGalley and Knopf Books for Young Readers for an advance copy. All thoughts here are my own.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Fire/Fire injury, Death, Abandonment, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, Murder, Classism, Blood, and Violence

Minor: Suicide

kimmykelly's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child abuse, Death, Emotional abuse, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Alcoholism, Abandonment, Blood, Classism, Gore, and Violence