Reviews tagging 'Xenophobia'

A Broken Blade by Melissa Blair

18 reviews

crinkledmochi's review

adventurous dark emotional reflective tense medium-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

I enjoyed this book and will definitely read the next one to see what happens but some of the twists and turns were kinda obvious and the characters could’ve been a little more fleshed out 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Suicide attempt, Gore, Blood, Violence, Suicidal thoughts, Alcoholism, Self harm, Panic attacks/disorders, Colonisation, Death, Drug use, Hate crime, Injury/Injury detail, Xenophobia, Trafficking, Torture, Genocide, Addiction, Vomit, War, and Sexual content

booksdogsandcoffee's review

adventurous challenging dark medium-paced

4.5

For the people who loved tog and Acotar but knew it was missing diverse and queer characters A Broken Blade is absolutely for you. Blair provides us with lush storytelling f all while the plot is parallel to what we did to indigenous people (USA &canada) Keera is a multilayered character that you can’t help but love because of her big heart all the damage she carries with her. I can’t wait to see where this series goes. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Self harm, War, Xenophobia, Racism, and Violence

Moderate: Body horror and Sexual content

mgodkin1's review

adventurous medium-paced

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

1.0

Maybe trying to annotate and sticky tab as I read was my mistake but trying to do so made every flaw and boring sentence glaringly obvious. I gave up about 70 pages in when I realized I was begging the author to show and not tell (or to simply please just stop explaining things twice in a row oh my god) and suggesting full sentence rewrites. I'm not some famous author so what does it matter if I disagree with the prose in the grand scheme of if someone ELSE would like this book or not, but holy cow I was bored.

If you don't have the space to be empathetic towards someone with an alcohol dependency you may struggle with liking the main character. I recognize the beauty in focusing on that kind of struggle in a MC's journey but I wasn't actually expecting it to play so center stage for some reason.

I found almost all the twists to be very predictable, probably because everything was over explained any chance the author got. 

Once I decided I'd stop annotating and start to "turn my brain off"/try to enjoy it for the story it is/speed read, I still had a tough time loving or even liking this book.  It was fine. 

Those who say it is like FBAA from JLA are more correct in terms of pacing and skill. Those who say it is similar to TOG from SJM are right only in that we have a magical realm with a king's assassin who lost a loved one and is traumatized. I wouldn't say there's anywhere near the same level of intrigue, sass from the FMC, or emotion in the writing in general. Or worldbuilding tbh. 

and I have no idea why people are saying its super spicy. it was like a 🌶️🌶️ at MOST.

TL/DR; cool idea, terrible execution 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Self harm and Alcoholism

Moderate: Death, Torture, and Xenophobia

chrisb913's review

adventurous dark emotional hopeful 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

Please read the trigger warnings.

This was an absolute fantastic read from start to finish. Everything from the character growth and the world building was on point.

We start off the story with Keera, the Blade to the King and leader of his Arsenal. As the story progresses we see Keera struggle not only with her personal flaws but her commitment to the King. The character development of Keera through out the book had me desperate to continue the story.

This story has a little bit of everything. Lots of action, a mystery surrounding what is truly happening in the kingdom, a fantastic slow burn enemies to lovers subplot, and an absolute badass master assassin that is not ONLY a FMC but truly feels as though they have earned that title. Melissa writes Keera in such a way that truly outshines many other popular female lead assassin books out on the market today.

This is the first of the four book saga and i will absolutely be continuing on with this story. The first three books are out now and I HIGHLY recommend you pick this up and give it a try.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Slavery, Alcoholism, Racism, Addiction, Alcohol, Classism, Colonisation, Death, Self harm, and Xenophobia

bergha1998's review

adventurous dark emotional reflective 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? Yes

3.75

I was not expecting this book to be so unique, I thought it would just be a Romantasy. But it’s so much more dialogues about racism, addiction, slavery. Very well done and interesting. I’m excited to read the second book. 

Fantasy, Enemies to Lovers, Character Development, 2 🔥

“And still he found beauty in the darkness of it, in my light and my shadows.”

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Blood, Genocide, Kidnapping, Physical abuse, Child abuse, Alcohol, Classism, Grief, Racism, Torture, Violence, Xenophobia, Colonisation, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Suicidal thoughts, Misogyny, Addiction, Bullying, Injury/Injury detail, and Murder

Moderate: Sexual content and Sexual assault

silence_underrated's review against another edition

Triggering. I can’t stand rape by a figure in power that isn’t punished.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Sexual violence, Xenophobia, Rape, and War

Minor: Rape

ruthannejoy's review against another edition

The violence just was too much for me. Torturing and killing good people is not something I'm down to read about right now.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Death, Torture, Xenophobia, and Murder

Moderate: Genocide

Minor: Child death

anntharai's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense fast-paced

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

3.5

I do wonder if this book is a victim of its own hype. I was hesitant to read at first due to the hype around itd then when it came up available on my library app I thought it had been long enough but I still found myself with expectations. It was fine. I'm not sure if it felt like a cliff hanger, Straight up sequel bait, or like they wanted to write a longer book but split it in two... 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Slavery, Emotional abuse, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Xenophobia, Violence, Racism, Murder, Classism, Death, Blood, and Colonisation

Moderate: Torture

mal880_'s review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• 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: Xenophobia, Torture, Suicidal thoughts, Alcoholism, and Genocide

Moderate: Child abuse

molls's review

Bog standard tiktok fantasy.  Not written in a way that kept me wanting to get through it. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Self harm, Alcoholism, Xenophobia, Blood, Slavery, Racism, and Murder