Reviews tagging 'Child death'

The City of Dusk by Tara Sim

10 reviews

sylsbookcorner's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional tense medium-paced

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

5.0

Y’all this book, there aren’t words to describe how good this book is! I knew from the opening line it was gonna be a roller coaster and I was NOT disappointed. It grabbed me by the throat and didn’t let go til the last page! The world building is glorious, the magic system is clever, and the characters are endlessly interesting and messy and I love them. I couldn’t put it down and I cannot WAIT to devour the sequel!

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Death, Murder, Violence, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Child death and Panic attacks/disorders

iforgotilivedhere's review

adventurous dark mysterious sad tense slow-paced

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

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Self harm, Child death, Classism, Cursing, Sexual content, Violence, Child abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Vomit, Death, Abandonment, Body horror, Death of parent, Xenophobia, Cannibalism, Gore, Grief, Mental illness, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, and Physical abuse

luckykosmos's review

dark tense medium-paced

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

4.0

Reading this one was a doozy, because the things I didn't like, I hated, but the things I liked, I adored. The biggest detractor was the pacing - skimming over the other reviews, some said it was too fast, some said it was too slow, but really it was very uneven. The world is beautifully imagined, but the lore is a slog to get through in the first third, because there's so much of it. Now that it's established, I'm hoping book 2 can hit the ground running, but this is a book that would have benefited from in-world lore inserts (textbooks excerpts or letters, for example) between chapters, just so less needed to be explained.

On the other hand, I loved the character. The whole last third of the book was a doozy and kept me company during a bad bout of insomnia. For the size of the cast by the end, all of the main and most of the secondary characters had distinct personalities and motivations, and the way Sim wove them together in the last act was masterful. My one exception is

Fin - I like his place in the larger plot, but not really where he belongs in Nikolas' story. This might be personal preference, but the amount witheld made it hard to grow attached to him the way I did with, for example, Cosima or Jas, who play similar roles.

I settled on a 4 because, while the issues I had did take me out of the experience and went on for a solid chunk of a long book, I think those won't be an issue in book 2 (at least to the same degree), and I really do adore this cast. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction and Violence

Moderate: Death of parent, Cannibalism, and Child death

Minor: Self harm

i_write_on_occasion's review

adventurous dark mysterious slow-paced

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

2.0

The book has interesting ideas, but a poor execution. The pacing is far too slow to keep interest and the characters are difficult to connect with

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Violence, and Cannibalism

Moderate: Sexual content, Murder, and Gore

Minor: Animal death, Child death, and Death of parent

memento_morri's review

dark mysterious 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

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Death, and Cannibalism

Moderate: Child death

booksthatburn's review

This has a lot of story elements I’d normally like, but for some reason it’s just not working for me. I gave it a month and it started to feel like a chore.

I think I’m having trouble because of the size of the cast. It starts out with four main characters (with one more important one who isn’t a POV character) and then adds another one. They’re all in the same city and there’s a degree of redundancy as one character learns something and then one or two others figure it out separately. Whatever the reason, I’m not enjoying it and I’m stopping.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content

Moderate: Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Cursing, Racism, Blood, Xenophobia, Animal death, Kidnapping, Violence, Medical content, Chronic illness, and Death

Minor: Child death, Self harm, Police brutality, Death of parent, and Alcohol

sophiesmallhands's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious 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

4.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Death, and Blood

Moderate: Death of parent, Child death, and Vomit

Minor: Suicidal thoughts, Domestic abuse, and Emotional abuse

midnightgremlin's review

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? It's complicated

5.0

Easily one of my favourite reads of 2022!

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, War, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Murder, and Violence

Moderate: Death of parent

msradiosilence's review

adventurous dark emotional funny 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

4.5

Tldr; Taesia is the best, and I’m really looking forward to book 2.

Read my full review at: https://www.rainyreader.com/single-post/the-city-of-dusk.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Domestic abuse, Body horror, Cursing, Racism, Police brutality, Sexual content, Torture, Violence, Emotional abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Alcohol, Blood, Cannibalism, Child death, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Grief, Hate crime, Murder, Physical abuse, and Toxic friendship

caseythereader's review

adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious tense slow-paced

• 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

4.75

Thanks to Orbit Books for the free copy of this book.

 - Y'all, I loved THE CITY OF DUSK! I was nervous because it's been awhile since I've read a 500+ page fantasy novel and my concentration has been shot recently, but I could not put it down.
- The world of this book is quite complex, and only keeps gaining layers as the heirs learn more about themselves, history is uncovered, people are double crossed, and more, so do know that going in.
- Each of the heirs was messy and headstrong in their own ways, and I loved and rooted for them all, even when they were at odds with each other.
- This is also a lowkey queernorm world. Everyone was at least a little queer, but it doesn't matter to anyone and it's great.
- All that said, I do think this will probably be a divisive book, given that it's so long and complicated, possibly a bit overstuffed, and yes, some plot developments do get confusing at times. I'm all in, though. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Cursing, Grief, Kidnapping, Child death, Death, Gore, Confinement, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, and Violence

Minor: Sexual content