Reviews tagging 'Violence'

A Darker Shade of Magic by V.E. Schwab

259 reviews

abbypeekreads's review against another edition

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Gun violence, Blood, Death, Gore, Murder, Torture, and Violence

mobymaize's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious 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? Yes

4.5

A lovely romp through multiple Londons, similar to, but not the same as, Neil Gaiman's Neverwhere. Super exciting and felt like a very well done HBO mini series in the best way possible :)
Planning on reading the sequels at some point!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Slavery, Toxic friendship, Blood, Cursing, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Gore, Police brutality, Rape, Classism, Abandonment, Alcoholism, Body horror, Confinement, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Murder, Physical abuse, Sexual harassment, Torture, Gun violence, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Self harm, Alcohol, Child abuse, Child death, Gaslighting, Genocide, Grief, Kidnapping, Medical content, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Stalking, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Violence, and War

Main character uses magic by through self harm. Just a heads up.

readingwithkaitlyn's review against another edition

adventurous fast-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture, Injury/Injury detail, Gun violence, Death, Blood, Self harm, Violence, and Murder

Moderate: Stalking, Medical content, Misogyny, Grief, Classism, Fire/Fire injury, Sexual harassment, and Sexual assault

Minor: Cannibalism, Alcohol, Excrement, Death of parent, Alcoholism, Genocide, and Sexual content

sandwiiche's review against another edition

adventurous 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? No

3.5

a cool introduction to this world! i really loved the magic system, but felt like the characters weren't quite fleshed out enough for me to care about them

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Content Warnings

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

laurenbaggy's review

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Child death, Self harm, Addiction, and Sexual assault

Minor: Slavery, Gore, Confinement, and Addiction

kelliaujulii's review against another edition

adventurous 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

4.25

I thought this was a great start to a series. The world created is very creative and unique and the best part of the book. The idea of four Londons overlaid with each other with various amounts of magic is a really cool premise. Each world felt as unique and interesting as you would hope for as visited by the characters throughout the story. The two main characters of Kell and Lila were fine, I enjoyed learning about them and following their journey, but I can't say the book did enough to put me past that and into the "I love this character" level. The plot was interesting enough and had some nice twists but in general seemed to wrap up rather quickly. I am looking forward to exploring more of this series/world in the next books.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Sexual assault and Violence

lstultz's review against another edition

adventurous dark medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence

sustainably_lucia's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.0

The magic system and world created by Schwab are fascinating. I was sucked right into the story from the beginning. The characters were excellently written and believable. Kell and Delilah are a great pair. My interest waned when the violence increased, but overall it was an enjoyable read.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood and Violence

typedtruths's review

adventurous emotional slow-paced

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

4.25

After languishing on my shelves for nine years, I finally gave this a shot... and thoroughly enjoyed it! Schwab is a hit-or-miss episode for me; yet this one grabbed me from the onset. I'm a little nervous to dive into the sequel when it ended satisfactorily, though.

Blog • Trigger Warning Database • StoryGraph

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Violence, Gun violence, Sexual assault, Self harm, Injury/Injury detail, and Murder

Moderate: Torture and Death

➸ Trigger warnings for attempted rape (on-page), self-injury, alcohol consumption, graphic blood and injury depiction, death and magical resurrection of a friend & brother, murder and attempted murder, torture, gun & sword violence, and loss of autonomy (magical coercion).

wordsandrecreation's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious fast-paced

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

3.75

I loved the concept of parallel Londons! I really liked both MCs, and I'm very curious about Lila's missing eye! The writing style fit me very well, it felt fitting to the world and character and had a good flow that was easy to read. 

I found the ending a bit rushed and maybe a bit easy? I felt like suddenly everything was over and okay and back to normal. I would have liked a more ominous ending that hinted at things might not be so okay after all (I expect they aren't, as there are two more books in the series haha). So that's my main reason for not giving it a better rating, I felt like the ending didn't quite stick the landing for me. 

I'm really excited about reading more about Lila and Kell!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood

Moderate: Violence