Reviews with content warning for Death - Blood Bonds

Reviews tagging 'Death'

Blood Bonds by J. Bree

25 reviews

readyourrights's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

3.0

Better than the first two in the series - more dynamic relationships with each character than just main character being mean to everyone. Still some major plot holes and unexplained phenomena in the world I don’t understand lol but sex scenes are good and there’s just enough intrigue to keep me curious.

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witcheep's review against another edition

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adventurous dark tense fast-paced

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

1.5

I really should stop trying to give this series new chances. It isn't for me, even if the bonds getting personified and getting interaction as POV chapters is somewhat interesting.

I find the plot as a whole too superficial to really care about. The motivations for the resistance aren't very clear or well-articulated: what are they resisting, if they are represented as super evil powerhungry

torturers, mindwashers, and child-abductors/killers

? The resistance's main role seems to be the BBEG organization that is there to cause shock and horrors. The worldbuilding begins crumbling down when every action seems just like a rushed reaction to something, without the reasoning being shown properly. So much of the reasonings is only briefly mentioned (not even properly told) rather than shown, which makes the plot feel very shallow.

My main icks with the series are the same as with the previous books, though:

The bonded group is way too possessive in every way. One bonded would like to lock Oleander away so no one else can even look at her, and another would prefer parading her around to show everyone that she is his. Oleander isn't much better herself.
The men of the bonded group try to take away Oleander's agency in turns, and they often overlook the consept of consent completely in more than one area of life. They also joke about it (in the lines of "maybe you should have a gps chip again", for example). The bypassing of consent is represented as somewhat acceptable because it stems from the possessiveness and a want to keep the central bond safe. This is very offputting and problematic to read.

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jla's review against another edition

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dark tense fast-paced

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

4.0

Pretty good plot, just some minor annoyances. The age of the characters just doesn't do it for me. Griffin, North and Gabe I like. They seem more mature. I really like Kieran, too.

Atlas is a bit too saccharin.

I really can't get over Nox and his toxicity, and I'm not looking forward to 3 more books of that. We get it he was abused as a kid. I'm guessing one of the abducted brainwashed gifted, but how he can hold onto his opinion of her despite all the evidence contrary is dumb.

That cliffhanger, though...ugh.

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