Reviews tagging 'Gore'

Empire of Storms by Sarah J. Maas

53 reviews

anndreya's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious sad 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

4.25

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Blood, and Violence

Moderate: Torture, Body horror, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, and Sexual content

Minor: Vomit, Confinement, and Death

victoriapi909's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

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

3.75

This was fast-paced, had tons of action, and is the first book in the series to have smut (and lots of it!), which are all things I love, but I have some gripes with this book namely because it broke my heart so many times and in so many ways. 

I tandem read this with TOD, which helped alleviate all the intense emotions I had while reading. I personally would recommend reading the two books together. 

One of the other major things that bothered me about this book was Aelin herself- she was quite insufferable. Granted, she had a ton depending on her and she frequently had to make difficult decisions, but it frustrated me that she continued to navigate so much alone, despite having a Court. All the other characters made up for my feelings about her though, and I do love all the other characters.

A lessor thing that bothered me was that some character relationships/plots felt like fan service. This series has had very little romance up until this book, and suddenly all the characters were getting together. While I was delighted by the romantic developments, some of them felt more forced than others.

Although this book emotionally destroyed me, I did enjoy it overall. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Gore, Physical abuse, Torture, and War

dalek_caan's review against another edition

adventurous dark 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

This book was so good, each book in the series just keeps getting better. The first half of the book was definitely a slow buildup but the ending is definitely worth it. I'm excited to see how this series wraps up in the last book.

Reading this one in tandem with Tower of Dawn was definitely a good way to take in the story for me. I would have been disappointed to have to read a whole other book in between this and the last book before the story progressed at all. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Gore, Fire/Fire injury, Vomit, Kidnapping, Blood, Emotional abuse, Death, War, Violence, Confinement, Body horror, Abandonment, and Torture

liesthemoontells's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful mysterious tense slow-paced

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

2.75

Toooooooooooooooooo longggggggggggggggg

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Murder, Abandonment, Blood, Confinement, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual content, Torture, Trafficking, and War

Moderate: Death

gingie25_'s review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful tense medium-paced

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

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Gore, and Blood

noetical's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad 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? No

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Death, Sexual content, Torture, War, Colonisation, Fire/Fire injury, Violence, Vomit, Gore, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, and Physical abuse

katelynnelawson's review against another edition

adventurous tense fast-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? No

4.5

A slow start picks up for an adventurous and romantic second half full of memorable characters, not one of which I wasn’t excited to read about!

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Gore, War, Violence, Injury/Injury detail, and Torture

Moderate: Vomit, Confinement, and Grief

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

iloponis's review against another edition

5.0

what the fuck man. what am i even supposed to say after that 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, War, and Violence

gcjay1994's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful tense 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? It's complicated

3.0

My biggest note when it comes to SJM is that all her books could stand to be 200 pages shorter. I like her ideas and always have a fun time, but I think I would really enjoy her work with a tighter edit. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Blood, Sexual content, Violence, Death, Grief, Murder, Confinement, Injury/Injury detail, Torture, Toxic relationship, and War

Moderate: Child death

annamary54's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring mysterious 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

4.75

okay i almost wanna give it a 4.99 stars. it’s like almost 5 stars for me, but not quite. I also did this as a tandem read with Tower of Dawn, so my brain is kinda muddling plots together. all I can really say is in the last chapter I suddenly was sympathetic toward huge Marvel fans…I get it. This is Marvel for me. I think the lack of 5 stars for me

is the relationship between Rowan and Aelin. yes I love them, but it was honestly giving me yawn boring. like it was the same thing from them every time. Although idk how to get around that i guess. I also didn’t like the Celeana attitude that Aelin kinda sported the whole book, especially after meeting up with Rolfe. I just felt like cocky instead of confident y’know. I’m also not sure how I feel about Elide and Lorcan, it honestly felt very Jeff and Annie from Communtiy

overall I had a great time, a lot more action packed and gripping than the first books, it didn’t just wait for the last 100 pages to pick up the pace. I was flipping pages like mad the whole time. I guess that’s just a compliment to SJM’s world building skills, she really created an intricate web of characters that I couldn't have anticipated when starting this series.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Gore, War, Confinement, Violence, Death, Physical abuse, Body horror, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, and Murder

Moderate: Sexual content