Reviews tagging 'Emotional abuse'

Blood Debts by Terry J. Benton-Walker

4 reviews

jadeandherbunny's review against another edition

I was just not interested enough. The characters were cool but I did not really care that much about them, felt sad-ish for

Eve's death (I don't know how to spell it, audiobooks ftw)

but that's it. I liked how mental health and homosexuality was represented. The pacing felt off for a YA book and I was surprised to see a sexual scene in a book of the genre, it was my first and also the first M/M scene I've read.
It is a good book in my opinion but it fell flat for me.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Medical trauma, Grief, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Blood, Gaslighting, Homophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Emotional abuse, Toxic friendship, Cursing, Medical content, and Racism

Moderate: Colonisation, Rape, and Gun violence

eastofreality's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious slow-paced

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

4.0

I enjoyed the focus on family and family bonds, but the pacing was ... off. The first half was languid and slow burning, the second half zipped past with a great deal of "how convenient the person you need is right there at the right time!" But it's YA, so I can forgive a lot of it. Overall, a fun book and I'm looking forward to book 2.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Gaslighting, Alcohol, Gun violence, Forced institutionalization, Sexual content, Grief, Death of parent, Death, Emotional abuse, and Car accident

eliselerario's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Gore, Child death, Confinement, Violence, Toxic relationship, and Gun violence

Moderate: Mental illness, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Gaslighting, Grief, Sexual content, Domestic abuse, Death of parent, Drug use, and Racism

Minor: Car accident

patricktreads's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful mysterious 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

5.0

Blood Debts I went into knowing nothing about it other than it was a YA story that had magic. I was BLOWN away by the intricacies of the story, the magic system and the magical factions that our characters come from. It is a very dark story, but in the best way. The writing was smooth and very easy to follow, but at the same time it was still complex with plenty of detailing to keep the story intriguing and moving. 

The arc I received (special thanks to the publisher and Netgalley) was an audio edition of the book. The narration was done amazingly, and I think the production was pretty spot on to how well it was also written. I really hope that in the next book, the same narration and production team are used to keep that same stellar performance going. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Body horror, Gaslighting, Grief, Murder, Death, Drug use, Racism, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Injury/Injury detail, Chronic illness, Abandonment, Bullying, Classism, and Death of parent