Reviews tagging 'Gun violence'

Ink Blood Sister Scribe by Emma Törzs

69 reviews

shannnne_reads_words's review against another edition

adventurous funny mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood

Moderate: Death, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, Violence, Abandonment, and Death of parent

Minor: Gun violence, Kidnapping, Vomit, and Murder

fieldsandfeels's review against another edition

emotional mysterious slow-paced

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

2.75

I didn’t dislike this book, it holds a lot of promise and the concept was interesting. HOWEVER the stakes didn’t feel high enough, the plot was predictable and slow, and the ending was abrupt. The plot and/or character development was not always moved along through actual storytelling, but by summing up conversations or actions that happened “off the page” in dialogue later on - this is a major pet peeve of mine. I enjoyed the premise and the story overall, but it fell short of expectations.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Blood

Minor: Violence and Gun violence

ethuiliel's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful mysterious 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? No

5.0

Love the characters, love the relationships (especially familial, but also friendship, romance, employer/employee, and more) between the characters and how they develop. The worldbuilding is fascinating as well. And the plot is... I'm not sure how to describe it. It slowly unfolds, I couldn't predict until near the end what the final climax would involve (unlike some books where the goal is clear just way of approaching it and whether the goal succeeds in the way the character intended are what are surprising). However, none of the several twists and turns hit me out of the blue, there were little hints throughout so I gradually saw things unfold.
The ending does leave me wanting more, but not in a "wait that's it?" sort of way. In some ways it's open ended about the future, but the arc of the story is resolved. I would love to see what happens next to these characters and this setting, but also the pieces that are open ended are fun to speculate on, not leaving me unsatisfied.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Abandonment, Blood, Kidnapping, Body horror, Death, Gun violence, Violence, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Death of parent, Sexual content, Grief, Murder, and Colonisation

I listed a lot of trigger warnings but I will say that I didn't find any of it to be treated in a problematic way

avacadosocks's review against another edition

adventurous dark 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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Blood, Kidnapping, and Death

Moderate: Body horror, Violence, and Gun violence

scrubsandbooks's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious 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

4.0

Love a good book about books, and about sisters grappling with the complexities of their relationship. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Kidnapping, and Death

Moderate: Injury/Injury detail and Gun violence

ewalkergrace's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious 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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent and Blood

Moderate: Vomit, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Gun violence, and Kidnapping

Minor: Gaslighting and Animal death

chris_reads's review

adventurous emotional hopeful lighthearted mysterious reflective medium-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Chronic illness, Abandonment, and Blood

Moderate: Death of parent, Violence, Grief, and Gun violence

Minor: Injury/Injury detail and Kidnapping

asahome's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad tense slow-paced

• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

2.75

TL;DR: Sisters, one who can never stay and one who can never go, learn why their family has been torn apart by the books they protect. A young man learns the lengths people will go to control his talent

for writing magical books

.

I found the first part of the book boring. I know it is intended to set up the rest of the book so you can understand the action when it gets there, but it felt too long to me. I also really struggled to understand when we were in the present versus when we were looking at the past. If there had been a format change or something to indicate we were not in the present, it would have felt less jarring to me.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Violence, and Blood

Moderate: Death of parent, Self harm, Confinement, Emotional abuse, Toxic relationship, and Death

Minor: Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Gaslighting, Alcoholism, Abandonment, Child abuse, Chronic illness, and Medical content

summerspence's review against another edition

adventurous emotional 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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Abandonment and Gun violence

Minor: Classism

readwithria's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.5

Ink Blood Sister Scribe is a debut I’m unlikely to forget, but not for the right reasons.

I was very intrigued by the premise of this book. Sisterhood, familial magic, and dark secrets are usually things that I enjoy in books. However, it took about 300 pages to get through the setup and to the main plot. Those first couple hundred pages were interesting, but easy to put down. The last 85 pages were much more action-packed, but almost to the point of going by too quickly.

Other than the pacing, it also bothered me that it felt like the decisions the three POV characters made were because of the plot, and I prefer books where the plot happens the way it does due to decisions made by the main characters.

Things that I did enjoy included
- the magic system
- Pearl, Collins, Sir Kiwi, and the little cat
- the themes of colonial deconstruction 
- the division of information through the different POVs

I would recommend this book to people who enjoy books that deal with family secrets, generational trauma, and objects of power. I would not recommend this book to people who are sensitive to self harm (CW: graphic bloodletting for magical purposes)

This was interesting, but missed the mark in a few key ways. 3.5 stars.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood and Self harm

Moderate: Murder, Grief, Gun violence, Gaslighting, Cursing, Kidnapping, Gore, Colonisation, Medical content, Death, Confinement, Injury/Injury detail, and Death of parent

Minor: Classism, Alcohol, Animal cruelty, and Cursing