Reviews tagging 'Blood'

A Dark and Hollow Star – Nichts ist gefährlicher als ein Märchen by Ashley Shuttleworth

27 reviews

traeumenvonbuechern's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-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? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Blood, Gore, and Child death

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Fire/Fire injury, Toxic relationship, and Gun violence

Minor: Drug use, Body horror, Stalking, Suicide, and Racism

hannahwhiteyy's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious 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? It's complicated

4.0

This was a really good book! Written by a queer author, the book showcased a beautiful diversity of gender, sexuality and race. It was slow-paced in the beginning, which I didn’t love - hence the 4 stars. By the middle and end, I was truly engaged and genuinely related to each of the main characters. Worth the hype, but be careful of the content warnings!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Child death, Grief, Toxic relationship, Violence, and Gun violence

Moderate: Mental illness, Drug use, Drug abuse, Addiction, Alcohol, Trafficking, Stalking, Suicide, Suicidal thoughts, and Racism

jenny_librarian's review against another edition

adventurous challenging mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Loveable characters? No

3.0

I was in a slump when I started reading this. The sheer amount of infodumps and worldbuilding nearly put me off altogether. But I pushed through and I kept reading, and it never really got any better.

Part of it is probably due to this book being a debut. Big chunks could have easily been edited out and some sentences would have had much more punch if they’d been shortened to erase some of the purple prose. It’s not bad, but it’s distracting and a bit clunky.

I was slowly familiarizing myself with the character (although I still can barely tell Vehan from Aurelian), and then the whole D&D and seven sins things were dropped in and it was just too much. The whole faerie world was already big enough without including the sins in it. And the whole role play thing with the dice was too much. If you want to make a  game type book, then make a game type book. Don’t just drop a role play element in the middle of a novel that had nothing to do with it until then.

I really wanted to enjoy this book (gay fairies in Canada, I mean come on!) but it fell flat for me. I don’t care enough about the characters to continue with the sequel, and the dice thing is just too weird for me anyways.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Trafficking and Violence

Moderate: Blood, Gore, and Death

Minor: Body horror, Mental illness, Drug use, Grief, Suicide, Suicidal thoughts, and Toxic relationship

yvonne_cl's review against another edition

adventurous hopeful 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? No

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Death, Drug use, Gore, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Vomit, Violence, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide attempt

dominika13's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious 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? N/A

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Grief, Blood, Gore, and Violence

Minor: Suicide

madamepincers's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny mysterious 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Violence, and Mental illness

Moderate: Gore and Misogyny

Minor: Blood, Bullying, Physical abuse, Suicide, and Xenophobia

mirandavictoria's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.75

This book was incredible! The plot was gripping, the characters were loveable, and the magic system was immensely  intriguing. I loved reading a book set in Toronto, as it provided a unique reading experience for me, as someone who lives near there. The pop culture references were witty and very well done - something that can be hard to do, as they can get cheesy. The LGBTQ+ and mental health rep was also very well done and refreshing to see. Overall, a magically enjoyable read!

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Blood, Body horror, Death, Kidnapping, Murder, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide

thecourtofreading's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious slow-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

"heroes went through so much hardship. heroes were the stuff of tragedies." 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Violence, and Death

Moderate: Drug use, Gore, and Blood

Minor: Gun violence, Body horror, Racism, and Emotional abuse

trilby's review against another edition

adventurous lighthearted relaxing medium-paced

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

4.5

Characters were engaging (if a little uninventive- great characters, just not notably unique characters), writing was good, overall tone was easygoing and relaxing without being boring, worldbuilding and magic system was thought out and interesting, and I was very invested in the story. The author is pansexual and genderfluid and the queer representation is very well done. Both main romance plotlines were queer, and they were very present without being the focus of the book. The book started out a bit slow and boring but picked up speed quickly.

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Content Warnings

Minor: Blood, Gore, Child death, Drug use, Grief, Trafficking, Stalking, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Racism, and Violence

alibader's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny mysterious tense slow-paced

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

3.25

This was one of my most anticipated reads of the year which is what makes this especially disappointing. The plot and pacing were all over the place, it felt as though the story didn't really start until 300 pages in and the beginning was very slow. The ending felt rushed and several moments throughout I found myself rereading a chapter because things weren't explained. 

The only aspect that saved this book and makes me want to pick up the sequel is the characters, I thought they were very entertaining to read about and the romantic buildup was well written.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Death, Drug use, Stalking, Trafficking, Violence, and Child death

Moderate: Grief and Gun violence

Minor: Body horror, Medical content, Murder, Racism, Suicide, and Vomit