Reviews tagging 'War'

Savage Lands by Stacey Marie Brown

5 reviews

madravingintrovert's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring sad tense slow-paced

• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

 

I broke my rules with this series. I normally won't start a new book without reviewing the previous one first. I also try to review each book individually regardless of it being in a series. This series was just that good all the way through. 

Page turner to the max that had me screaming and rage quitting the book only to pick it up 5 minutes later and keep going. There are a few more triggers than I could list but really just know that this takes place in a post-world war setting and is dark in multiple ways. 

Two other triggers worth noting are drug and alcohol use. 

100% I would recommend this to others as long as they are okay with the content warnings. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Sexual content, Alcoholism, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Misogyny, Murder, Trafficking, Violence, Confinement, Forced institutionalization, Hate crime, Infidelity, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual assault, Bullying, Chronic illness, Gun violence, Torture, Cannibalism, Child death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Police brutality, Sexual harassment, Suicidal thoughts, Domestic abuse, Car accident, Physical abuse, Addiction, Alcohol, Classism, Death, Kidnapping, Toxic relationship, Blood, Sexual violence, Stalking, Terminal illness, Toxic friendship, War, Rape, Sexism, and Slavery

beckyray14's review

adventurous dark emotional slow-paced

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

2.5

I hated this book. The main character is so irritating. There is nothing likeable about her. Also I'm so tired of reading books where the main character is stupid. She's supposed to be highly trained but never uses any of her training or common sense, or deductive reasoning. I feel like this book could've gone a completely different direction if the main character had just an OUNCE of self preservation, or empathy for others. She plunges headlong into stupid decisions and is shocked when there are consequences. The author has laid little easter eggs of things around the book but I just dont care enough or like the main character enough to continue reading the books.

The most interesting part of this story for me was Warrick Farkosh and the Hal al Haz prisoners, and even in that we dont get enough of it. That was a great opportunity to expand the world and world building. I wouldve liked to know more about the people /beings in it. I think a better ending point of this book wouldve been them successfully breaking out of prison. I also feel like the parts that were sexy, or attempting to be/convey her desire for Warrick were SO POORLY TIMED. instead of being intrigued they just made me feel uncomfortable.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Violence and Murder

Minor: War and Police brutality

The main character in this book is take to prison and has to kill fellow inmates, is made to work in the prison and is beaten up by prisoners.

ka_ke's review

dark tense fast-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

Holy shit! I had HIGH expectations thanks to booktok and let me say they were met! The world building is impeccable, the prison was so well written you could feel what Brex was experiencing. Points lost for wasting Kek’s character (or is it?) 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Classism, Murder, Sexual content, Colonisation, Confinement, Cursing, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Body horror, Death, Forced institutionalization, Gaslighting, Police brutality, and Violence

Minor: Alcohol, Misogyny, War, Domestic abuse, Death of parent, and Rape

thetalesofabookishmom's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

3.5

Not as great as all the hype but entertaining despite not loving most of the characters and thinking the main character is a sex craved idiot at times. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Death, Violence, Blood, Cursing, Murder, and Sexual content

Moderate: Physical abuse, Sexual harassment, Alcohol, and Misogyny

Minor: Slavery, Vomit, and War

delvie's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

3.0

Everyone's hyping up this book, and I was a victim to that hype. It didn't meet expectations for the level of praise placed upon it.

The gratuitous misogyny and abuse: It felt like the author just piled it on for the sake of piling it on. So edgy. Very sharp. I could be "fine" with it if the abuse was a demonstration of rock bottom for our main character, but as soon as she finds herself on better footing, she laments that corsets are worse torture than the death camp she just experienced. You're telling me I read 200+ pages of violence at the far end of the spectrum expecting it to hold some sort of impact/value to the character (trauma, rock bottom, etc) only to be told in levity that the main character thinks corsets are worse? What was the point of making me read sexual assault every eight pages if it wasn't going to pay off or affect the character in some way? 

"I had worn dresses with bodice tops- they were worse than any torture device [the death camp] could think up" 

Fuck out of my face with that nonsense. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny, Physical abuse, Police brutality, Sexism, Sexual assault, and Violence

Moderate: Gun violence

Minor: War