Reviews with content warning for Torture - Savage Lands

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.

Content Warnings

elliast's review against another edition

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dark 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

3.0

My coworker recommended me this book. I say this because when I began reading I had absolutely no idea what the book would be about, what kind of universe it would be set in, literally nothing other than that the later books would apparently “destroy me emotionally”. It also means that when I started and was met with an extremely juvenile writing style I immediately became concerned about what I was getting myself into and kept going solely because said coworker usually has pretty good taste. Now, when I say juvenile I don't mean that the concepts were tame and underdeveloped. From the get-go there were themes of war, crime, and other heavy topics, but in the first several chapters they’re written as though the author learned to write by reading ya novels from the early 2000s. I’m talking petty drama, silly crushes, cheesy dialogue, and a lot of entitlement. What I didn’t expect, however, was for that to be used as juxtaposition for later character growth. What I mean to say is, it gets better. Not flawless or fantastic by any means, especially where spicy scenes and dialogue come into play, but better than the beginning for sure.

There was a lot of mystery weaving in and out through the story, and while most of it remained unresolved by the end of this book the author dropped just enough clues to make the reader feel satisfied but also desperate for more. I, for one, had the second book downloaded before I’d even fully processed the ending to this one. I was left feeling optimistic about this series and looking forward to reading more.

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fogla's review

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious fast-paced

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

2.0

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theespressoedition's review against another edition

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dark medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? N/A
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

1.0

It's quite possible that this is the worst book I've read all year. I still feel gross days after putting it down. I should have DNF'd, but I kept holding out hope that it would get better. It didn't. If I could give it negative stars, I would.

There is no defined plot or world-building of any kind. It's incredibly confusing and dumps you into the story expecting you to understand everything already. There are occasional mentions of a war and the history of the fae, but nothing definitive enough to help make sense of why things are the way they are.

The story opens with already obnoxious, immature teen angst romance vibes... but it’s an adult novel. Talk about something to make you cringe. I was actually pretty excited about the idea of a friends-to-lovers romance, but yeah, those hopes got dashed almost immediately when it was clear these two would never work anything out because they're both too stupid to actually talk to one another or fight for each other - instead having sex with other people and hiding their emotions.

This book is absolutely disgusting. Like, it made me feel nauseous with the descriptions of gore, sexual violence, and bodily functions happening due to torture throughout. With 60% of it happening within a really awful prison and the other 40% in a whorehouse, things are bound to get ugly... but this was on another level. I genuinely turned green around the gills a few times because of the graphic nature of the book.

Looking for spice? You won't find it here. Not really, anyways. Every sex scene is happening while the two people aren’t even together. They hate each other and can feel one another having sex with other people but they get off on it themselves????? Or something??? It didn’t even make sense. I got so tired of them feeling one another undressing and touching them while they were in two different places. Too weird.

The dialogue (and internal dialogue) was absolute trash. The protagonist was the most “I’m not like other girls” character ever. She constantly talked about how beautiful and strong she was. How self-absorbed can you be, really? Add in the “f-- you,” “you wish” dialogue and it began to read like sloppy fanfic. Just truly terrible.

I plead with you not to read this book.

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panzireads's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional funny medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes

5.0

This book was everything! ❤️

The banter, plot twists, trauma, smoking hot mmc and fierce badass fmc - I’m OBSESSED. Like the level of acotar obsessed.

I can’t get enough of this and now I have abandon my tbr, so I can devour this whole series as fast as I can. And then I’m going to read it all again.

Content Warnings

takarakei's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional fast-paced

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

4.0

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jasnacholera's review

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challenging dark emotional 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? No

4.25

Content Warnings

megatron1560's review against another edition

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adventurous dark tense medium-paced

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

2.25

I had high hopes for this book and this author. The premise of the book seemed so cool and full of potential but I was sorely disappointed. Sooooo much effort goes into explaining exactly how hot Brexley (I hate this name) is that the plot pretty much disappears. And the other main character! We get. They’re both hot. And when scenes come into play that are supposed to be sooooo dangerous that no one possibly could survive Brexley does because she’s such a badass that she just thinks to herself to stop vomiting from the pain. Constantly. I knew this was a series when I picked up the first book but if you were hoping to find yourself getting questions answered you’re going to have to pick up the next books. I refuse. Rated 2.25 stars because I finished it, there are some lovable side characters, and I think she had a good idea but couldn’t flesh any of it out in book 1.

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