Reviews tagging 'Death of parent'

Red Sister by Mark Lawrence

4 reviews

kazli's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny 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

4.25

AMAZING! Mark Lawrence's world-building is amazing and a treat to read.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Death, Ableism, Blood, Grief, Murder, Child abuse, Classism, Confinement, Gore, Animal death, Emotional abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Colonisation, and Death of parent

themoodreader's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Violence

Moderate: Blood, Death, Animal cruelty, and Violence

Minor: Blood, Death, Medical content, Confinement, Toxic friendship, Trafficking, Abandonment, Bullying, Violence, Death of parent, Murder, War, Animal cruelty, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, and Slavery

ailsaod's review against another edition

adventurous dark 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

Not quite sure what to make of this book but it was much better than I was expecting from a premise that boils down to 'murder nuns'. Like everyone else the first paragraph had all my attention but then the following two pages or so of excessive purple prose about the cold put me right off again. Then we had some lovely

child death

immediately after and I was feeling decidedly unenthused. I got this book with the intention of giving it to my sibling when I finished it though so I had a deadline and continued to slog through the next fifty or so pages. Then the book slowly began to get good. We got to know the side characters, the world building turned out to be very interesting and Nona revealed herself to be a shameless liar and suddenly I was invested again. Then we reached the end of part one and what I thought was an exact repeat of that dreaded prologue but instead it dangled some very interesting hints (red herring that I absolutely fell for included) and then not only was I invested in the book's present but also in what was going to happen for the events of the prologue to occur at some point in the future!

This book is very engaging but it is also a bit on the edgy side - though it pulls it off without seeming ridiculous, unlike some books I could name. It is never quite explained why 'Red sisters' (AKA the aforementioned murder nuns) are a thing other some vague mentions of acting on behalf of the church which does leave me a bit puzzled.

The ending of this book felt like a lot. Tonnes of different things were going on and all were important, chekov's guns were going off all over the place and when it was over I had no idea what to make of it (I still don't) but plan to continue on with the series.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Abandonment, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child death, Death, Blood, Murder, Torture, and Violence

Minor: Classism and Death of parent

kylieqrada's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional 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

4.5

4.5 ⭐s. This d e f i n i t e l y lived up to the hype!?!?! So many things I love in my fantasy: magical assassin nuns, magic school setting, sapphic romance, strong female characters (written by a man, like what?), intense magic system, great world building, betrayal, NEED I SAY MORE?? I'm so ready for the next book. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Ableism, Blood, Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Death of parent, Death, Gore, Grief, Homophobia, Kidnapping, Lesbophobia, Medical trauma, Medical content, Murder, Physical abuse, Slavery, Violence, Trafficking, and Toxic friendship