Reviews tagging 'Death'

The Battle Drum by Saara El-Arifi

26 reviews

frankieclc's review against another edition

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Death, Self harm, Violence, and Torture

mj_86's review

adventurous 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? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Miscarriage, Blood, and Death

Moderate: Death of parent, Alcohol, Addiction, Gore, and Violence

Minor: Sexual content and Animal death

fairyollie's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense 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

5.0

oh, Battle Drum; oh, Saara, you did not hesitate to fill my heart and crush it now, did you? what a poignant, heart-wrenching, tumultuous, devastating story; what an honest and raw tale that has been woven here. it is painful and stressful in the most glorious ways. it feels so raw and real that at times it felt more like I was reading a hidden book of world history: climate crises, fights for power, classism, inequity, all wrapped up with stunning world-building and complex characters.

I know people complain that Sylah and Anoor have regressed without one another, but long-distance relationships without means of communication would be HARD! can you even imagine? 

all goes to say that I fear I will be empty until The Ending Fire is released (thankfully I have pre-ordered!) 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gaslighting, Genocide, Xenophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Torture, Blood, Colonisation, Gore, Murder, Violence, Self harm, Slavery, Addiction, Death, Drug abuse, Grief, Religious bigotry, and Classism

Moderate: Ableism, Alcohol, Trafficking, Alcoholism, Confinement, Emotional abuse, and Stalking

booksqworm's review

adventurous emotional mysterious reflective sad 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

This book is trying to do a LOT. A lot happens in it and the pacing is a bit confusing. Sometimes it feels super fast and sometimes dragged out, but it is worth it reading all 516 pages. The plot twists and turns which keeps it interesting. There a few horny scenes that felt like they came out of no where and didn’t fit the rest of the book because there is a lot less romance than the first book. I think the book could have been condensed, and Anoors conflict wasn’t my favorite. Her character didn’t really get to shine this book even though she in on the cover. Overall I really enjoy the themes in the book, and the world building is fantastic. There are some amazing quotes, mostly from Hassa. She’s my favorite. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death and Violence

Minor: Sexual violence

abnerbee's review

adventurous emotional tense medium-paced

4.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Alcohol, Colonisation, Miscarriage, Body horror, Murder, Slavery, Addiction, Child abuse, Classism, Domestic abuse, Alcoholism, Animal death, Sexual content, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Sexual assault, Blood, Drug abuse, Rape, Drug use, Death, and Grief

porcupine_girl's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Religious bigotry, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Rape, Sexual violence, Ableism, Genocide, Alcohol, Gore, Pregnancy, Self harm, Sexual assault, Violence, Miscarriage, Kidnapping, Physical abuse, Terminal illness, Trafficking, Classism, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, War, Body horror, Cursing, Alcoholism, Child death, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Death, Medical content, Torture, Blood, Colonisation, Confinement, Abandonment, Medical trauma, Murder, and Police brutality

Moderate: Addiction, Toxic relationship, and Gun violence

Minor: Sexual content, Infidelity, and Animal death

ajay_101's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional tense 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

4.75

I loved this book so much more than the first one!

I feel like Saara knew that the world was already established and so there was no bogging down of explaining the lore of the world and we were straight into the meat of the story.

I loved every single character throughout the story besides Nayeli really but that's just because they were a new character, the twist at the end was fantastic.

The only thing that stopped this being 5 stars is that I felt like some little bits of the story were glossed over and could've done with a bit more explaining!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death

Moderate: Gore

kendal_reads's review

adventurous emotional 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? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Miscarriage, and Blood

Moderate: Panic attacks/disorders, Alcohol, and Sexual content

lisacanteven's review

adventurous challenging emotional informative 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

I'm a pretty visual person, so seeing stories play out in my head as I read isn't a new thing. However, this book was probably the clearest I could ever see a story in my mind. I still gave the first book, The Final Strife, 5 stars but somehow the sequel was leagues above even that book. You learn so much about the politics of this world in the first book, but the second is such an exciting and thrilling adventure. If it wasn't for my Lexapro I would have bawled in several places in this story. Alas, my Lexapro has a lockdown on my tears. 

The last line of the book?!? I read an ebook from the library, so my last line was italic. However, my partner read a Kindle version and the final line was in quotes. I checked a US hardback and it's in quotes too. This makes a huge difference in the ending, so I need to know why my copy was wrong!!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Blood, Body horror, Torture, Injury/Injury detail, Fire/Fire injury, Classism, Confinement, Death, Death of parent, War, and Colonisation

Minor: Addiction, Drug use, and Drug abuse

rachaeltobindodd's review against another edition

adventurous fast-paced

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

5.0

This world is so rich! The story telling is beautiful. It by no means suffered from book 2 syndrome. In fact since I was already invested after book 1 I loved this book even more. I love the expansion of the word and mythology and the twists at the end. I can’t wait for book 3!

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Murder, Death, Violence, and Blood