Reviews tagging 'Gaslighting'

The Battle Drum by Saara El-Arifi

4 reviews

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

nightworldlove's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful 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? It's complicated

5.0

Absolutely incredible sequel! There is so much intrigue and I was holding my breath a lot of the time, which is incredibly exciting! The twists and turns kept on coming, and then the cliffhanger was just incredible. Loved it from start to finish and can't wait for the last book! <3

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Death, Body horror, Classism, Confinement, and Murder

Moderate: Physical abuse, Sexual content, Sexual assault, Emotional abuse, Toxic relationship, Vomit, Alcohol, Miscarriage, Torture, Child death, and Sexual violence

Minor: Rape, Animal death, Panic attacks/disorders, Acephobia/Arophobia, Misogyny, and Pregnancy

booksalacarte's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark informative mysterious tense slow-paced

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

2.75

The Battle Drum- 2.75⭐️ 1🌶️

Anoor is the first blue-blooded ruler of the Wardens' Empire. But when she is accused of a murder she didn't commit, her reign is thrown into turmoil. She must solve the mystery and clear her name without the support of her beloved, Sylah.

Hassa's web of secrets grows ever thicker as she finds herself on a trail of crimes in the city. Her searching uncovers the extent of the atrocities of the empire's past and present. Now, she must guard both her heart and her land.

Sylah braves new lands to find a solution for the hurricane that threatens to destroy her home. But in finding answers, she must make a decision, does she sacrifice her old life in order to raise up her sword once more?

The three women find their answers, but they're not the answers they wanted. The drumbeat of change thrums throughout the world.

Ready we will be, when the Ending Fire comes, 

Ready we will be, for war will come.

And it sings a song of war.

✨My Opinion✨

The story being retold at the beginning was very helpful for diving back into the story. I wish that more authors did this!

This book was not for me. I felt like it suffered from the second book issue and I didn’t love the first enough. I will not be continuing the series.

Finishing this book was like pulling teeth. I just lost interest in how unfocused it was. It took forever to get to the underlying connections of the plot. One minute they are solving a murder mystery, the next we are on the ocean or in an earthquake/acid rain/monsoon rain situation. It seemed like pointless wandering in the plot. The mini cliffhangers at the end of POV’s didn’t drive the story forward for me, but annoyed me because I couldn’t really tell the difference between plot cliffhangers and POV cliffhangers. So when big plot reveals happened, they felt insignificant.

I was reminded time and time again why I didn’t like the MC’s in the first book. They didn’t improve in a tangible enough way for me to start liking them.

Sapphic

Traveling

Revolution

War

TW

Colonization

Miscarriage

Murder

Domestic abuse

Religious bigotry

Gore

Thank you Random House Publishing and Del Ray for an advanced reader copy of The Battle Drum in exchange for an honest review.

Available May 23, 2023

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Colonisation, Confinement, Cursing, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, Toxic friendship, Violence, War, Domestic abuse, Gore, Miscarriage, Sexual assault, Slavery, Grief, Murder, Physical abuse, Blood, Child death, Classism, Death, Religious bigotry, Sexual content, and Emotional abuse

haylzno's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional tense fast-paced

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

4.5

Wow. Just WOW. 
So many of the questions we were left with in book 1 were answered in this sequel and it was just so satisfying to start to put the pieces of the puzzle together and start to see the bigger picture. 
That twist at the end?!?! Absolutely floored me. 
I'm enjoyed that we got multiple POVs in this book vs. the (almost) singular POV from book 1. 
We are introduced to a new character in this book and her POVs made me truly angry. There are certain tropes used that I am personally not a fan of. But regardless of how I feel about those tropes, they added a lot of substance to the plot and it served the story well! 
Battle Drum picks up almost immediately where Final Strife left off and we are thrown into the thick of it right away which I loved. Final Strife took me a second to really get into but Battle Drum stole my interest from page 1. 
I also adored the world building we got in this sequel. I need fan art of the giant mushrooms IMMEDIATELY. 
I cannot waitttttt for the third book. I NEED ANSWERS SAARA

Thank you to netgalley, Penguin Random House and Saara for a copy of an eARC in exchange for an honest review 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Drug abuse, Gore, Grief, Medical content, Sexual assault, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Miscarriage, Murder, Religious bigotry, Physical abuse, Violence, Blood, Gaslighting, Colonisation, and Forced institutionalization

Moderate: War