Reviews tagging 'Child death'

Bitterblue by Kristin Cashore

29 reviews

jordyn_alexx's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny inspiring 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? Yes

5.0

Reread August 2023:
This was longer than I remembered, but that was welcome. It was certainly familiar, but there were also less finer details that I remembered than I would’ve thought. I’m happy I reread it. 
I’d forgotten how endearing Death was and how nice it was to witness the start of Bitterblue and Giddon’s friendship. I found myself not quite frustrated, but wishing Bitterblue did certain things differently. 

Edit: Reread April 2021
With this reread I think I was seeing things from new perspective. It's hard to understand how things have progressed within the timeframe, but at the same time, I imagine it's realistic. After reading Winterkeep, it's nice to be reminded of how things developed in this book. 
~
This was not my favorite of the Graceling books, but I still loved it. I connected really well with the characters and I was left wishing she'd write more.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, and Suicide

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Kidnapping, Torture, Death of parent, Trafficking, Panic attacks/disorders, Murder, Physical abuse, and Violence

Minor: Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Pedophilia, Violence, Animal cruelty, Child death, Death, Sexual assault, Animal death, Child abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Alcohol, and Physical abuse

lwooters's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful mysterious sad medium-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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Grief, Kidnapping, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Animal death, Animal cruelty, Suicide, Medical trauma, Child abuse, and Death of parent

Minor: Child abuse, Child death, Sexual violence, Physical abuse, and Rape

talonsontypewriters's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Classism, Emotional abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, Violence, Death, and Murder

Moderate: Sexual assault, Torture, Body horror, Domestic abuse, Sexual violence, Animal cruelty, Police brutality, Kidnapping, Sexual harassment, Child abuse, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Gore, Medical content, Medical trauma, Suicide, and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Pedophilia, Animal death, Rape, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Incest, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Child death, Self harm, Vomit, Xenophobia, Homophobia, and War

Human and animal experimentation. Strangulation/suffocation. Mind control, overriding/alteration of will (mostly discussed/aftermath). Abuse and sexual violence, including of children, are described frankly, but not extremely actively or graphically depicted on-page.

aseel_reads's review

adventurous slow-paced

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

4.0

I liked the depth this book gave to the world but it was quite slow and way too long

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Content Warnings

Minor: Alcoholism, Blood, Death of parent, Murder, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Child abuse, Child death, Mental illness, Death, Domestic abuse, Confinement, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Medical content, Torture, and Violence

g_c_geeks's review against another edition

adventurous challenging 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

5.0

Ok so maybe there’s some issues with pacing but it did not bother me. I loved reading about all the political and social structures within the world, and loved spending time with these characters. 
It was a really good continuation of Graceling and Fire and built upon what happened years later. I really enjoyed it. 
I think about this world all the time and will have a place in my heart forever. 
Keep in mind though that you find out some very dark and disturbing confirmation of what Leck has done. 
I’m going to read Winterkeep (the fourth book in the series) for the first time and am very curious on what Cashore will continue to develop. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Murder, Torture, and Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Child death, Medical trauma, Suicide, Self harm, Child abuse, Sexual assault, War, Mental illness, Gaslighting, Death of parent, Death, and Adult/minor relationship

siglerbooknook's review against another edition

adventurous challenging 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Self harm, Suicide, Sexual violence, and Suicidal thoughts

Moderate: Rape, Violence, Suicide attempt, Fire/Fire injury, Emotional abuse, Domestic abuse, Death of parent, Homophobia, Grief, and Gaslighting

Minor: Medical content, Child death, Blood, Medical trauma, Classism, Child abuse, Addiction, Pedophilia, Panic attacks/disorders, Outing, Mental illness, Kidnapping, Pregnancy, Physical abuse, Animal cruelty, and Alcoholism

sonshinelibrarian's review against another edition

5.0

Ugh. This book. It is SO dark and so good. I loved Bitterblue in Graceling, so I was so excited to have her be the main character of her own book and she did not disappoint. I also loved seeing some of the other characters again. But dealing with the after effects of a ruler like Leck would be utterly devastating and this book does not shy away from those things at all, but it doesn't do it for no purpose. I loved the overarching theme about dealing with trauma and how to move forward while realizing that you have to acknowledge the past. 

This is definitely one of those kinds of books that could be difficult and even triggering for some people to read, so while this is definitely my favorite of the three so far, take your own past experiences into consideration when deciding whether to read this book.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Murder, Suicidal thoughts, Emotional abuse, Grief, Pedophilia, Self harm, Suicide, Child abuse, Child death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, and Violence

Minor: Animal cruelty

battybookworm's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional inspiring sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

Rereading these books has truly been a delight. I am now unsure if I ever actually finished it previously but either way, this book had me til the very end this time! It’s such a useful book on recovery and how one can hold onto hope after devastating happenings occur. Cashore weaves past characters in beautifully and engages each in a way that makes their character fuller and more interesting.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Suicide attempt, Suicide, Suicidal thoughts, Rape, Toxic relationship, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Physical abuse, Murder, Mental illness, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Slavery, Sexual content, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Police brutality, Injury/Injury detail, Dementia, Animal death, Body horror, Blood, Child death, Child abuse, Classism, Colonisation, Death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Gaslighting, and Gore

This book, like it’s predecessors, discusses very dark topics. If you’ve read Graceling and Fire, this focuses heavily on the repercussions of decisions in those novels as well as what happened and happens after King Leck’s reign.

the abuse of people (particularly children) and animals as well as their deaths/bones are discussed frequently and in great detail through journal entry style or medical analysis. There’s some implication of danger towards Bitterblue as a child, but otherwise there’s no pedophelia/incest in the novel.

There are many character deaths and violent scenes.

oneeyedjess's review against another edition

challenging dark hopeful mysterious reflective sad tense slow-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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Gore, Grief, Murder, Rape, Self harm, Sexual violence, Suicide, War, Blood, Child abuse, Child death, Colonisation, Death, Domestic abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, and Violence

wanderonwards's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad medium-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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Grief, and Suicide

Moderate: Death, Animal cruelty, Child death, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, and Rape