Reviews tagging 'Gore'

Children of Virtue and Vengeance by Tomi Adeyemi

19 reviews

straw_hat_kd's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful tense fast-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

4.75

I loved Children of Blood and Bone. I loved Children of Virtue and Vengeance just as much. They are very different tonally. Children and Blood was a cat-and-mouse chase  meets a race against the clock to return magic before it's lost forever book. This book deals with the consequences of the characters returning magic back. Relationships deepen. We meet new characters and new forces of opposition arise to challenge the maji's pursuit of peace. Once again, we read this book from different perspectives and it is just as successful this time around.  Because of the stakes, the different POVs makes you question who is wrong and who is right throughout the book. I know my thoughts changed with each chapter. I loved the continued growth of the characters. The new characters introduced in this book are fantastic additions to the cast, and returning characters have significant impact. I cannot wait for book 3 to release shortly. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence

Moderate: Gore and Blood

jlemms87's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional sad tense 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

5.0

I didn’t think it was possible for this one to destroy me more than the first, but here I am. Destroyed. 

SO well done. I had to pace myself because the darkness and hate were so well written that I needed breaks. My heart is still aching for each of the characters, and for how desperately I just wanted them to listen to one another. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Hate crime, Colonisation, Panic attacks/disorders, Child abuse, Child death, Abandonment, Emotional abuse, Murder, Toxic relationship, Blood, Toxic friendship, Cancer, Racial slurs, Death, Genocide, Injury/Injury detail, Death of parent, Suicidal thoughts, and Violence

schmanderpants's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark tense slow-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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War and Gore

Moderate: Body horror

kyrstin_p1989's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad tense fast-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

5.0

This is an intense, fast-paced read. The battle scenes are brutal, the love stories are laced with complications, and the young people who are at odds with each other are naive yet steadfast toward their beliefs. The ending was such a cliffhanger that I didn’t expect. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cultural appropriation, Murder, Death, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, War, Gore, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Bullying, Cancer, Classism, Colonisation, Confinement, Death of parent, Genocide, Police brutality, Toxic friendship, Xenophobia, Child death, Racism, Slavery, and Torture

robinks's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious 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

4.25

Compared to the first volume, this one felt a little less intense and more about internal struggles, and I found myself super frustrated at different points. The epilogue had really powerful imagery.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Death, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Murder, Violence, Blood, Emotional abuse, Child death, Racial slurs, Racism, Genocide, and Police brutality

Moderate: Confinement, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, and Gore

Minor: Alcohol, Trafficking, Vomit, Physical abuse, and Torture

cecinamo's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

3.75

I really liked this book. It was really good, but very very sad and there was also quite a lot of violence. 
There is also a lesbian background couple <3 I am definitely looking forward to the third book. Hopefully their story ends well! >~< 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Child abuse, Death, Death of parent, Genocide, Gore, Emotional abuse, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Abandonment, Colonisation, Torture, Violence, Blood, Body horror, and Murder

angievansprang's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

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

5.0

I am loving this series. The magic system is so intricate and I appreciate the attention to detail in crafting this world. The plot twists in the second book of this series kept me on the edge of my seat and made this a fast read. I felt as though Adeyemi did well at increasing the pacing and decreasing the page count in this book compared to Children of Blood and Bone. You better bet I’m eagerly awaiting the release of the third book!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Classism, Death, Violence, Colonisation, and Blood

Moderate: Gore and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Grief

abby_can_read's review

adventurous medium-paced

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

3.0

📱
After finishing the first book, I had high exceptions and I don't think this book lived up to them. This was a decent book and there were parts that I enjoyed reading. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Death of parent, Genocide, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Death, Murder, War, and Xenophobia

Moderate: Gore, Racial slurs, Racism, Blood, and Toxic relationship

Minor: Colonisation and Gaslighting

devourfiction's review

adventurous dark emotional fast-paced

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

2.5

i love the development of the magic system and the world building, as well as some of the descriptive writing. i just wish i could connect to the characters living in that world and not constantly get hung up on some plot holes and motivations. overall, a mixed bag. it's sad that these characters prevented me from staying very interested because the world WAS vibrant (shoutout to the ocean excursion scene!) 
as much as the characters underwhelmed me, im still gonna try the third book with hopes that they reach their emotional conclusions there.

I was often taken out of the story by stuff that didn't fully follow or super make sense. Here are some of my plot hole/contrivance questions that are currently coming to mind.
- mama agba said the duel finishes at concession or death. neither of those things happened but amari still won, but whatever. But after ramaya is shuffled off to the infirmary she is not heard from again or mentioned once. did they heal her? did she die later? did she stay in the infirmary in a coma the whole time, in which case did they just ditch her when they left the sanctuary?
-  if everyone hated amari so much, why wasn't she challenged immediately again, by someone who wouldn't play games? you could say people might have been scared once they found out she was a center, but there was a chunk of time in which this wasn't revealed.
- if amari became an elder, why didn't she get a vision?
- becoming an elder, amari seems to devote no time to think about the connectors under her. Initially I thought this was a great setup for her character as a lousy maji ally because zelie told her an elder has a communal and leadership role, and amari was going into this cultural role without desire or ability to fulfill it, simply for recognition and power, but then this particular concern was dropped and never heard of again.
- tsain mostly existed as far as his romantic relationship with amari aaaand that's it. :( I get that there was a larger cast of characters now but it felt bad to see a main character have no arc of his own outside of his reactions to amari.
- Nailah also disappeared halfway into the book never to be seen again
- ig this could be chalked up to stupidity but WHY did amari and inan meet right by the sanctuary and not at a neutral location 
- mama agba went from being against blood sacrifice and warning away from it to volunteering for it. it's possible but it needed SOME setup i think, felt like whiplash.
- why was amari the only one blamed for the village war crime when she did it with the burner and cancer elders - were they also shackled or in cells, or..?

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Gore, Suicidal thoughts, War, and Xenophobia

minty_3's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional fast-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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Gore, Violence, Death, Torture, and Mental illness

Minor: Vomit