Reviews tagging 'Fire/Fire injury'

Children of Virtue and Vengeance by Tomi Adeyemi

19 reviews

lizzie24601's review

challenging dark tense medium-paced

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

2.0

An interesting installment for the trilogy that deals with a lot of the same themes of the first book. This one frustrated me, tho, because of the lack of character growth. The main characters continue to make the same mistakes time and time again and grapple with the same flaws that it becomes boring.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief and War

Moderate: Blood, Child death, Death, Fire/Fire injury, and Violence

Minor: Confinement

sweetchocolatez's review against another edition

adventurous emotional sad 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Racial slurs, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, Violence, Murder, War, and Death

Moderate: Toxic friendship, Slavery, Torture, Genocide, Blood, Body horror, and Child death

Minor: Fire/Fire injury, Sexual content, Death of parent, and Alcohol

lady_valhella's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Death, Classism, Cancer, Fire/Fire injury, Genocide, and Toxic relationship

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

someryarns's review against another edition

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racial slurs, Murder, War, Xenophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Death, Genocide, Violence, Grief, and Racism

Moderate: Death of parent and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Kidnapping

pacifickat's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense medium-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

3.75

This book was a decent second installment of the series, albeit not as polished and clearly directional as Children of Blood and Bone (one of my favorite YA Fantasy books to date, so I don't blame Virtue and Vengeance for not reaching that bar). It felt a bit like Prince Caspian in the Chronicles of Narnia series, where the preceding book had a plot with a lot of upward momentum ending on a clearly positive note after the main characters experienced notable development in a single direction, but the following book is mired in character flaws, violence, and a bleaker outlook. I actually liked that to a certain extent, because mixed motives, continued resolve, and not becoming frustrated with a cause that is slow to succeed are all very real and believable.

 

As I grew frustrated (likely by author design) with the foibles of each character and their seeming devolving character arcs, I also realize the plot of the first book took place in what I believe was a matter of weeks. It's no wonder the characters are experiencing some backsliding, especially when their next steps toward success are less defined, and debatable depending on each one's motivations and past traumas. However, it was often difficult to be in their heads, particularly Zélie's POV chapters. Our girl turned it around by the end though, once her vendetta became less personal and she found strength in truly uniting her people. Can magic fix everything? Maybe. 

In truth, I was a bit baffled by Inan's chapters, as he repeatedly experienced horrific realizations regarding his family's past and the corruption of the monarchy, and yet (for the most part) continued on their side in spite of feeling sick about it. He is truly a slow-turning vehicle, and it felt unbelievable to see him continue to believe in his corrupt institution. A bit on the nose in today's political climate? Perhaps.  

And Amari, my favorite character through the bulk of this story, arguing for a future with peace for all Orïshans, had an enormous, disappointing twist. I'm not sure the author did enough to develop Amari to then make her murder of civilians a believable course of action, but she did sprinkle in Amari's (violently abusive) father's voice in Amari's head throughout the book as she becomes increasingly desperate to succeed. It's a clever use of POV to capture internal monologue that I am unsure will translate well into movie form should they decide to do a live action version of this series. Ultimately, she learns that peace at any price is too high a cost to pay. The author makes it sound like Amari could have a path back to grace following this murderous episode, but that will be a difficult pill for some readers to swallow after she massacred an entire village (even if the author copped out of it by conveniently resurrecting everyone...but this is YA after all).

Ultimately, it turns out that Roën, the mercenary side-character without a POV chapter of his own, displayed the most character development of anyone. He pulls a Severus Snape, going from a grey area of working for both sides for personal gain to finding a reason to fight for something better, a transformation nearly entirely driven by his love for Zélie. While I remain skeptical that two highly-volatile characters who have been primarily fueled by rage and pain can make for a successful long term relationship (perhaps one of the Healers can invent cognitive therapy), their story still felt like one of the few satisfying elements of the entire book.

So, in the end, it turns out war, genocide, structural racism, and governmental overthrow are messy. Everyone involved has mixed motivations and violence is a near a guarantee. Are vengeance-fueled teens frustrating and a little scary? Yes. Can idealism turn dark? For sure. Are child warriors disturbing? Absolutely. All in all, this is a book with complicated plot and subject matter that meanders so much I wasn't sure how the author would wrap it all up. An abrupt, cliff-hanger, twist ending may not be what we, the faithful readers, disserved after hanging on through this entire book. But what did we expect? I guess we'll have to wait for the third and final installment to see if we get any real resolution to what has been a wild ride of a series.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Injury/Injury detail, War, Racism, Death, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Murder, Physical abuse, Death of parent, Hate crime, and Violence

Moderate: Fire/Fire injury, Blood, Child abuse, and Child death

Minor: Slavery, Sexual content, and Vomit

This book contains child soldiers.

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

puggreader's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

4.25

i’m really glad that this had a message that ultimately leads to monarchy being defeated (or attempted to). i’m actually so mad that we don’t get a payoff of this ACTUALLY being over and the revolution being successful. excellent job upending our expectations and assumptions about the characters from the first book, though.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Murder, War, Body horror, Child death, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, and Death

grets_reads's review

adventurous challenging emotional tense fast-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Xenophobia, and Violence

Moderate: Blood, Death, Genocide, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Child death, Death of parent, and Confinement

Minor: Torture and Fire/Fire injury

ci_eden's review

adventurous dark hopeful inspiring 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? It's complicated

4.0

This took me a year to read due to my ADHD but definitely a great sequel! I could definitely feel how the characters matured throughout the book. The smaller chapters spur me on and I feel like the POV is evenly spread between each character. I honestly can't wait for this to get picked up for a TV show, it'll be absolutely stunning. The way Adeyemi described things, I can truly visualise it in my head.

The fact that the war technically hasn't ended and that they're on a boat in the sea?! Who is this new player Tomi, I need to read the next one right now!!

Also I love how flawed Zelie is. I love a strong woman going through shit, and she doesn't want to run away anymore, she found her purpose, fuck yeah! Although she has horrible taste in men. Also did NOT expect Amari to kill innocent people. Trauma and abuse really twists you.

These are tortured characters that just keep getting battered and abused. Children fighting wars, as the title says. I feel for them, I really do. I feel like their deaths are inevitable but I can't look away... 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Racial slurs, Xenophobia, Blood, Colonisation, Violence, War, Racism, Death, Death of parent, Grief, Hate crime, and Murder

Moderate: Body horror, Emotional abuse, Toxic relationship, Police brutality, Classism, Religious bigotry, and Hate crime

Minor: Gaslighting, Physical abuse, Medical content, Misogyny, Fire/Fire injury, Confinement, Suicidal thoughts, and Torture