Reviews with content warning for Death - Illusionary

Reviews tagging 'Death'

Illusionary by Zoraida Córdova

10 reviews

what_karla_reads's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious 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

5.0

5/5 stars
1.5/5 spice

I loved it. It was just... wow.

Highly recommend for fans of fantasy with a romantic subplot and diverse characters. Such a fun read that I would recommend to anyone, even first-time fantasy readers. The world building is easy to follow with a unique magical system.

I thought this was a YA fantasy series, but with the graphic scenes of violence, torture, and mild sexual content, I'd say it's good for the mature 16+

Trigger/Content warnings:
Violence from war, torture, injury details, bigotry, emotional and physical abuse, manipulation, exploitation of a child, death of a parent, mild sexual content

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takarakei's review against another edition

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adventurous 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

3.5

I waited too long to write this review and now my brain is empty. All I remember is not quite liking it as much as Incendiary and feeling like the conclusion was a bit lackluster??

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palmkd's review against another edition

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adventurous dark inspiring 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? It's complicated

4.5

This story is about so many things such as accepting and forgiving yourself and finding where you belong.

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lizgriffinwords's review against another edition

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adventurous dark hopeful 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

So glad I finally finished this amazing duology. Enemies to lovers with powerful character arcs! Amazing food descriptions! Court intrigue and rebel magic and even some pirates! If you’re a fan of The Witchlands or Serpent & Dove, I beg you to read Incendiary and Illusionary!

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pages_with_panda's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes

3.0

Slight spoilers ahead, I've marked them but felt like I couldn't discuss where the book was lacking without them.

This book felt like the exact opposite of the first one - it was faster-paced, with less action towards the beginning but enough action sprinkled about.

Renata and Castian felt forced and could've used more development, especially because we saw first hand Castian's cruelty towards Moira.

You're telling me that we're supposed to believe he was "acting" when the first scene in the first book is him setting a house full of Moira on fire? With a child inside? I felt like he didn't do enough to deserve redemption.

Maybe this book was too fast-paced because I felt like we didn't have time to experience anything before we were moving on. It felt like some the author wanted to have the characters act out specific scenes for no real reason, especially at the beginning.

Overall an okay ending to the story, but Renata didn't seem to suffer any consequences for her actions later in the book, despite characters warning her of all these great dangers...

of using the knife, for some reason none of those warnings applied to her.

She then forgets the love of her life (again) for like a few pages only to then immediately remembered him out of nowhere. She was supposed to die for using knife and for some reason didn’t?

On another note, I loved Leo so much. I would say the book had a diverse cast of characters that I loved. I just wished they were a little more fleshed out.

“Kiss me and make me forget,” I whisper.
“No, Nati. When I kiss you again, truly kiss you, it will be to make you remember.”

“Then don't."
"Don't love you?"
"Hate me," he pleads. "I could endure your hatred. I would devour its fruit if it meant keeping you with me."

368 pages.
(⚠️Content Warnings;
Graphic: Death, Violence, Blood
Moderate: Sexual content, Torture, Confinement
Minor: Child death, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury )

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bubbly_lara's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging emotional funny hopeful mysterious reflective tense fast-paced

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

4.75

I do not have words for this. What a breathtaking, action-packed and hopeful conclusion of the Hollow Crown duology. Highly recommend if you're into court intrigues, high stakes fights, found family and enemies to lovers tropes. Will now proceed to read Zoraida Córdovas other books and most likely obsess over this duology some more and get the German copies as well ;)

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clarabooksit's review against another edition

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adventurous fast-paced

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

3.0

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perpetualpages's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional funny hopeful mysterious reflective 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

4.5

CWs: some descriptions of execution and torture; blood, graphic injury, and violence; exploration of trauma; some fade-to-black sexual content

Content Warnings

cerilouisereads's review

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adventurous emotional funny hopeful 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

4.0

Content Warnings

azrah786's review

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4.5

[This review can also be found on my BLOG]

**I was provided with an ARC through Netgalley and gifted a finished copy of the book by Hodderscape for a blog tour in exchange for an honest review**

CW: violence, blood, death

An absolutely brilliant sequel to a duology that deserves so much more love, and definitely one of my favourite finales ever!

Illusionary jumps right back into the story where Incendiary closed off. After rescuing Castian from the Whispers, Renata has formed a reluctant alliance with him to find the Knife of Memory and to also locate Dez. Though finding out the truth has left a mess of emotions between them. Plus they’re on the run from the King’s wrath and on top of that Ren’s control of her magic, of the Gray is slipping.

At just under 350 pages this book is shorter than its predecessor, but it’s packed with more adventure and magic plus double the amount of feels!

"It is a difficult thing to get people to believe in something they cannot see. Hope is as slippery as memory."

Once again Córdova’s beautiful writing and storytelling immediately immerses you into the world she has created. With Ren and Cas on their quest, the setting is a lot more dynamic than that of the castle in Incendiary but it is just as atmospheric, and I loved how this expanded on the world-building allowing us to venture out and discover more of the kingdom of Puerto Leones and beyond.

The pacing of the story overall has a great balance as we get more intimate time with the characters and their developing relationships interspersed among all the action of saving the kingdom. It was wonderful to see the return of some other familiar faces as well as being introduced to some fabulous new ones along the way too.

Ren is such a strong and wonderfully written character and this sequel has made me love her even more. The exploration of her powers and how all the memories shaped her identity was even more masterful than in the first book – seeing her come to terms with her trauma and following her journey to self-love and acceptance was so powerful.

"I used to think that if I destroyed the Gray, I'd have room for my own thoughts. Now I know that the strongest voices are sometimes the people we love."

I really enjoyed seeing the relationship and history between Ren and Cas unfold. There’s A+ banter and SO MUCH ANGST but the romance doesn’t ever detract from the primary storyline or the individual development of the characters.

And somebody really didn’t hold back on the tropes! 👀😂 Fake marriage? There’s only one bed? Enemies, to reluctant allies, to wait a minute there is A LOT more going on here than I first thought…? Not that I’m complaining one bit because it was all just *chefs kiss*

This duology has such a fascinating magic system and I really loved how we discover more about it, the history of the Moria and remarkably its link to the King and his backstory! The twists and reveals of how the Kingdom of Puerto Leones came to be how it is and the story as a whole is just so satisfying.

"Destiny makes fools of men who try to force the world to change to their whims."

And that ending… absolutely perfect but I’d be lying if I said it didn't have me bawling my eyes out even now! 😭❤️️

The Hollow Crown duology is one that I will gladly come back to reread and I won’t ever stop recommending! GO READ IT!!!!
Final Rating – 4.5/5 Stars

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