Reviews tagging 'Grief'

Seasparrow by Kristin Cashore

26 reviews

beebeewin's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional reflective slow-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

What can I say, other than I was surprised by this book! I feel like at first, I was not truly getting into the story. It was quite slow at the beginning and that wasn't helped by the fact that Hava is a hard to character to like. But in the end, Hava's characterization is probably one of the best parts of this book. Hava as a character is neither good nor bad. She is someone who's been scarred by trauma and can't express her emotions or feelings because of that. This book is about her coming to terms with the trauma and working to be better. By the end you can see her growyh and how she is working on, but not yet perfected, her ability to process her emotions. As someone who's experienced a lot of childhood trauma this book felt so fucking personal. Kristin Cashore once again did a great job of writing the processing of trauma. I think I talked about this in the first three books of this series, Cashore does not hide from the trauma and the truly deep scars it leaves on people. I think the fourth book lost this thread, but it is back here. Due to the setting of the story Cashore was able to do a great job of slowly having Hava unpack the trauma she experienced and learning how to live in the world that comes afterwards. It was interesting, the survival aspect of this novel really tied in with how Hava had to survive as a child and was so well written and I assume researched. 

I definitely found myself really getting into it once it got into the second act. The third act was a lot more reflective, but that made sense for the novel narratively.  But I think the lowness at the beginning is why I'm not giving it a higher rating. It did take a while to get into and I felt like at least 100-150 pages could have been trimmed. I think Cashore was trying to build Hava's perspective but i think the rest of the novel did that well ao much could have been removed. I do appreciate Hava's perspective, it's someone who was on the outskirts, which made me way more interested in her perspective.

I also really appreciated the romance. It wasn't over the top like some other books I've been reading recently. Instead it was really the slow build, as these two people are healing themselves and want to be together as they heal with one another. It felt so honest to the story and truly lovely. 

I would definitely recommend this last book in the series (so far)! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Grief, Vomit, Animal cruelty, Death of parent, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Violence

Minor: Rape, Child abuse, and Death

ceti's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional mysterious 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Grief, Gore, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Animal death and Death

randomshai's review

adventurous hopeful mysterious reflective 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? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Pregnancy, Body horror, Sexual assault, Grief, Animal death, Animal cruelty, and Blood

how_sweet_the_sound's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful 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

I absolutely loved this book. While the ending felt sudden, the rest of the book had me tearing up multiple times. What a stunning addition to the Graceling Realm series.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Death of parent, Death, and Grief

Moderate: Confinement, Blood, and Body horror

Minor: Sexual assault and Sexual violence

emilycfox's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• 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: Animal death, Death, Animal cruelty, Death of parent, Grief, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Confinement and Sexual assault

Minor: Homophobia and War

Detailed animal abuse

alyxbeau's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful reflective sad tense slow-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

I loved this on comparison to the 4th book. The love I have for this series has returned! I'm so glad we didn't have the same cast as before and instead we got to follow Hava!

I absolutely hated the loss of

Tulip the cat. I swear they would have had time to find them based on the description in the books and it broke my heart to read and wonder if they would show up in a lifeboat later, one Hava wasnt in. Blueberry also broke my heart.

I found Hope delightful and enjoyed how much she really provided to the people on this journey the essence of her name.

 This is certainly not going to be a book for everyone, a lot of it could be considered boring (it wasn't to me but if I see complaints I would understand why they were made) but I LOVED IT. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Grief, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Pregnancy, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, Emotional abuse, and Sexual assault

Loss of a limb (necessary amputation)

imds's review

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Body horror, Classism, Confinement, Emotional abuse, Violence, Abandonment, Vomit, Child abuse, Grief, Sexual violence, Death, Death of parent, Kidnapping, Child death, Trafficking, Bullying, Suicide attempt, Pedophilia, Drug use, Pregnancy, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, and Panic attacks/disorders

lizziaha's review against another edition

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.25

My main qualm with this book is that survival stories just aren’t really my thing. Luckily for me, there were other parts to this book. I particularly loved Hava’s relationships with Jacky, Linny, and Giddon. Something about the way that Hava is always expecting to be ignored or rejected and then someone (usually Giddon or Linny and sometimes Bitterblue) comes along and proves her wrong is so compelling. I love that even though there’s a broad cast of characters, each one feels distinct, and their personalities are complex, even if they don’t play a huge role in the book.  The blue foxes are such a wonderful addition to the story and the way the audiobook narrator voiced them just made them so adorable. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Abandonment, Murder, Animal cruelty, Death, Injury/Injury detail, and Death of parent

Moderate: Kidnapping, Blood, Gore, Trafficking, Drug use, Sexual assault, Child abuse, Grief, Homophobia, and Rape

Minor: Sexism, Misogyny, Torture, and Classism

dragongirl271's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional 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? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Animal death, Death, and Animal cruelty

Minor: Death of parent, Sexual assault, and Domestic abuse

bri_morgan's review

adventurous emotional reflective slow-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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Death, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Addiction, Grief, Animal death, and Confinement