Reviews tagging 'Animal cruelty'

Tankeläsaren by Kristin Cashore

60 reviews

carol16's review against another edition

adventurous emotional 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

Squee - love this book sm - Review to be added to Goodreads 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death

Moderate: Pedophilia and Emotional abuse

Minor: Sexual harassment, Gore, and Animal cruelty

wardenred's review against another edition

hopeful inspiring reflective tense slow-paced

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

3.75

"He's no more than a bully."
Katsa snorted. "A bully who chops off people's fingers or breaks their arms."
"Not if you stop doing it for him," Po said. "Much of his power comes from you."

I have vague memories about DNFing this book pretty early on years ago, since the beginning was just so generic and not very well-constructed. Touch, stabby heroine who's not like other girls and has weird eyes! Chapters upon chapters bogged down with flashbacks and exposition! Honestly, the second time around it was just as boring. But I've been seeing a lot of positive mentions of this series lately, and besides, I've been recced one of the book from further in the series for a highly specific request. So I chose to persevere, and once I was past 5 chapters or so, things did get a lot better. It turned out to be a quicker read than I expected, and I was rather engrossed for the most part.

Ultimately, though, my feelings are mixed at best. I really enjoyed the superpowers/graces and how their implications were handled. They're not just cool powers, but something that permeates the characters' entire lives and provokes experiences that shape their personalities. I liked the relationship between Katsa and Po: the gradual development, the building of trust, how they actually talked it out whenever they clashed. I also enjoyed Katsa's arc and her struggle to gain control over her life, though at the same time, she frustrated me a lot with that stereotypical "not like other girls" thing and the way it was handled/delivered. Also, the way she treats horses? Absolutely not cool, 0/10, much frustration. Not saying every character should adore animals, but there's a line between not adoring animals and not even treating them as living beings who can get tired or hurt, and that girl is so far on the other side of it.

The setting had a lot of interesting things going for it, though I wish some of them were explored deeper. I really liked the way the ethical implications of certain political tangles were brought to light, like how the responsibility is shared between cruel rulers and those who work for them and empower them through that. Really, I don't think the book ever completely stopped being tropey and somewhat generic, but the way these familiar tropes are explored and delve into felt really refreshing. So despite the rocky beginning, the occasionally clunky prose, and my grips with Katsa as the MC, for the most part I rather enjoyed this.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty and Violence

Moderate: Misogyny

Minor: Confinement

Mind control/manipulation

qrschulte's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional 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

Oh wow I inhaled this book. It’s so great to find characters I love and a world I can lose myself in. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Kidnapping, Death, Violence, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Gore, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Sexual assault, Child death, Grief, Medical content, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Sexual harassment, and Animal cruelty

Minor: Alcohol

kell_xavi's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional medium-paced

4.0

Well-told for the most part, with believable relationships, challenges, and emotions; however, some emotional events carry on a bit long, becoming repetitive and overwrought. I wasn’t convinced of how the plot comes together around the climax, finding too many threads dragged out only to collapse in a surprising moment. Still, Cashore’s girl-driven fantasy novel is mostly successful, smart and sincere, tinged with fear and a good dose of comeuppance to powerful men who do wrong.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse and Emotional abuse

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Torture, Pedophilia, Murder, and Violence

gillian_aftanas's review against another edition

adventurous dark lighthearted mysterious relaxing 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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Domestic abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Death of parent, Misogyny, Violence, Confinement, Death, Murder, Pedophilia, Animal cruelty, Gaslighting, Medical content, and Sexual content

Moderate: Forced institutionalization, Grief, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Incest, Kidnapping, Blood, Emotional abuse, Rape, Torture, and Vomit

Minor: Child death and Abortion

martin27's review against another edition

adventurous hopeful tense medium-paced

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

3.0

The beginning drags on for quite a while, and the middle struck me as just being bland. The ending was very good though. Really everything after the introduction of Princess Bitterblue is good and the rest is not bad but didn’t interest me that much. I expected a much more complex magic system than what the Graces actually are, which is a vague concept that for some people is the ability to read minds or see the future and for others is just being able to swim sort of fast. The world building as a whole is very weak. In fact it’s the weakest point of the novel, I think. The author’s voice is unique and has promise but the world that Graceling is set in just doesn’t have any depth. 

It was fine and isn’t the worst book ever, but I’m not super committed to picking up any of the sequels. I will stress again that Katsa and Bitterblue have a great relationship that was really interesting, and I love that

Katsa, a woman who is committed to remaining childfree and unmarried, is not convinced that she actually did want children all along. Katsa loves kids and was very protective of Bitterblue, but that doesn’t mean she wants to have kids. It was a pleasant surprise to not have her shoved into a motherly role even when she has to take care of a kid for a third of the novel. Bitterblue is like a sister to her.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, Death, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Vomit, Kidnapping, Child abuse, and Blood

Minor: Sexual harassment, Sexual content, and Misogyny

tigrelilje's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• 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

Minor: Sexual content, Torture, Murder, Child death, Animal death, Child abuse, and Animal cruelty

ava_ba's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional funny hopeful inspiring 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

4.25

This book was outstanding I simply don’t care what anyone has to say, Katsa and Po were everything and Bitterblue deserves the planet

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic relationship, Gaslighting, Sexual harassment, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Murder, and Sexism

Minor: Sexual harassment, Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Body horror, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Gaslighting, Child abuse, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Animal cruelty, Sexual assault, Medical content, and Murder

frankieclc's review against another edition

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Animal cruelty, Violence, and Murder

Moderate: Injury/Injury detail and Child abuse

Minor: Pedophilia and Vomit

alexandrabelze's review against another edition

adventurous funny mysterious sad medium-paced

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

3.25

i absolutely loved the pacing of this book. everything flowed perfectly together and i was never left feeling like things were moving too quickly or like we had hit a wall. cashore’s writing style is so unique, but i came to love it while reading. it fits katsa’s character so well! katsa and po’s relationship had me HOOKED mawma. i was also living for katsa and bitterblue’s (<3<3) relationship. so excited to read the rest of the series!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Murder, Death of parent, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Blood, and Death

Moderate: Confinement and Emotional abuse

Minor: Kidnapping, Torture, and Sexual content