Reviews tagging 'Emotional abuse'

A Soul of Ash and Blood by Jennifer L. Armentrout

15 reviews

ahse1dances's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced

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

3.25

I didn’t realize when I purchased this that it would mostly be a retelling of the first book from Cas’s perspective. You do get new content and some minor furthering of the overall plot. Mostly it serves as a needed refresher of all of the terminology and stuff that gets pretty muddy as the series develops. I definitely think that Ms. Armentrout needs to invest in a thesaurus though.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, and Sexual harassment

Minor: Confinement, Death, and Body shaming

stardust_heidi's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.25

First of all, I am screaming at the last chapter. S C R E A M I N G. Both at the chapter and at JLA, because how DARE, lmao. Whyyyyyyyyyyyyy. I feel even more unsettled now than I did after TWOTQ. Rude. 

Overall, I enjoyed this book. I did find a lot of the repeated scenes quite tedious, even if they were from Casteel's POV. We already know most of those scenes intimately, and while yes, they were all from Poppy's perspective before, I don't know that ALL of them needed to be from Cas's POV. I did enjoy a few of the big ones, like the craven attack/night on the rise and then after Poppy stabs him in New Haven. Those were great. 

The moments I enjoyed the most were the new scenes, especially those with Kieran. I loved experiencing their bond from Casteel's perspective and how Kieran just kind of *knew* things were different about Poppy from the beginning. It also opened up a whole avenue of questions I'd silently pondered to myself before and blew them out in the open -- especially during the explicit scenes with Cas and Kieran. Hot damn. 

But that last chapter. Holy. Fuck. I think Emil said it best: "What in the fuckity fuck?" Lmao. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Body horror, Violence, Death, Grief, Blood, Gore, Murder, Sexual content, Torture, Child death, and Emotional abuse

Minor: Self harm and Sexual assault

krisalexcole's review

adventurous dark 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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Violence, Gore, Sexual content, Blood, and Death

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Religious bigotry, Torture, Self harm, and Physical abuse

Minor: Alcohol, Cursing, Death of parent, Drug use, Kidnapping, Medical content, War, Child death, and Confinement

crinkledmochi's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative reflective tense medium-paced

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

5.0

I hope we can get more pov’s from Cas in the last couple books, I love learning more about him and some of the things he’s gone through. 

The ending tho?!?? 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Emotional abuse, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Torture, Toxic relationship, Death, Gaslighting, Gore, and Grief

zanazy's review

adventurous dark emotional informative sad 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

3.5

I loved this book! I didn’t think having Casteel’s POV was necessary, but I was wrong. The book picks up right after the ending of TWOTQ and you get a little teaser of what is happening in the main/present story, however, the bulk of the book is the story of Cas as he decides to kidnap the maiden to use as leverage for his brother’s freedom. As we all know, plans change and seeing the first book from his POV adds so much depth to his character, I see him in a new, better light. Kieran is also part of his POV and this adds some great depth to him too. I hope that we get books 2 & 3 from Cas’ POV as I was left wanting much more. Brilliant way to add to the story and characters. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Kidnapping, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual content, and Sexual harassment

Moderate: Blood, Body shaming, Bullying, Cursing, and Suicidal thoughts

Minor: Death of parent, Violence, and Torture