Reviews tagging 'Gore'

Saison d'orages et de silence by Roseanne A. Brown

10 reviews

ccrowley18's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny informative 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

4.0

I really enjoyed this series, the world building is based on West African folklore and some of the characters I came across were insane, it made me want to read more West African folklore.

I loved both MCs character development, Karina going from the reluctant crown princess to knowing that she has to do everything she can to save Ziran. And Malik’s character development took a bit longer I felt as though his didn’t really start until book 2, he was all over the place there was a time I thought he was going to have to die because he seemed so evil.

But most of all the character development I enjoyed the most was Idir!!!!! What?!? Who saw him coming as the voice of reason?! By the end he didn’t even want to get free and he respected Malik too much to try and harm him any more than he’d already been harmed.

I enjoyed the storyline and the plot twists. It wouldn’t be a YA fantasy without some plot twists! I also loved the narrator in book 2, talking about the Farid and Hanane history, it was very well added.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Self harm and Trafficking

Moderate: Murder, Gore, Panic attacks/disorders, and Mental illness

nettle_'s review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional fast-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? It's complicated

4.75

I could not get enough of this forbidden love that was somehow encouraged and hated by the gods. It had so much awareness for so many topics including suicide, grooming, racism, transphobia, trauma, abuse, and I guess I was very seen by having these topics discussed. It has so many layers of magic I will not even try to explain but it was magical hearing about the magic. 
It has a more deep dive into the same topics so many fantasy YA books have so don’t run away because of the content warnings.

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Content Warnings

Minor: Gore, Kidnapping, Animal death, Emotional abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexism, Suicide, Trafficking, Violence, Abandonment, Classism, Domestic abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Murder, Physical abuse, Racism, Suicide attempt, Torture, Transphobia, War, Sexual violence, Blood, Child abuse, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Death of parent, Homophobia, Self harm, Sexual content, Slavery, and Suicidal thoughts

strawberrytheauthor's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional 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? It's complicated

5.0

This book was fabulous! An upper YA fantasy book and the second in A Song of Wraiths and Ruin duology. This duology is full of African mythology and a setting similar. The prose is wonderfully written and concludes the story of Karina and Malik in a way that, while somewhat disappointing, makes sense for the way their characters have developed. 

Tropes: Enemies to Lovers, untimely ascension, Found Family, assassinations. 

I loved the magic system and how Roseanne A. Brown made it all fit within a set mythology of the world. Nothing about the magic system seemed out of place or like it didn’t make sense.

There is wonderful disability representation with anxiety, depression, and what seems to me to be autism. There is also a lot of LGBTQ+ representation and I think every character is a person of color (don’t quote me on that I don’t see pictures when I read I have no idea what these characters look like). 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Death, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, War, Child abuse, Classism, Grief, Racism, Violence, Blood, Bullying, Colonisation, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, and Racial slurs

Moderate: Child death, Death of parent, Sexual content, Suicide attempt, and Kidnapping

Grooming

antonique_reads's review against another edition

adventurous 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Suicidal thoughts, Self harm, War, Death, Gaslighting, Violence, Murder, and Emotional abuse

nicolewhopickedthisbook's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious 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

Ohhhhh, I love this duology sooooo much!! Karina was still getting on my nerves at times and Malik’s back and forth between his loyalty to Farid and his love for Karina was a bit annoying at times BUT I loved how they grew, and persevered, and overcame the odds.

Those last 60ish pages?!?! Whew!! What an emotional ride that made it hard to read through the tears in my eyes. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Blood, Torture, Gore, and War

Farid’s grooming and gaslighting of Hanane AND Malik in prevalent throughout the book

meluhnie's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional inspiring 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Emotional abuse, Violence, Mental illness, Toxic relationship, and Self harm

Moderate: Child abuse, Xenophobia, Blood, Classism, Colonisation, Confinement, Death, Gaslighting, Gore, and Grief

Minor: Sexual content

queenie_ofthe_void's review against another edition

emotional mysterious 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? Yes

3.5

How is this book going to be this good, then go and have that ending. <Not even ending up together?! Hypothetically ending up together, over a decade later, in the epilogue, is not what we (me or Malik/Karina) deserve after EVERYTHING.> But yeah the rest was amazing and I loved it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Self harm, Toxic relationship, Body horror, Gaslighting, Grief, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, and Violence

Minor: Sexual harassment, Adult/minor relationship, Death, Emotional abuse, Blood, Murder, Pregnancy, War, Child abuse, Gaslighting, Genocide, Physical abuse, Self harm, Sexual content, Slavery, Classism, Cursing, Death of parent, Gore, Incest, Kidnapping, Rape, Torture, Toxic relationship, Trafficking, and Violence

Personally just hated thr ending. Left feeling unfulfilled. After two whole books and all this built up soul-mates and destiny, they only end up together *hypothetically* in the monologue. Why. WHY?! That is some bullshit. And fade to black... AFTER ALL OF THIS. no. Everything else was amazing. Malik and Karina are amazing.

booksthatburn's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense fast-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

A PSALM OF STORMS AND SILENCE is the fantastic conclusion to an excellent duology. One of many places where this shines is in its portrayal of trauma and aftermath, but especially in its portrayal of a kind of lingering pain from ongoing emotional abuse. The characters have room to make bad decisions in ways that are completely understandable. I was never frustrated by the choices they make in a narrative sense because the narrative itself made sure I knew whose manipulations, lies, and control of information were driving those bad decisions. It deftly uses a thousand years of self-interest and old grief, showing how they shape the characters' present, even if ways they hadn't realized were connected. It's about how accepting present power with a legacy of past power means both acting responsibly with the power in the present and accepting responsibility for the legacy of harm caused by that power in the past. How a chain of people accepting enormous power but eschewing responsibility for the harm caused by the power lead to even more harm. These layers of trauma, aftermath, resolution, acceptance, and restitution play out within their own lifetimes and on the scale of kingdoms as they try to stop the world from breaking with the grief of a goddess and the fruitless scheming of a dead king. 

Karina and Malik's relationship is complicated, with lies and misunderstandings from A SONG OF WRAITHS AND RUIN meddling in what ought to be a simple case of one hunting the other to try and stop the fall of the kingdom. Farid is a well-written manipulator, wrapped up in his own plans and unable to see the difference between someone agreeing with him and one who's just placating him to avert his anger and disappointment from falling on them. His frustrations make sense with his character and circumstances, his increasingly complicated plans hum along in the background of everything Malik and Karina try to accomplish.

This wraps up more than one major thing left hanging from the first book. The main storyline starts here and was only lightly present previously. There are several major things that are both introduced and resolved, and as part two of a duology it’s an immensely satisfying ending. The main characters are the same and they’re consistent with their portrayals in the first book. This might make sense if someone tried to start here and hadn’t read the previous book, it does a good job of referencing prior events without devolving into a full recap. It was definitely enough to pull me fully into the story even though it’s been a while since I read A SONG OF WRAITHS AND RUIN and my recall was initially fuzzy. I'd basically forgotten what happened before and it gently reminded me at gradual intervals as various previous events became relevant. The current stakes and past drama are clearly communicated, and the emotional context is vibrant.

The ending is excellent. There's still a lot of work to do and a lot of life for the survivors to live, and it's okay that this story stops here since it had to stop somewhere. I love the framing device, it satisfied my need to know what happens next.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Violence, Torture, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Murder, and Death

Moderate: Sexual content, Pregnancy, Panic attacks/disorders, Emotional abuse, Excrement, Kidnapping, Fire/Fire injury, Blood, Gore, Body horror, Medical content, Medical trauma, Slavery, and Child death

Minor: Domestic abuse, Incest, and Vomit

CW for grooming.

yvonne_cl's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• 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: Blood, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Gore, Xenophobia, Violence, Toxic relationship, Torture, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Slavery, Sexual harassment, Self harm, Racism, Racial slurs, Physical abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Murder, Mental illness, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: War, Sexual content, and Pregnancy

Minor: Alcohol, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Chronic illness, Miscarriage, and Kidnapping

thebookwormkatie's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence

Moderate: Death and Self harm

Minor: Gore