Reviews tagging 'Emotional abuse'

Five Broken Blades by Mai Corland

3 reviews

midnightrose_reads's review

adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful lighthearted mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

Five Broken Blades is the first book in the Broken Blades trilogy by Mai Corland. This book was so much fun and quite an intense read (check trigger warnings). It’s a fast paced book full of morally grey deadly liars, hilarious banter, action, and plenty of plot twists. I truly came to care about each of the POV’s in this book and can’t wait for the sequel called Four Ruined Realms! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Violence, Bullying, Murder, Gore, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Addiction, Blood, War, Injury/Injury detail, Trafficking, Drug use, Death, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Grief, Misogyny, Physical abuse, and Rape

Moderate: Cursing and Sexual content

stormeno's review

adventurous dark 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

Moderate: Gore, Death, Colonisation, Drug use, Genocide, Animal death, Blood, Death of parent, Sexual content, Gaslighting, Grief, Trafficking, Child death, Classism, Emotional abuse, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Abandonment, Fire/Fire injury, Sexual harassment, Misogyny, Murder, Slavery, and Violence

wanderingwitchreads's review

adventurous emotional funny mysterious 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

In Five Broken Blades by Mai Corland A group of liars need to trust each other long enough to kill an immortal king and the strangest part is they just might have the skills to pull it off . 

What I loved 

- excellent use of multi pov first person 
- fast paced to the point of breathlessness 
- clear character motivations and believable character development
- wonderfully developed prose had me highlighting quotes left and right 
- good foreshadowing without completely giving away twists too early 
- found family trope 

What didn’t work as well for me

- the writing doesn’t seem to trust itself or its reader. A big example of this being the book explaining the reason it would be scandalous for the Prince and his lover to share a bath. At that point in the story we have definitely caught on that it is their class separation and not their sexs that would raise an eyebrow. 

- the pacing sped up just a smidge too much at the end and it didn’t really give the explanation for everything that has happened room to breathe . More falling action time would have helped here immensely 


Who I recommend this title for 

Fantasy readers who like a heist vibe with a bit of traveling tale and just a dash of spice  will be in for a great time with this story .

* side note : major dnd campaign gone awry energy in some bits

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Emotional abuse, Blood, and Slavery

Moderate: Sexual content, Addiction, Sexual violence, and War

Minor: Terminal illness