Reviews tagging 'Child abuse'

How the King of Elfhame Learned to Hate Stories by Holly Black

84 reviews

safety_pin's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional informative mysterious fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? N/A
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Honestly Holly Black is a brilliant writer and makes great connections between storylines. Also, there’s a ton of great quotes.
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lady_moon's review against another edition

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

4.5

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rjstellar's review against another edition

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dark funny lighthearted relaxing fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

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hannathereader's review against another edition

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dark emotional hopeful lighthearted reflective fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

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queer_bookwyrm's review against another edition

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dark lighthearted mysterious reflective slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? N/A
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

 4 ⭐ CW: child abuse/neglect

How the King of Elfhame Learned to Hate Stories by Holly Black is the companion to the Folk of the Air trilogy. It is set up as a series of short stories from Cardan's POV.

We get some background on Cardan and learn more about his life in Faerie as he was growing up along with stories from moments from The Cruel Prince and The Wicked King. We also get to see more if Cardan after his character growth.

I love how much Cardan loves Jude. We get to see more evidence of that here, but that boy is so hopeless. At least he knows Jude will always save his ass. I loved the theme of storytelling in this book. Black has used the story of the boy with a stone heart throughout and is a great device that comes full circle.

Tell me I'm not the only one who wants to go literally anywhere in the human world with Cardan! Oh the mischief he could get into. The story with him at the restaurant made me chuckle. I deeply appreciated Black putting some Mainer lingo into it as well! Ayuh! 
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sunflowersarepretty's review against another edition

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adventurous dark funny lighthearted mysterious medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

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karambit's review against another edition

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adventurous funny lighthearted medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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whatevertheysay's review against another edition

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

4.0

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saoreads's review

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adventurous challenging emotional funny hopeful reflective sad tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

This was another short side story mainly focusing on Cardan's POV and it had grounded emotions towards a reflection to one's self. Aslog came to taught him lessons and different version of stories till the second time they met. I was reminded of Balekin's words towards him about choosing a future but then its supposed to be choosing a path with bit of uncertainties that lies ahead. More than anything else, he hold his morales refusing to spill blood on his hands unlike the High Queen, Jude.
The book imparted that however horrible your past may be or how you may have been brought up, you have the power to make choices to your own life and nobody else can ever take that away from you. 
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limitlessreads's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful informative lighthearted mysterious reflective fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? N/A
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

This bonus book is apart of my favourite trilogy...no shock that I loved it as much as the other books. The illustrations were beautiful!
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