Reviews tagging 'Grief'

A Psalm of Storms and Silence - Die Magie von Solstasia by Roseanne A. Brown

35 reviews

alyssasaurus's review against another edition

adventurous dark reflective tense medium-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? No

3.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Self harm, Police brutality, Grief, Emotional abuse, Colonisation, Physical abuse, and Panic attacks/disorders

melinajoy's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional 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? No

4.75

4.75 stars! 
Wow did I love this book! It's book 2 and I found it answered a lot of questions I'd had in the first book and was also just easier to understand. Karina and Malik are amazing characters and I also love Ife. A story of perseverance!

I appreciate how the author presents Malik's mental illnesses, his anxiety, and his self harm, suicidal thoughts/attempts. 
I love Karina's queerness. 
And I just appreciate most of the characters' tenacity, will, and how very much themselves they are. 
I loved the journey we go through with them all separately and then together. 

I WISH we got a third book and that this wasn't a duology. We need a part 3 of them living their lives! But I guess I'll just deal with the end chapter. 

This book is definitely getting added to my favorites list!

*This book is graphic and contains a lot of trauma. Please check content warnings*. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Trafficking, Suicide attempt, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Racial slurs, Panic attacks/disorders, Mental illness, and Emotional abuse

Moderate: Death of parent, Murder, Kidnapping, Grief, Violence, Confinement, and Gaslighting

Minor: Chronic illness and Injury/Injury detail

CW: grooming

lochanreads's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny mysterious 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? No

4.0

I loved reading this! It's so immersive and vivid and there's lots of character diversity and growth. Hananae took some warming up to but the conflict, the romance, the action, and the world-building was so absorbing.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Violence, War, Self harm, Torture, Grief, Death, and Racial slurs

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Panic attacks/disorders, and Colonisation

briely's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide attempt, Torture, Suicidal thoughts, Gaslighting, and Emotional abuse

Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Grief, Mental illness, and Slavery

violetreader's review against another edition

adventurous dark medium-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? Yes

4.5

Picked it up because the main character shares my name, kept reading because the story was awesome! 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Physical abuse, and Emotional abuse

Moderate: Cursing, Suicidal thoughts, and Violence

Minor: Self harm and Grief

For all the trauma the characters go through, there is an equal and proportional amount of healthy coping mechanisms to heal from trauma.

ofbooksandechos's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious medium-paced

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

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Self harm, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicidal thoughts, and Physical abuse

Moderate: Grief, Racial slurs, and Racism

Minor: Murder, Pregnancy, Torture, and Miscarriage

other CWs: grooming, fictional racism/racial slurs, fictional police brutality

beldaran1224's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional tense medium-paced

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

4.25

This was a fantastic conclusion to the duology! This book, like the first, is narrated through both Malik & Karina. It is more heavily focused on their relationship than the previous book, but instead of the more personal plots in the first book, the plot of this book is bigger in scale.

Throughout the book I was incredibly frustrated with Malik - in the best way. The way in which he was so wrapped up in Farid's charisma felt very grounded in his character as developed so far. I found myself ranting about how blind Malik was to the bigger events around him - which is usually a complaint I have about books, but in this case, truly found it to be highly realistic and captivating.

About the ending

it is NOT a happy ever after, or even a happy for now. It doesn't wrap things up in a nice bow. But it was somehow still very satisfying

.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide attempt, Colonisation, Grief, Self harm, Gaslighting, and Mental illness

Moderate: Racial slurs 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). 

---

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

sunlit_music's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad 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

A fitting and triumphant end to a marvellous duology!! 

Plot - 5/5. The plot is original, easy to follow, makes sense, was exciting and full of tension and action, and kept me engaged from start to finish. 

Characters - 5/5. All characters are believable, complex, act in character. They're all distinct and easy to tell apart. All of them are so interesting - not just the major characters, but also the minor ones! I love Yaema, Driss' and Tunde's relatives. I love Malik's sisters Leila and Nadia. Nadia is so freaking adorable!! The way she comforts Hanane by saying, "You look like a princess! You look normal!" Was so cute!

Caracal is funny and delightful, and Karina is badass and vulnerable. Afua is lovely and sweet, Hanane is fierce and lovable, and Malik has an incredible character arc. There's so many great characters to read about!

Pacing - Pacing was fast during action scenes, while still easy to follow, and that's when you know you're reading a great book. Pacing slowed down during thoughtful scenes where characters are resolving disputes, goofing off, supporting each other, which helped me understand and appreciate them more. Pacing was great, in short. :)

Representation - representation is INCREDIBLE! There's Ife, who is autistic and non binary, has a great sense of humour and so much charm. Malik has depression and self harms, and isn't portrayed as a saint or villain, but a real, flawed human being who is sometimes kind and at other times ruthless. He redeems himself in the end and what I appreciate about him is that he admits redemption is an ongoing thing, not a one off action. 

Characters are BIPOC (Black, from different nations) and portrayed in a nuanced, thoughtful manner. There's plenty of interesting, strong and brave characters of all genders and ages. 

World building - the history and mythology of the story's world is rich, detailed, lush and immersive. I love reading about the necropolis and pharaohs, and learning about the complex and painful history between Karina's and Malik's ancestors. I appreciate how this isn't a simple story of people who are purely good and evil, but flawed people trying to do what they think is right. I love how the story shows that some people can change for the better. 

The scenes about the omens are vivid, spine chilling and I didn't see the scenes with the last omen coming! It was a totally unexpected plot twist, but made sense. 

Ending - I love the ending, it's hopeful, uplifting while still being realistic. The way Karina solves her problems is inventive and clever, and feels hard won. 

The narrators are all amazing, they're so talented! They all added humour, pathos and emotion to the characters they voiced. The e-book is wonderful, but if you can do it, buy the audio book - because the narrators/voice actors all make the characters and story come to life!

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, War, Toxic relationship, and Torture

Moderate: Colonisation, Death, Emotional abuse, Grief, Kidnapping, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, and Self harm

internationalreads's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious fast-paced

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

3.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Incest, Murder, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Violence, War, Blood, Child abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Grief, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Racism, Self harm, Sexual content, Torture, Toxic relationship, Abandonment, Animal death, Classism, Colonisation, Confinement, Death, Injury/Injury detail, and Racial slurs