Reviews tagging 'Animal cruelty'

The Fae Keeper by H.E. Edgmon

12 reviews

dododenise's review against another edition

adventurous dark fast-paced

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

4.5

I’m so pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed this book. I loved the premise of the first book but as that was resolved, I was scared that this book, which is about this world and politics, would not be interesting to me. Now I read this book in two days. 
The thing is, I was so interested I ended up missing some bits. The entire time there is this sense of time pressure and a lot is happening at the same time, representative of how the characters feel. There were moments of breathers but they weren’t enough for me. These characters are so strong and I would have loved it if they had gotten more and calmer moments to exist together. Especially Wyatt and Emyr’s relationship could feel static and stuck in place because the plot got in the way of them developing. 
The only reason why I feel like I missed out on these parts is because I was so engaged. The world building was rich and diverse. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Body horror, Death, Death of parent, and Violence

Moderate: Abandonment, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Transphobia, Animal cruelty, and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Sexual content

stardustandrockets's review against another edition

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Injury/Injury detail, Colonisation, Body horror, Grief, and Blood

Moderate: Cursing, Sexual content, War, Toxic relationship, and Violence

Minor: Child abuse, Animal cruelty, and Animal death

Infanticide

betweentheshelves's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional 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

4.5

Oh I liked this one even better than the first book, I think. Yeah, some of the themes and ideas are a bit heavy handed, but I didn't really find that I minded that. We get to see more of the Fae world, and some of the world details that were a little fuzzy in the first book get expanded on this book.

Of course, we get more of Wyatt and Emyr, who are my favorite. I just really loved their chemistry in both books, and their bond gets even stronger in this book. Briar also comes into her own, realizing that she can be someone besides the helped. There were some excellent character arcs throughout this one, and I can't wait to see what Edgmon does next.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Body horror, and Death

Moderate: Cursing, Sexual assault, and Genocide

Minor: Racism, Animal cruelty, and Sexual content

josb's review

dark emotional reflective sad slow-paced

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

3.5

Series 3.5*

There were less pacing issues than Witch King but the main problem still remained, there was a lot more tell rather than show. Many of the big revelations happened through conversation which I find more interesting if the conversation follows maybe a series of hints, maybe the MC kindof having an inkling of the reveal. 

There were parts where Wyatt was coming to realizations while in quiet moments with his family. This is certainly more realistic, but sometimes I just want to watch cool fantasy people do cool things. The last 30% was very good and did keep me on the edge of my seat. I wish that the book would have been structured so that what happened at the 60-70% mark happened earlier so that there would be more time for natural discovery. 

I enjoyed the discomfort around the disruptive agenda of the novel. Certainly not something I would recommend unless you want to challenge your perspective on current systems and how they treat anyone not "preferred" within it. One thing to note is that Wyatt tends to use a lot of gen z/millennial references. I tend to struggle with pop culture references, it was not so bad I couldn't get the meaning through context but if that is not your thing be aware. 

There were a few chapters where the perspective shifted and I really saw Edgmon's skill as a writer. While I wasn't completely in love with the delivery for the Witch King Series I am excited to try future works by the author. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Panic attacks/disorders

Moderate: Violence, Fire/Fire injury, Animal cruelty, Child abuse, Sexual violence, Rape, Sexual assault, and Xenophobia

Minor: Murder and Cannibalism

kylieqrada's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional funny 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

Shooootttt I loved this. I listened to it on audio, and the narrator was everything. The first in the series is H.G. Edgmon's debut, and is understandably a tad rough around the edges, but THIS IS A MASTERPIECE. The rep, the characters, even the twists and turns, I was hooked. Also the humor is just peak. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Body horror, and Death

Moderate: Genocide, Cursing, and Sexual assault

Minor: Sexual content, Animal cruelty, and Racism

ofbooksandechos's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful inspiring sad medium-paced

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

loved it

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, and Violence

Moderate: Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Genocide, and Sexual assault

Minor: Animal cruelty and Racism

pagesofnay's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Violence, Gore, Body horror, Death, Death of parent, and Murder

Moderate: Cannibalism, Transphobia, Sexual assault, Cursing, Genocide, Panic attacks/disorders, Dysphoria, and War

Minor: Racism, Sexual content, Terminal illness, Grief, Religious bigotry, and Animal cruelty

blairextraordinaire's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny hopeful 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Gore, Death of parent, Violence, Religious bigotry, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, Emotional abuse, and Death

Moderate: Infidelity, Sexual assault, Terminal illness, Self harm, Panic attacks/disorders, and Abandonment

Minor: Xenophobia, Racism, Toxic friendship, and Animal cruelty

the_vegan_bookworm's review

adventurous funny medium-paced

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

4.75

I love the world created in the Witch King duology, and this book continues to explore it in an exciting way. The plot kept me super engaged, and I continue to adore all the characters. It was a great continuation of the first book in many ways!

The book lost 0.25 stars, because some elements of the plot (like Emyr and Wyatt's relationship, and the addition of the changelings) felt unecessarily complicated and caused the plot feel slow-moving at times.

Spoiler

The inclusion of sexual violence against Tessa was completely unnecessary, and I am really disappointed in the author for featuring it. It didn't add to the plot in any meaningful way short of showing how evil Clarke is (which was not needed - we already knew that when she killed her brother and ate his heart). Tessa just becomes collateral damage to show how depraved someone else is, and the author deliberately chooses to never even examine the harm that it causes her. For such an otherwise progressive read, I felt a little betrayed by this careless inclusion.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Dysphoria, Blood, Death of parent, Sexual violence, Violence, War, Body horror, and Animal cruelty

Moderate: Genocide

Minor: Racism

puttingwingsonwords's review against another edition

adventurous dark hopeful 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Death of parent, Gore, Murder, War, Violence, Blood, Abandonment, Colonisation, Death, and Xenophobia

Moderate: Cursing, Genocide, Terminal illness, Body shaming, and Cannibalism

Minor: Animal cruelty and Dysphoria