Reviews with content warning for Blood - Written in Red

Reviews tagging 'Blood'

vagrantheather's review

emotional hopeful lighthearted slow-paced

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

1.25

I've been putting off a review on this book because I had a lot of gripes that felt appropriate to address. I'm going to try to reign myself in. All of this disgust isn't healthy.

I rated this two stars because I was able to finish it despite finding almost no redeeming qualities in the book. It's a simple listen. It never requires you to think even a little. It's the kind of book you can put on for background noise while you work on calculus and really not miss anything from having not paid attention. I have to imagine the 4.25 star current rating is because SO many other readers just DNFed instead of finishing and rating.

The pacing is awful. Most of the book revolves around the main character delivering mail while every sort of supernatural fawns over her. The world building is extremely flimsy: it has an interesting premise (humanoid elementals and shape shifters living alongside humans who are restrained to colonies) but the author does almost nothing with it. We know the Others have never gotten on with humans, despite having lived side by side openly for centuries, but the no major conflict is fleshed out (I really don't count the one conflict with the drowned city, which I continue to think was flimsy work).

Characters are one dimensional. The main girl is the epitome of innocent and sweet. The child is a ... Child... With a trauma history. Who nobody could draw out until the very second he met Meg and then he's all puppy eyes and healed. Her boss is a hothead with a good heart. The vampires don't like anyone but they just lOoOve Meg. The elementals are temperamental (oh boy) but give one gift and they'll burn the world for you. Good cop is good. Bad politician is bad. Gag.

And the writing is just cringey. I can ignore a lot of cringe but oh my God I was scoffing every other line near the end.

There are many casualties. You won't care about any of them.

Don't read if you have a history of self harm. Meg spends the whole book fiending for a slice.

Content Warnings

mimicry's review against another edition

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medium-paced

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

3.5

Overall it’s simplistic and cutesy, despite some darker themes. There’s a lot of repetition, and the worldbuilding is lazy. Characterization can get lazy also. For example, POV characters in the series all describe the ponies with the same words: grumpy faces, barrel chests, clompy dinner-plate sized hooves. No matter who they are or where they’re from they all eat dinner on a plate the size of an elemental pony’s foot, apparently.

I wouldn’t consider this book to have a diverse cast, unless you count the many types of Others as diversity. Among the humans it’s almost exclusively cishet white.

Content Warnings

bookcaptivated's review against another edition

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dark lighthearted mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.75

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destinyperry01's review

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dark emotional mysterious reflective 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

Content Warnings

syllareads's review

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adventurous dark emotional tense fast-paced

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

4.5

Written in Red is both the first book in The Others' series by Anne Bishop and the first book I finished by this author (because I'm not counting the first book in the Black Jewels Trilogy since it's in a bindup, okay? shush) and I had a blast.

The book is, very simplified, about a human woman who stumbles into a territory ruled by The Others, a bunch of supernatural creatures that are actually fucking terrifying if they want to be thank god, and finds a home there. Found family, healing, overcoming trauma and the like are all very prevalent themes in this book and I liked that a lot. The writing was at times a bit too simple for my taste usually but the dialogues were goddamn hilarious most of the time, and I really enjoyed getting to know all the characters!

The story itself has a lot of foreseeable twists and turns here and there, but it doesn't detract from the enjoyment factor because ultimately, the book is not about unexpected twists in the narrative. Rather, Bishop uses outward motivation like a (pretty standard) villain attacking the town to explore inner themes and self-realization (or at least the start of one, given that this is only book one in a series). If you are not too plot-driven of a reader, I highly suggest you give this series a try for the characters alone!

Content Warnings