Reviews tagging 'Emotional abuse'

Incendiary by Zoraida Córdova

10 reviews

takarakei's review against another edition

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adventurous medium-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

4.0

Interesting world building. Lots of plot twists (which were all fairly predictable but still enjoyable to read). I really felt like there were some pacing issues since there were parts that felt like they dragged on. I also didn’t really feel all that invested in the characters -we didn’t get to spend enough time with any of the side characters for me to form any attachment. Except for Leo whom I love with my whole heart.
I have high hopes for the sequel based on where this one left off I think it could be a very different book so I will be reading.

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kirstenf's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional hopeful sad 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

4.25


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pages_with_panda's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional mysterious tense slow-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

3.0

The pacing felt really off for this book. The first half was very slow and some major plot points were predictable. The writing was very beautiful but it seemed at times that we were getting more poetry than plot, especially with how often we saw the memories of random side characters.  

I wanted to like this book more than I actually did because of the Latine elements and it was very nice to see the diversity of dark-skinned characters, non-verbal characters who sign, and gay characters; but they weren't enough to save the story. The Spanish sprinkled in the story was also nice. 

The second half of the book almost made up for the slow first half. There were some twists & mysteries at the end but there was definitely a huge cliffhanger.

Overall interesting enough to make me read the second book.  


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maple_dove's review against another edition

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challenging mysterious tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

Initially, I was tempted to DNF Incendiary more than once because I didn’t think it was worthwhile to continue during the middle section of the book. However, after reading the end, I REALLY WANT TO CONTINUE READING! Illusionary (Hollow Crown #2), here I come!

There are certainly some plot twists, but I did manage to see some of them from a mile away. :)

What separates this series from other YA fantasy is that the story of the MC's love interest precedes the book, the love interest is absent for most of the book, and that most of the book is not focused on romance.

Favorite Quotes:

It is difficult to protect anything when all you can do is hide. ⭐️

You are not a girl. You are vengeance in the night.

I submerge myself beneath the surface of the water again and hold my breath, knowing no matter where I am or what I do, I will never escape the heat of flames and the taste of ash. But I no longer want to escape. I want to wield that fire and watch this place burn.

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bubbly_lara's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious 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? Yes

4.5

What a book! I was immediately hooked. The reader is thrust directly into the story without much explanation and has to figure out, how the world works and what's going on while following our protagonist Ren. The topics of the book are quite heavy, and I had to stop reading a couple of times and read something fluffy inbetween. Would not recommend if any of the below topics is triggering for you. However, this is a brilliantly written novel, and I cannot wait to see how everything unfolds in the second book.

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h_reads98's review against another edition

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adventurous sad 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? It's complicated

2.5


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clarabooksit's review against another edition

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

3.25


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foreverinastory's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional fast-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

4.0

Rep: Latine female MC, mute female side character (tongue cut out), queer BIPOC male side character, BIPOC supporting cast--Latine. 

CWs: Blood, child abuse, colonisation, death, death of parent, emotional abuse, fire/fire injury, grief, injury/injury detail, murder, kidnapping, violence, xenophobia. Moderate: sexual content, torture.



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bookcaptivated's review against another edition

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adventurous mysterious medium-paced
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0


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azrah786's review against another edition

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4.0

 UPDATE - 17/04/21

CW: violence, blood, torture, death, grief, emotional abuse

I'm convinced I was distracted or something on my first read because this time round I thought everything flowed really well in the story and I honestly don't know why I was confused? Though the last few chapters did upset the pacing of the rest of the book because everything was happening so rapidly.
Anyways I enjoyed this a lot more on the second read so I'm putting my rating up to 4 Stars

--

**I was provided with a copy of the book through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review**

Taking place in a Spanish Inquisition-era inspired fantasy world, Incendiary follows a girl who possesses the rare (and feared) power of stealing memories with just the touch of her hand. As a child she was kidnapped and used as a weapon by the crown in their quest for power. However, she was rescued by a network of rebels and has spent years working with them to help others with magical abilities (Moira) to escape the kingdom. Though her power in particular means that next to no one has ever been able to fully trust her.

When there is a mishap on a particular rescue mission she is forced to dive back into the world of her past in order to save the future of her people, with only her own supressed memories and those she has stolen from other lives circling in her mind to accompany her.

Now I’m a little on the fence about how I feel about this one.

Córdova’s writing and storytelling is beautiful. The beginning immediately draws you into the thick of the rebel movement the story centres on and introduces you to a world with a fascinating magic system. Renata is a protagonist you both feel and root for, yet something just wasn’t clicking for me with the story as a whole.

Memories play a massive part in the narrative and I absolutely loved how this shaped Renata’s character for us as well as the world and people around her. The various twists and secrets embedded in the story, though occasionally predictable, really keep you reading. However, I found that at times I was confused due to missing information – particularly when it came to connecting and understanding the actions and motivations of the various other characters in the book. Some of the reveals happened a bit too abruptly and without much previous explanation… Hence I found that I was not enjoying the book as much as I expected to.

I do plan on picking up the sequel though!
Final Rating – 3.5/5 Stars

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