Reviews tagging 'Murder'

Una maldición oscura y solitaria by Brigid Kemmerer

31 reviews

qrschulte's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

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

4.0

Enjoyable book, but I didn’t love it as a whole. And I CALLED IT!

Things I loved: 
- a protagonist with a disability who is affected by their disability but not defined by it. So refreshing that she was a fully realized person
- the Rhen narrator. Honestly, the book might have been better with just him narrating the whole thing. 
- believable reasoning for why someone from our world could ride a fucking horse

Things I did not love: 
- How whiny the Harper narrator made her sound sometimes. It made it a lot less believable it was the same character between the narrators. 
- The monster narration (so fucking creepy/scary). Could have done without that. 
- The parts where it was said Harper was “not like other girls” *cue vomiting*

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Cancer, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Terminal illness, Torture, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Suicide attempt, Alcohol, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Body horror, Gore, Self harm, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, Abandonment, and Classism

Minor: Child death, Gun violence, and Infidelity

taryn_g's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny hopeful tense medium-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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Violence, Suicide attempt, Murder, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Cancer, Child death, Chronic illness, Confinement, Gore, Terminal illness, Kidnapping, Grief, and Death of parent

Minor: Ableism, Gun violence, Infidelity, and Vomit

lilacs_book_bower's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

3.25

I unfortunately wasn't a huge fan of this.  Harper was very quick to accept her situation, and also really should have made the connection between Rhen and the monster much sooner.  I feel like we are supposed to think Rhen grew and changed, but it felt like he had already done most of that before the book even began. Other than the main three characters, I don't feel like we spent enough time with anyone else (including Harper's family) to care about them.  None of the minor characters had more than one or two traits.  The plot twist at the end, to set up the sequel, came out of nowhere. On the plus side, kind of, I appreciated that Harper has cerebral palsy, and am always glad to see representation for people, but as the author does not have CP, nor do I, I cannot speak to the accuracy of the representation (and I recognize people's lives and experiences with CP can vary widely!). I'm wondering if I should rate this lower actually, but I did like the relationship between Harper and Rhen wasn't rushed, and I liked Rhen and Grey's friendship as well.  

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Cancer, Death, Gore, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and War

mo_books_read's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional 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? It's complicated

5.0

I love the fantasy element and how it's a dual pov and with the female lead you truly feel that she is a fish out of water in the fantasy world. Also she has cerebral palsy which gives her a limp but she never lets it define/ makes her whole personality but it is there and she works around it and is still a complete lovable badass.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cancer, Chronic illness, Death, Torture, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, War, and Injury/Injury detail

diana_raquel's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious 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

“The choices we face may not be the choices we want, but they are choices nonetheless.”

As I said in other reviews, Beauty and the Beast is one of my favorite fairy tales. Therefore, I'm always looking for retellings of this fairy tale. But I'm always very cautious because not everything that is marketed as a retelling is really a retelling or they are but they are really bad books. And so, I was reticent in starting this trilogy, especially because is a hyped one. It seems that, in social media, everyone and their mother loves this trilogy. 

Nonetheless, I decided to read it. And I ended up loving it! The bones of the original fairy tale are there, but it also can stand up as its own story. The characters are interesting and well-written (and there is disability representation, which is a positive point). The story is well-structured and the pacing is just right. I loved it! Its probably one of my favorite books of 2023. 

Overall, it's a solid story that I recommend if you're looking for retellings that can be their own story. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Chronic illness, Confinement, Death, Gore, Torture, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Suicide attempt, Murder, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Ableism, Cancer, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual assault, Terminal illness, Grief, Death of parent, and Sexual harassment

Minor: Alcohol

hiddeninfantasy's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense 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? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Ableism, Body horror, Cancer, Chronic illness, Death, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Grief, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Alcohol, War, and Injury/Injury detail

bzliz's review against another edition

adventurous hopeful mysterious 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

3.5

 This Beauty and the Beast retelling has some pretty strong “not like the other girls” elements but that is to be expected when the prince must find love to break a curse. Our heroine Harper makes it clear from the start that’s not going to work with her. In some ways she feels more real than many YA protagonists with her appropriately horrified reactions to terrible acts but she also throws herself into danger to help and/or protect her companions. 

The timeline gets a little fuzzy along the way, particularly in regards to “real world” times. 

The side characters like Harper’s family lack depth. They serve very few purposes and have little to contribute beyond a rotation of stock phrases about protecting someone close to them. 

Readers who like the vibes of training montages and fake royalty will enjoy this. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Chronic illness, Death, Gore, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Blood, Kidnapping, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Vomit and War

b00kb1rd's review against another edition

adventurous emotional tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Blood and Murder

supernova7's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious 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

5.0

I picked this book up from the local library on a whim, and wow! This is the most inventive retelling of Beauty and the Beast I’ve ever read.  The prince is still cursed, but he isn’t always a beast, and the Beauty has cerebral palsy, which some female characters try to use against her. She does not take any of that attitude and earns the title of Princess. The story takes place from multiple perspectives. I appreciate that the romance took a long time to develop, which felt realistic compared to other romance-focused books I’ve read. I loved this book. The pace, the writing, the characters, the conflict and scope—everything. Can’t wait to read the sequel. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Ableism, Blood, and Suicide attempt

Minor: Gore, Pedophilia, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Murder, War, and Injury/Injury detail

amykwrites's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional tense fast-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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Ableism, Body shaming, Cancer, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Physical abuse, Terminal illness, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, and War

Minor: Animal death, Confinement, Cursing, Infidelity, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Vomit, Medical content, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Murder, Abandonment, Alcohol, and Classism