Reviews tagging 'Grief'

Gild by Raven Kennedy

32 reviews

secondhandbookshelves's review against another edition

dark tense medium-paced

• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

my favorite character (and the best character imo) dies.
Snow pirates are bastards and if the other two side characters with personalities end up dying too I shall revolt. 
The ribbons are cool and Midas seems an impulsive, ruthless dick.

(pretty sure this is vague enough to not actually spoil anything but hey)

Double cliffhanger ending
Pretty dark
Still gunna read book two though

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Violence, Trafficking, and Kidnapping

Moderate: Death, Infertility, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Slavery, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

jenminicricket's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad slow-paced

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

3.0

I definitely plan to continue this series. I am intrigued by the premise and hopefully that the future books in the series will be fit my reading style a bit better. Of course the genre that it is, there are plenty of red flags a waving everywhere, but we seemed to creep through the plot. It is definitely a character focused book, but I would have loved a few more answers and something a but stronger to pull me through the slower cadence of the novel.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, War, and Injury/Injury detail

onism_catharsis's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional inspiring tense fast-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? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Minor: Confinement, Emotional abuse, Gore, Physical abuse, Rape, Kidnapping, and Grief

hellodebbies's review against another edition

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Sexual assault, and Sexual violence

Moderate: Child abuse, Death, Physical abuse, Vomit, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Grief

dealfea's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional 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

4.25

This is the second time I am reading the Plated Prisoner series (in time for the release of Goldfinch later this year 🫣🫣🫣) and I still really love the start to Auren's story. Knowing how things will progress made some parts even more heartbreaking

I am still crying over Sail's death and Rissa being raped 😞

I absolutely love how Auren is already starting to grow by the end of Gild and I am so glad to follow her along once again 💛

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Animal death, Bullying, Confinement, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Violence, Blood, Trafficking, Murder, Alcohol, and Classism

Moderate: Animal death, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Misogyny, Slavery, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, and Abandonment

frantically's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional reflective fast-paced

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

3.0

Was really loving this in the first half — the romance was just dark enough to be fun and not to be completely disgusted — but the pirate plot in the second half threw me off 😅 Already obsessed with the Commander though — can't really be a dark romance with a blonde love interest, can it?

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Death, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Violence, Grief, Murder, and Sexual harassment

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Confinement, and Gore

Minor: War

filipa_maia's review against another edition

dark sad tense medium-paced

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

3.0

I have mixed feelings about this book.

I do appreciate this other side of the story. This is not King Midas' story (the one that everyone knows), it's someone else's... someone very important that stays in the shadows. Also, I very much enjoyed all this mystery around Auren, there is an aura of secrets involving her that kept me very focus till the end. Solving this mystery is exactly one of the things that is going to make me read the second book.

On a less positive note, this book is very hard to read: maybe I was distracted or maybe the trigger warnings weren't enough... I almost quit reading this book. Several times. I understand that women weren't seen as people, especially these women being King Midas' harem... but there is a less brutal way of describing some scenes. Honestly, the excessive use of some words were not to emphasise the narrative, but just to trigger the reader.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Trafficking, Grief, Murder, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Sexual harassment, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Infidelity, Death of parent, Alcohol, and War

Minor: Excrement and Vomit

midnacine's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny tense medium-paced

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

4.5

Third time reading the series, first time listening to the audiobook. My initial review is somewhere on here. But can I just say the male narrator (Blake Lockhart) is absolute perfection. He only read one chapter and yet I'm in love with him. I can't wait to hear him as [redacted] in the later books.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Death, Misogyny, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Violence, Kidnapping, and Murder

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Cursing, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Sexual content, Blood, Grief, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Minor: Animal death, Trafficking, Death of parent, and War

micaelamariem's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense medium-paced

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

3.0

This book was well written with an intriguing plot and great worldbuilding that had me flirting through chapters. However, there was too much on page sexual violence that we were only sometimes supposed to abhor as readers. The main character definitely has Stockholm syndrome and I don’t think that’s going to be addressed. I’m just so afraid we’ll see more toxic relationships develop as the series goes on but perhaps something will surprise me! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Gore, Infidelity, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Murder, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Alcoholism and Grief

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Infertility, Death of parent, and Colonisation

katvou's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional 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? It's complicated

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Violence, Kidnapping, Murder, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Slavery and Alcohol

Minor: Animal death, Bullying, Gore, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Grief, and War