Reviews tagging 'Animal cruelty'

Together We Burn by Isabel Ibañez

23 reviews

beautifulpaxielreads's review against another edition

adventurous emotional reflective 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? It's complicated

4.0

I'll have more to say later, but for now all I'll say is I enjoyed the heck out of this. 

Overall, I really enjoyed this.

Zarela Zalvidar is a character who kind of sneaks up on you. At first, I disliked her initial attitude towards the protestors who oppose dragon-fighting - a traditional sport in the fictional land of Hispalia, rather like bullfighting in Spain - but I understood her fear of dragons. But as the novel progresses, her determination, toughness, and stubbornness made me root for her. And it did seem that she

changed her attitude at the end

, which I appreciated. I also enjoyed her relationship with her father, it is obvious how much she cares about him.

Of note too, is that Isabel Ibañez takes care to show us that Zarela's opinion is not the only one to be valid, and she does that with the character of Arturo Díaz de Montserrat, Zarela's reluctant trainer and

eventual love interest

. Arturo, a brooding and rough-hewn ex-dragon fighter is now vehemently against dragon fighting, and both he and Zarela are stubborn to a fault. Their growing relationship was a beautifully written slow burn.

It is here that I need to warn you - do not read this book if you are hungry. Ibañez describes food - Spanish food, in this instance - in a way that truly makes your mouth water. I'd like a slice of toasted bread with Jamon, tomatoes, and a generous slathering of olive oil, please.

Having said all of the above, there were ways in which I think the novel fell ever so slightly short. The climax - although I loved the way in which the tension slowly built - felt ever-so-slightly rushed. And the eventual villain reveal was a bit unbelievable, which I thought could have been helped by  Ibañez showing us more of his character. The timeline also occasionally confused me (

how many years ago did Zarela's mother die?

).

But that ending? Where Zarela ended up

dancing with the dragon instead of fighting it

. Chef's kiss. 

A good YA read for anyone who is a fan of spicy slow-burn relationships and Spanish culture.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Death, Violence, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Child death, Gore, Sexual content, Blood, and Medical content

Scenes of immolation causing death via dragon fire,

including Zarela's mother

. Non-graphic descriptions of bodily mutilation. There are sexually-charged moments (including one

sex scene

) but these are tastefully done and not very graphic.

emmakchapman's review against another edition

adventurous 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? No

3.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Death, and Death of parent

Moderate: Blood

Minor: Vomit

roget's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.25

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Sexism, Kidnapping, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Violence, Excrement, and Sexual harassment

Minor: Self harm, Terminal illness, and Vomit

More info on the SA tags:

****There are scenes where the Zarela assumes Arturo is resisting out of trying to make a decision for her, rather than because he just doesn’t want to kiss her or be close to her. In these cases, she does push him for more after hearing a clear “no,” and while the specific “women are owned by their male relatives” context should be taken into account (because that impacts cues in romantic situations, even though it should not), I wish those scenes had practiced the same respect for consent that we see Zarela herself offered by Arturo. On paper, she does assault him, even if the tensions and plot and everything don’t make it out like she did. (Tldr: it’s the surprise kiss/I know you like me tropes). Even if he wanted more, she should have respected the “no.” I don’t think the writer intended the scenes to carry that sort of negative meaning, but it’s important to mention. This writer isn’t the first or thousandth author to use these tropes romantically, but I think it’s important to talk about when it comes up. I loved so much about this story—the setting, the characters, the world—but I wish those moments had been done differently.

stardust_heidi's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful inspiring lighthearted mysterious 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

Love love loved this. The main pairing was so perfect, the grumpy brooding dude and the takes no shit heroine. I thought the setting and plot were so unique. I can’t wait to read more of this author’s work!

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, and Injury/Injury detail

campisforever's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny hopeful inspiring sad tense fast-paced

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

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Death, Kidnapping, Death of parent, and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Animal cruelty and Animal death

_courtney's review against another edition

adventurous fast-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

2.5

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Confinement, Excrement, Kidnapping, and Death of parent

apierlessbridge's review against another edition

adventurous 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

5.0

I adored this book. It reminded me so much of the colors, sights, and sounds of Spain (*ahem* Hispalia) it was hard not to immediately book a ticket. Zarela is a great heroine; a flamenco dancer at heart who is forced to try to fix things that everyone else broke, I loved that she was so 3 dimensional. She wasn't your usual all-powerful YA heroine, but she was vulnerable and sad, but pushing through it anyway. Not to mention ARTURO. He was grouchy, kind of mean at first, but with great hair. I loved watching their relationship develop organically with actual mutual respect and boundaries. Also, the dragon lore was so fascinating! Very creative. I also loved how the other characters had actual personalities and goals and ambitions beyond just helping the story along.  

I did not love the dragonfighting (*ahem* bullfighting) and while it didn't go into a ton of detail it is definitely a big part of the world. The story overall, though, was worth it in the end. I'm still thinking about the food....

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, and Kidnapping

patricktreads's review

adventurous dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

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

4.0

The jump in on this work was very quick. Immediate fight situation which sucked me into real quick. I kind of wish the chapters were slightly longer, but they were still good. 

I loved the representation, and I was honestly very excited with the Spanish being spread throughout. As someone who doesn’t know much, it wasn’t hard to follow along and still be able to understand. Honestly, I probably learned a lot just from the way the book mixed the language. 

It was technically long page wise but it was still a very quick and easy read with constant motion. It wasn’t a….slow burn 🔥 if you will. I really wish there was a second one.

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Sexism, Sexual content, Violence, Kidnapping, and Murder

bandysbooks's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful mysterious tense fast-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? Yes

3.0

Together We Burn features a young female character who is the heir to her mother’s flamenco legacy and her father’s dragon fighting legacy. When tragedy strikes, she must face the dragons she’s feared to save her inheritance. In order to learn how, she solicits the help of a retired, disenchanted dragon fighter to train her. 

I really wanted to love this book, but it ended up just being okay for me. I had issues with the characterization, the setting, the plot twists, and the pacing. 

First of all, the setting. The country in the story is called Hispalia and is pretty much Spain. I don’t really understand the point of making up a country if it’s literally going to be a country that already exists. I kept waiting to see what would differentiate it from Spain and it’s never really made clear…aside from dragons existing. 

Second, it’s incredibly hard to relate to or feel sympathy for the main character. Her father is a famous dragon fighter and initially that isn’t so bothersome…but then they talk about how the dragons are treated and it makes it hard to feel any sympathy for anything bad that happens. Additionally, the MC comes across quite entitled. Clearly, she comes from a rich family and I can see how that would make her out of touch…but at times she comes across as spoiled and inconsiderate. 

Third, I was able to figure out who the bad guy was pretty early on. I also figured out what would happen when the MC faced a dragon. It just felt like a pretty predictable plot. Add to it pacing issues and it gets kind of difficult to stay engaged at points.

All in all, I think the idea was good, but the execution was a miss. There were definitely moments of engagement that I wish the author would have built upon more. A quick enough read if you want something fairly light about dragons. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Death, Gore, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

rorquals's review against another edition

adventurous medium-paced

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

3.5

I’d give this book 3.5 stars if I could. It was an enjoyable read and I love the storyline of it. There were some faults but overall a pleasant experience. 

The story takes place in Hispalia which is similar to our Spain, in a world that uses dragons instead of bulls in a fighting arena. We follow Zarela, the daughter of a prominent dragon fighting family. Zarela has to deal with many hardships and trials to protect her family name and solve the mystery of who is sabotaging her career. 

The story is filled with adventure, enemies to lovers, mystery and bi-lingual goodness. 

There were a few issues I did have with this book which I hope don’t take away from the story. Firstly, there is a lot of repetition in the book. I don’t know if it was used to fill pages or what, but it made it difficult to get through. Also, this book is labeled as fast-paced, but since there was so much repetition, it didn’t pick up for me until halfway through the book. I put this book down so many times and thought I wouldn’t finish until I got to the halfway mark when things picked up. Lastly, this is an ARC, so I’m hoping they catch the spelling and grammatical errors before publishing, but I did catch quite a few while reading. 

I’d still highly recommend this book. It’s a new read with a really inventive storyline which I think people will enjoy. Thank you to Net Galley for giving me an ARC.

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, and Death of parent