Reviews tagging 'Self harm'

The Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson

21 reviews

aliceruthless's review against another edition

adventurous emotional inspiring reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

5.0

With every reread I find new information. It’s a thick and heavy read but feels relevant for the times. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Racism, Suicide, Xenophobia, Blood, Grief, Murder, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Ableism, Chronic illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Violence, Medical content, Trafficking, Death of parent, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

random19379's review against another edition

slow-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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Body horror, Genocide, Gore, Racism, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Trafficking, Grief, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Self harm, Suicide, and Fire/Fire injury

bakerindale'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? Yes

5.0

It’s a more than a thousand page long study of worldbuilding and character creation.

The world is lively and characters are their own people; all done without any sign of lore dumps or sacrificing the story in any way.

I thoroughly enjoyed the book, though I understand how it can be overwhelming; at times a diagram of character dependencies was needed, especially at the start of Part Two: The Illuminating Storms.

Looking back, not that much has happened in this book, but while reading everything seemed so important. Even the smallest details were significant and that made the journey of discovering Roshar along with the characters so thrilling

Can’t wait for more of the Girlboss Duo

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Suicide attempt, Murder, and War

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Racism, Self harm, Sexual violence, and Sexual harassment

katelynprice's review against another edition

adventurous medium-paced

4.5

Obviously, the world-building here is exceptional. I'm always into stories where individual strands connect and intertwine, so this book is right up my alley. I do think it took a bit too long to get to the end, though. I honestly think a good 200 pages could've been condensed, and then it might've been a full 5 stars, but the payoff in the end was glorious and worth the time and patience! Thank you, Brandon Sanderson, for confirming for me that I do indeed enjoy epic fantasy. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Blood, and War

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Grief, and Suicide attempt

Minor: Self harm

kaylatibbs's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional inspiring reflective sad tense slow-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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Self harm, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Blood, Religious bigotry, Murder, War, and Classism

Moderate: Bullying, Confinement, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Racism, and Religious bigotry

Minor: Ableism, Child death, Cursing, Hate crime, Suicide, Excrement, Medical content, Dementia, Suicide attempt, Cultural appropriation, and Alcohol

jaedia's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective tense slow-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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Misogyny, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Murder, Abandonment, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Physical abuse, Self harm, Blood, Medical content, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, and Gaslighting

Minor: Racism

nojerama's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional funny hopeful mysterious reflective sad 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? Yes

5.0

Wow. Holy shit. Ok I get what you were all talking about now. 

It started slow, but Sanderson's storytelling was frankly immaculate and he weaved all the threads together with precision and care. Kaladin was a firm favourite from the get go, Shallan is a character archetype I adore (I'm a forever student at heart and so seeing characters in any learning environment is my jam) plus her whole dilemma and how she deals with Jasnah was wonderful to watch grow and blossom. Dalinar was a slow burn but grew on me, his dry wit and blunt nature plus the inherent vulnerability in having a POV character deeply question their sanity meant I couldn't help but love him. Also loved Wit after seeing him

as Hoid in Tress of the Emerald Sea

, he made me snort my tea from laughing. 

The audiobook narrators were phenomenal, genuinely no idea why people were bitching about Kate Reading so much (maybe it's a marmite thing but I adored how she read Shallan). There were like one or two things I thought maybe needed a biiiiit more breathing room (for example I do not for one second believe Jasnah would have forgiven Shallan so quickly at the end there) but also for pacing sake I understand why they went the way they did so I'm not complaining. 

Also sorry I just have to, spoilers below also beware of cursing:

THE PARSHMEN?!? THE PARSHMEN ARE VOIDBRINGERS?!?!?!? When I got to that bit as God is my witness I paused my audiobook and just went what the FUCK

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Self harm, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, Xenophobia, Medical content, Grief, Suicide attempt, Murder, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Body horror, Bullying, Chronic illness, Death, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Self harm, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Blood, Medical content, Religious bigotry, Stalking, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Sexual harassment

martinpr's review against another edition

adventurous emotional reflective 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? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Genocide, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, Sexism, Slavery, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Blood, Dementia, Suicide attempt, Gaslighting, War, and Classism

ashley_mrose530's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional medium-paced

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

5.0

Honestly, this book is nothing short of spectacular. I would give this more than 5 stars if I could. The pacing is amazing, the writing is perfectly simple but also captivating, and the characters are all lovable. I think this is definitely a great book for anyone who is looking to get into epic high fantasy. It drops you right in, in a good way. There's always going to be a little bit of confusion with a high fantasy as you try to get a sense of the world, but this book gave you just enough so you could understand and not be bored but also didn't overwhelm you with all of the information all at once. The world building was so seamless and well thought out and I loved learning about the magic system and the different species of humans.
I loved all of the characters even the more minor ones. They were all so well developed and had such distinct personalities. I even loved the one who was killing everyone and will be seen as the "bad guy". They all had a lot of depth throughout the book and stood out as individuals. I rooted for every single one of them to get what they wanted.
I also really liked the pacing of this book. Like I said, it does drop you in like right away with a character who is killing people as he's trying to kill a king, so it starts off on a high note which I think was a great way to start because when that was over you were completely ready to slow down and get a deeper sense of the world that you needed in order to move on. But the book itself was also separated into parts with interludes in between. I really enjoyed that it took a step back from the main story with those and added a side story to give you more information about the world and how it works without inundating you with exposition. It really worked with the pacing of the novel as a whole.
So yeah this was definitely a 10/10 read and I will be recommending it to anyone who is interested in high fantasy.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Misogyny, Self harm, Slavery, Violence, Blood, Medical content, and Classism

ekcd_'s review against another edition

dark tense slow-paced

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

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Death, Genocide, Gore, Infidelity, Physical abuse, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Toxic relationship, Xenophobia, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Murder, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, War, and Classism