Reviews tagging 'Violence'

King of the Dark by Ariana Nash

14 reviews

bespectacled_lemur's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

4.75

Only docking points because for a bit there I was convinced it was gonna be

a nice poly domestic trilogy. The twist broke me.

Heart wrenching stuff but well-delivered. Not sure what to expect from the next two books but they're already on the way.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Drug use, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, and Grief

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Kidnapping, Cannibalism, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, and War

sabinehunter's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Grief, Murder, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

nos22's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape and Violence

nikki_b's review

adventurous dark emotional fast-paced

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

4.0

I have an enemies-to-lovers relationship with this series. (The plot + characters make me mad and I like it!!!! 😤)

I love how messy and dumb these characters are (in a very human "making quick, emotionally-charged decisions with none of the necessary information" way, not in a "I am worried this character has a brain-eating parasite" way). Niko is angry 😡 all the time and that does get a bit tiring by later books but... he's got reasons so I let it slide. He's young and f'ed up.
I don't get the Witcher vibes here (aside from white hair) that other people have mentioned. Feels more like a mashup of Game of Thrones and Captive Prince with a sprinkle of orcs + magic from LOTR. 

I did see some twists coming but not all of them... and that automatically grants an author some extra stars from me even if I might burn my Kindle reading about someone's "cheeks flickering/fluttering" every two pages. (facial cheeks not 🍑 cheeks, unfortunately LOL.)

DEFINITELY mind trigger/content warnings. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Confinement, Rape, Sexual assault, Torture, Violence, and Sexual harassment

Minor: Animal cruelty and Blood

bworthit's review against another edition

adventurous dark fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No

3.0

Where is my thruple? This could have been of whole lot more interesting if the book had given us a complicated relationship between the 3 characters. Instead, it's a blind siding twist that never laid the groundwork for it, never gave us the nuance to make it worthwhile and gut wrenching. It wasn't meaningful and left me disappointed because I wasn't invested. 

The world building is exciting and the elves are interesting, but for me, none of the characters are redeemable or likable enough to continue the series.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Torture, Violence, and Blood

Moderate: Toxic relationship and Toxic friendship

Minor: Animal death

corin_134340's review

dark sad 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? Yes

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Death, Drug abuse, Gore, Rape, Sexual assault, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Murder, and War

Moderate: Incest

nim22_'s review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

2.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Torture, and Violence

znrtrreads's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense fast-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

3.5

think Game of Thrones meets The Witcher — evil elves, royals driven to near-madness, a neverending war and always-lurking dark presence, betrayal galore, and seemingly unconventional relationships that end up just working.

the beginning was a bit of a slow start and i almost dnf’d, but around the 60% mark it picked up and was soooo hard to put down. you know that one really big twist at the end of Red Queen by Victoria Aveyard? the one that makes you gasp out loud because it feels like you, as a reader, just got betrayed? the last quarter of this book was like that, over and over. every time i thought i could trust someone or knew what was happening — bam, another twist. and, i guessed correctly, it ended on a cliffhanger and i absolutely need to read the rest of the series to see what happens next.

also i am obsessed with both main characters — niko was true to himself, badass, no-nonsense; visili was the perfect anti-hero cracking out of his shell. i love that their enemies to lovers arc was slow burn, blurring the lines between hatred and obviously falling for each other but not being able to realize it. i’m excited to see where the story takes them.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Sexual content, and Violence

Moderate: Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, and War

Minor: Confinement, Emotional abuse, Toxic relationship, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Murder, War, and Classism

If you’ve ever seen Game of Thrones, think of every triggering thing that could be in there and it’s in here. It’s very dark so go into it expecting that. Plot and characters make it worth it.

fyarae's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Slavery, and Violence

tough_cookie's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

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

3.25

This dark first installment in the Prince's Assassin trilogy introduces readers to Nikolas "Niko" Yazdan, an disillusioned ex-solder haunted by his time in the war against the elves (which, in the kingdom of Loreen, are vicious creatures). He's approached by Prince Vasili Caville, the eldest of the three Caville princes, to sniff out an enemy within the palace. Niko refuses and is arrested, starved until he agrees to work for the ruthless Vasili. But finding a king cobra among the viper pit of royals is no easy task, and the longer Niko investigates, the more extensive he finds the political web of intrigue. He finds refuge in Julian, Prince Vasili's personal guard, and although he isn't sure of his relationship with the prince, Niko nevertheless finds himself falling for Julian. Will he be able to find the would-be assassin and save Julian and Vasili?

This is a dark novel, no doubt. Between the PTSD flashbacks, torture, and sexual abuse, it's not for the faint of heart; I myself had to skip over several parts. I also found the plot annoying, especially the love triangle (I strongly dislike that trope) and the way Niko was always left in the dark, forced to unravel each mystery on his own. This resulted in the main character constantly being the last to know -- and ending up betrayed and/or as bait as a result (another literary device that frustrates me), and when very few of the characters are even likable, that gets old really fast. More than once I thought about dropping this book, but the dichotomy of Niko's character interested me just enough to keep me reading, and thankfully the pace of the story was quick enough that I could get through it quickly. However, I endured enough with this book and will not continue the rest of the trilogy. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, and Murder