Reviews tagging 'Child death'

The Kingdoms by Natasha Pulley

24 reviews

augustar14's review

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense 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? It's complicated

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Mental illness, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Grief, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Alcohol, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Misogyny, Racism, Sexism, and Death of parent

quirkilybookish's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious 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

An excellent time travelling/alternate universe historical fiction that really sucked me in! It jumps between times and perspectives and has some epistolary writing as well, all of which was very fun to piece together. I picked up a copy in Edinburgh and the world-building was extra special having explored the city and castle it describes. And who doesn’t love some gay sailors/pirates? 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War

Moderate: Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Racism, Self harm, Slavery, and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Child death, Sexual violence, Suicide, and Murder

cameronreads's review against another edition

4.0

I really enjoyed this book. I think the concept is so interesting and gripping, and I was fully invested the whole time either trying to figure out what on earth was going on or whether my theories were right. I think it was predictable in a way that felt like everything satisfyingly coming into place, with revelations slowly dawning on me allowing for the perfect confirming reveal. I think the characters were compelling and well written, and the book seemed very well research (not that I know anything about history). 

Two half stars were taken off for me - one because the way that time travel was written, although the right way to make the story work, is the one way I hate for time travel to be written. I love it when time travel is more along the lines of what David Lewis theorised as possible, rather than time travellers having the ability to change the future from the past etc. Still, it made for the right kind of story, so only half a star off for that. A second half star off because I wanted just a bit more feeling out of the characters. I think the emotions they were feeling here were so big that they needed a bit more description or emphasis. I wanted to feel the emotions with the characters, and I just didn't really. Mostly I wanted to see more passion out of the main relationship in here, I think just a little more development could have really added to the impact. 

Still, I loved this so much more than I expected to, and I would 100% recommend. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Gore, Slavery, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Kidnapping, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Cursing, Gun violence, Misogyny, Self harm, Grief, and Colonisation

Minor: Suicide, Torture, Vomit, and Alcohol

kavarnistka's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious sad medium-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? It's complicated

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and War

Moderate: Slavery and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Animal death, Child death, Rape, Suicide, Murder, and Fire/Fire injury

spacebornfew's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

There's something about Natasha Pulley's books that just breaks me every time. They contain these moments that elicit this indescribable feeling of safety and warmth and belonging that curls up in my gut and sits there for days afterwards. Those moments intersperse with heartbreak and remorse and questions about what makes us who we are... I'm going to have a hell of a hangover from this book. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Child death, Self harm, Violence, Fire/Fire injury, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Gun violence, Slavery, Suicide, Torture, and Blood

Minor: Xenophobia

breadwitchery'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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gun violence, Violence, and War

Moderate: Animal death, Child death, Confinement, Slavery, Xenophobia, Murder, and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Cursing, Homophobia, Rape, Sexual content, Suicide, and Alcohol

cocacolor's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated

4.5

A brisk, clever time-traveling, alternate-dimension-hopping adventure. The characters are immediately likeable and memorable, although they don't have much interiority;

even after Joe/Jem regains all his memories, it's difficult to place his relationship with Kite in the context of his marriages to Alice / Madeleine, and what Agatha and Jem also felt for each other is a mystery

. Pulley's style is delightful, lyrical and lucid at the same time. It feels strange to be rooting for the British Navy, here buckling under French colonialism; on the one hand, a keen attention to historical detail is counterbalanced by the narrow scope of telling a story of British soldiers fighting French occupation with barely a mention of Britain's own empire. I'm still discontented with the way some threads are tied up:

When does Kite reckon with the consequences of killing a teenage boy? A freak change killing off Toby and Alice and dropping children into Kite and Joe's laps seems like a cop-out way to give them a nuclear family.

But overall, a thrilling tale with immediate, powerful characters that turns on the tropes of amnesia and the horrors of war.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Death, Gore, Hate crime, Violence, Kidnapping, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Colonisation, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Child death, Confinement, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Homophobia, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Suicide, Blood, Murder, and Classism

Minor: Genocide and Alcohol

On rape:

though the narrative seems to acknowledge that the main character is forced into sex by his wife, it stops short of condemning her.

On racism:

The aforementioned wife is one of the only Black characters in the novel, and also killed off in order to give the white and white-passing main couple her children.

unboxedjack's review against another edition

reflective medium-paced

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

2.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child death, Death, Fire/Fire injury, and Classism

kerrymur's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gun violence, Violence, Fire/Fire injury, and War

Moderate: Animal death, Child death, Confinement, and Slavery

anxiousnachos's review against another edition

emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced

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

5.0

I don’t think I have the words for this review. This was absolutely exquisite, this *destroyed* me. It’s one of the most beautiful love stories I’ve ever read, I just immediately want to reread. The moment everything kind of clicks together and you realise what happened is soul shattering. It was stunning. How can your heart not break into a million pieces at this quote:

“You’re my family! You were family before any of them. I’ve missed you even when I didn’t remember you. Everything I’ve done since losing you has been about getting back to you.”

Please excuse me whilst I go scream.

Content warnings: slavery, graphic depictions of war, graphic depictions of blood/gore, epilepsy, amnesia, murder, violence, child death, burn injury, lashing injury, physical abuse, imprisonment, rape

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Blood, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Confinement, Rape, and Slavery