Reviews tagging 'Violence'

The Witch King by H.E. Edgmon

84 reviews

killahb94's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny medium-paced

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

2.0

Strengths: It was cute in places. I liked the Tessa redemption arc. I liked the unique character voice of Wyatt. I loved how queer everything was. I loved how energies were explained. I thought that was unique and cute. I thought it was interesting that the witches were 1. From the fae and 2. The societal outcasts.

Could have been betters: the character motivations seldom made sense. Briar opening the door. Wyatt not wondering where abandoned witch babies go. The characters seem flat? There are no actual consequences for actions so everything feels very uh.... Shallow? Wyatt 1. Steals a dragon 2. Shatters a greenhouse 3. Is like let's kill all fae and insights a riot 4. Is proven to be a traitor 5. The DOOR IS OPEN 6. KILLS THEIR PARENTS 7. Kills another guy 8. Frees prisoners from the dungeon. The consequence is the guy who should be King is and you are free from a contract you always hated.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Mental illness, Death of parent, and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Hate crime, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, and Violence

buttermellow's review against another edition

adventurous reflective 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? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Emotional abuse, and Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Infertility, Physical abuse, Violence, Sexual harassment, and Colonisation

Minor: Deadnaming and Death

pipn_t's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious fast-paced

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

5.0

The narrator was great.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Violence

Minor: Child abuse and Sexual assault

bookishchef's review against another edition

adventurous funny 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? Yes

3.25

I wanted to love this so much. 
And part of me does. The characters were great, I loved the representation and I thought Wyatt was a really enjoyable narrator. The writing style was good too...

But the plot was all over the place. The pacing was inconsistent. And the story couldn't seem to focus on literally anything. To the extent that the main plot point of this book doesn't get a resolution by the end. 

I thought Wyatt acted a bit old for his age too. A 17 year old with multiple years of sexual experience and sexual partners? Like... it isn't impossible and I guess some teenagers do mess around a lot but idk.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Deadnaming, Death, Gore, Violence, Blood, Death of parent, and Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Drug use and Transphobia

Minor: Self harm, Sexual assault, Vomit, and Dysphoria

mxemma's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious tense fast-paced

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

3.5

This book was enjoyable in some ways, but suffers from a whole lot of tonal dissonance. It felt like every couple of pages we swung from fluffy fanfic romance (there was only one bed!) to horrifying gore and betrayal. The writing itself is beautiful, but I think cutting a few lines and a couple plot-twists would have made the story flow more smoothly and strengthened the book as a whole. They may be setting up the sequel, but the ending felt rather abrupt because of it. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug use, Gore, Hate crime, Racism, and Violence

Moderate: Body horror, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Sexual violence, Terminal illness, Transphobia, Police brutality, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Abandonment, and War

Minor: Deadnaming, Pregnancy, and Dysphoria

itsapaxycab's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny 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

4.5

I loved this book and it will definitely be one i reccomend to other people. A very sweet story with a strong queer backing, interesting plot, and gripping tension. While i felt the conclusion/reveal was a bit rushed and a little tooo perfect, u still enjoyed the story so much, and loved the enemies to lovers plot. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence and Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Deadnaming and Transphobia

Minor: Child abuse, Infertility, Death of parent, and Abandonment

kaisbooknook's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful 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

3.5

 Originally rated it a 5 stars after reading, now I rate it a 4 as I read another 5 star read directly after it and started comparing the two experiences. I saw many reviews criticizing the world building, and how it didn’t make sense, or how they didn’t like the main character Wyatt. Personally, I came into it expecting a feel good sappy fantasy with a romance plot, and it provided just that. I didn’t read it for the complex world building and magic system. I read it purely for good vibes and it delivered, which is why I liked it. EDIT: now 3.5 stars after many months. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Hate crime, Homophobia, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Police brutality, Murder, Abandonment, Colonisation, and War

hilmi's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional fast-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

4.25

This is an excellent book overall. The plot and world building is enjoyable though the magic system was... Meh? And that's important to me. Some twists I didn't see coming (at least not fully) kept the book interesting throughout. The world building could have been more thorough as well. 

Even though I'm always attempting to be an ally, sometimes the outright anger to/hate for cisgender or straight-identifying characters made me have a visceral reaction and I almost dropped the book because I wasn't in the mood to absorb the anger. Then I realized: a) that's a privilege (that I can choose not to be angry) and maybe it would be worth working through my aversion - and it was worth it; and b) historically, trans characters in particular and lgbtq characters at large have been depicted in pretty vile ways so turnabout is fair play. 

So, come for the good fiction and the feels. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Transphobia

Minor: Bullying, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Violence, and Sexual harassment

cactuspunk's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional tense 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? Yes

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, Violence, Police brutality, Death of parent, Colonisation, and Classism

naomiysl's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny lighthearted 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

I am literally dying for lack of a sequel. Yes I know there is one, I plan to read it, it's on hold and my wait time is a whole month and did i mention I'm DYING. 

Slow burn romance of friends to enemies to lovers that hits all the right touch points. And the drama is NEVER about the trans character being trans, only about all the other things surrounding their relationship. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Violence, and Xenophobia

Moderate: Sexual violence, Transphobia, and Abandonment