Reviews tagging 'Kidnapping'

Fall of Ruin and Wrath by Jennifer L. Armentrout

13 reviews

ktwinkiebell's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.5

Really enjoyed it. Pacing was good but it ended right when all the action was starting. Not too wordy like other JLA books can be. I feel like it's going to be a series where the 1st book really sets everything up and the 2nd book is where the plot really picks up.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gore, Sexual content, Violence, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Kidnapping

Minor: Drug use, Rape, Vomit, Abandonment, and Alcohol

gmarkwell's review against another edition

adventurous dark lighthearted medium-paced

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

4.25

This dark fantasy romance is a complicated story of self discovery and power along with the implications of violence in response to embracing and giving in to one’s  power, past, and future.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Sexual violence, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Kidnapping, and Murder

carsons1996's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious tense 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

5.0

This was yet another great launching point for a wonderful new Jennifer Armentrout series. Great suspense and tension and just an overall good style of writing. It follows a similar blueprint to her other series, but I literally do not care because it's just such a unique and interesting take on all the typical fantasy tropes.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Drug use, Sexual content, Violence, Blood, Murder, and Alcohol

Moderate: Classism

Minor: Confinement and Kidnapping

3bobbielee's review against another edition

dark mysterious medium-paced

• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore and Sexual content

Moderate: Toxic relationship, Violence, and Alcohol

Minor: Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Drug use, Physical abuse, Kidnapping, Sexual harassment, War, and Injury/Injury detail

chi__'s review against another edition

adventurous lighthearted tense medium-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Sexual content, and Murder

Moderate: Alcoholism, Kidnapping, and Alcohol

Minor: Blood, Grief, War, and Injury/Injury detail

tguccione'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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Body horror, Death, Torture, Violence, Blood, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Minor: Kidnapping

dalek_caan's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense 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

I absolutely loved this book. My biggest complaint is that when I picked it up I didn't know it was a series and one I have to wait for at that! I'm so excited for whenever the next book comes out because I really want to know what happens next. I love the writing style of this author I was captivated the entire book through, and I found the world and characters to be well thought out and interesting. I will definitely be reading more books by this author!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Torture, Violence, Vomit, Kidnapping, Murder, Sexual harassment, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Fire/Fire injury

aurora4847's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious relaxing tense medium-paced

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

4.5

I fell in love with this book so quickly. It has everything I love in a fantasy. I can't wait to read the rest of the series when it comes out!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gore, Sexual content, Violence, Blood, Vomit, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Cursing, Drug abuse, Drug use, Sexism, Torture, Kidnapping, and Alcohol

Minor: Child death and War

purplepenning's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional medium-paced

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

2.25

I haven't read any other books by Armentrout but picked this one up because it's the first in Tor's new romance imprint, Bramble. I read pretty widely, including fantasy and romance, and I can see why readers are drawn to "romantasy" in general and to Armentrout and this book in particular. I can also see why reviews here vary so much — amusingly, with the same things  being both *loved* by some and *hated* by others (the writing style, the dialogue, the main characters, the chemistry, the side characters, the steamy/spicy content, the world building, the ending). Readers bring a lot of previous experiences and expectation with them to their reading, but perhaps trope-heavy fantasy and romance taps into that most of all. A key phrase ("who hurt you?") or characteristic can tap right into an established set of feelings and expectations and can do a lot of heavy lifting as far as characterization goes. But that's a ramble for another time...

"Good and evil are real. They always have been. Yet the weight of the realm has always fallen on those in-between. Ones neither good nor bad." 

My experience with A Fall of Ruin and Wrath is that it's like the beginning of a Sarah J Maas story written by Katee Roberts. It leans into the theme of "morally gray" like it was the assignment and plays with the push-pull of "fated mates" and "star-crossed lovers" in a way that could get interesting if a lazy "chosen one" trope doesn't get in the way. 

Parts of it were kind of a mess for me — sometimes in ways I didn't mind and sometimes in ways that I did. The world seems like standard high fantasy at first but then it's also sort of post-apocalyptic and maybe less fae and more seraphs and demons? I don't need the world building to be completely nailed down in the first book in a series so I wasn't too fussed about this. If anything makes me pick up book two it'll be wanting to figure out this fantasy world and system. I mean I did not have

moral rot, climate disaster, and divine intervention

on my bingo card for what created this world, but I'm kind of here for it. I also didn't expect our vaguely angel-y immortal prince to come from

some Uruk Hai-style underground creation process

and I might be less here for that. Our female main character is gifted with insight, foresight, and intuition but hasn't learned to control her mouth or expressions and doesn't use her gifts for much of anything, including advancing the plot. There does seem to be some self-awareness about that eventually, but there's also a realization that she has some

intuitive, unearned ability to fight, which... sigh

. The story is drenched in public, partner-sharing sex and the premise of a powerful species of overlords and personal partner who "feeds on pleasure" but much of it feels like set dressing and lacks connection. And for all the sex positivity, casual queerness, and bisexuality rep, it still seems to be mostly / entirely women who are draped on laps, played with in public, sent to service visiting nobility, etc. in a system of class and power differential that makes it all pretty sexist and sketch.

I mean how is a baron expected to have a diplomatic meeting with a powerful visiting prince WITHOUT feeling up and fingering his trusted spy/companion/rescued orphan in front of said prince and then sending her over to him to finish so the diplomacy can be punctuated with her orgasm? It's okay — she has a *choice.*

Our male main character is entirely logical, taciturn, always gets what he wants, and is never wrong but finds himself

staked down and tortured in a barn

and wants the FMC with no logical reason for it and blabs a whole lot of seemingly sensitive and personal information to her almost immediately.

(Information about what can be done with all of his parts, yes, all of them — and his fluids — if they are harvested from him. I know there's been a lot of blood loss at this point and you're busy regrowing eyes and such, but,  sir — kept your secret semen info to yourself!)

Anyway... a lot of the character building felt muddled and a lot of the "steamy scenes" felt disconnected and kind of cringe — like they were included because auction winners won the right to have their personal fantasies written into the book. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Sexual content, Torture, Blood, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Addiction, Child abuse, Cursing, Drug use, Gore, Physical abuse, Violence, Kidnapping, Grief, Murder, Alcohol, and Classism

Minor: Rape, Sexual assault, and Vomit

Physical compulsion

anoelle896's review

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense slow-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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Death, Gore, Misogyny, Sexism, Sexual content, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Panic attacks/disorders

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Drug abuse, Drug use, Torture, Vomit, Abandonment, and Classism