Reviews tagging 'Child abuse'

The Storm Crow by Kalyn Josephson

5 reviews

indigosparrow's review against another edition

adventurous emotional tense slow-paced

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

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Violence, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Torture, Emotional abuse, Animal death, Colonisation, Death of parent, Child abuse, and Death

Moderate: Infidelity and Murder

Minor: Panic attacks/disorders, Alcohol, and Misogyny

egurgens's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional inspiring 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? It's complicated

4.75

I love the world Kalyn Josephson wove for this story. There are different nations, all with their own gods, their own culture, and characteristics.  Aris is a beautiful city, with different sectors that favor different industries and crows. There are different types of crow, all with their specific kind of magic; wind, shadow, battle, water, earth, storm, fire, and sun. However, 'everything changed when the fire nation attacked." Haha, jk, although Illucia DID use fire to

Spoiler

destroy the crows.

In an attempt to keep the peace, Thia's sister, the new queen, promises her to Illucia as a bride to marry the heir, Ericen. 

Ericen is a masterpiece in my opinion; one part ice and loyalty, one part fire and rebellion, and the rest is a mess, since he doesn't know what he wants from this war. He's just a softie with a tough shell, and I adore him. I also adore Caylus, all PTSD and mismatched sweaters and science and baking. 

There is so much political drama: a mad, blood hungry queen vs the trained Crow rider who has to face the wrath of the mad queen to save her country... or does she? Thia found a storm crow egg in the ruins of the roost, and decides to try and raise it to rally her country and fight back against the Illucian oppressors. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Blood, Body horror, Bullying, Colonisation, Death, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Genocide, Gore, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Panic attacks/disorders, Slavery, Torture, Violence, War, and Mental illness

Moderate: Abandonment, Body shaming, Child abuse, Confinement, Cursing, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, and Kidnapping

dlrosebyh's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional 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

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Violence, Mental illness, Blood, and Grief

Moderate: War, Child abuse, and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Sexual harassment

mitone_winona's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful sad tense fast-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

Two thing's I love about this book, the magical crows and the diversity of kingdom's. The character's of the book aren't necessarily bad or frowned upon, but I will admit the author took the quick approach of "YA lead girl who is traumatized falls in love super quick with a nerdy boy who is genuinely nice but has infatuation for the prince she is engaged to that is from the kingdom that destroyed her own and has talked mess on her people and kingdom but dismisses that more and more" which is pretty annoying because it happens quick due to the pace of the book going fast. I would recommend this as a usual YA read for anyone who wants to pass the time but the weird pseudo-romance triangle isn't anything new or unique, just the usual bleh factor from most YA author's.

I will say however, I do adore Thia and her sister's dynamic in the book and how mental illness and PTSD/Trauma is addressed in the book and how Thia acknowledges her mother, the queen, has created a chain reaction of mistakes but is willing to go forward to fixing them.

Overall, a good book with great lore! Just a bad romance sub plot going on that went too fast.  

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Fire/Fire injury, Violence, Death of parent, Death, and Animal death

Moderate: Grief, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, and Child abuse

bibookworm's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional 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

5/5 Stars! This book is so wonderful. This is a spellbinding fantasy that readers will love. From page one you are swept into the adventures of Thia to save her kingdom and her people from ruin. This book touches on topics that are much needed in the YA genre, such as LGBTQ+ content and mental health representation. The magic system in this book is so unique I loved the concepts of magical crows! I am so pumped for the sequel I can't wait.

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Child abuse and Death of parent